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The Walking Dead - Official Thread
- Thread in 'General' Thread starter Started by spizike231,
- Start date
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Still far and away number 1 show. Can't keep 15 million for 7 years man. Honestly, surprise their ratings still this high, insane!!People losing interest, they need to attack the Saviors already. The slow build won't have a big payoff
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A Surefire Way ‘The Walking Dead’ Can Reverse Its Ratings Downswing
Dustin Rowles
2 days ago
FACEBOOKTWITTER
AMC
The good news for fans of the AMC series is this: The Walking Dead is the highest rated drama on cable, and it’s not even close. Once DVR viewership is accounted for, it still average over 15 million viewers a week. On cable right now, The Walking Dead’s closest scripted competition is Major Crimes on TNT with 4.2 million people (which isn’t even as many viewers as the 5 million that watch The Talking Dead). However, The Walking Dead may no longer be able to boast that it’s the highest rated drama on all of television for much longer, because it’s now running neck and neck with NBC’s This Is Us (15.75 million versus 15.70 million for the last week where 7 days of DVR ratings are available).
More concerning, however, is the downward trend in overnight ratings for The Walking Dead. This last week saw its lowest overnight ratings in four years when it only managed 10.16 million viewers, and some outlets are characterizing that as “dangerous” for the AMC series. It’s not, and anyone who suggests that ratings for The Walking Dead are in a free fall is wrong, because the overnight ratings do not take into account the other 5 million viewers who watch it on their DVR (or the millions that download it illegally), nor do the overnight numbers emphasize that The Walking Dead is still the most dominant drama on television.
Nevertheless, there is a downward trend. However, the drop from 17 million overnight viewers to 12 million overnight viewers after the seventh season premiere is misleading. Yes, it fell five million viewers after one episode, but more people than usual watched the premiere live, and overnight ratings have averaged in the 14 million range in past years. Nevertheless, overnight ratings have dropped from 12 million to 10 million over the course of this season. There is noticeable erosion in viewership (some of which may be attributed to Donald Trump, strangely), and there is some concern over the longevity of a series Robert Kirkman and AMC hope to run for at least 12 seasons. In the unlikely event that the ratings continue to decline at its current rate — shedding around 2 million viewers per season — the series would probably bottom out at around 5 million overall viewers per week in 2022 and end its run with a relative thud (and yet, still be one of the highest rated shows on cable).
There is one way, however, that AMC could virtually guarantee that ratings would not only stabilize, but perhaps even rebound, and it’s a plan that’s worked for a many other shows in the past, including Lost and Breaking Bad. It is this: Announce an end date. It doesn’t have even have to be an end date in the near future — The Americans announced their end date in 2016 for 2018; Justified and Breaking Bad let us know two seasons in advance that they were ending their run; Mad Men and Lost announced their end dates three years in advance, and most viewers had a rough idea that Game of Thrones would end after seven seasons after the third season (it has since been extended to eight seasons, although the final two are shortened).
AMC should follow in their footsteps. After this year’s season finale, The Walking Dead should announce an end date five years into the future.
ABC
A fixed end date — no matter how far off — gives viewers at least some sense that the show will not have an open-ended run, and that’s especially important for a series like The Walking Dead, which often spins its wheels (as Lost did after season three). With no end in sight, viewers are more likely to bail because they don’t have a good sense of if or when a series will ever conclude. An end date also lets us speculate on the finale and offers hope that we may one day get some answers about whether a cure is possible, if the zombie virus will go dormant, or if it will eventually run its course and everyone on the planet will die. Most importantly, it will give showrunner Scott Gimple an end to focus on.
An end game is important for any series, but especially so in a drama that has already been running for seven seasons. Even the best dramas run out of gas after six or seven seasons, and with the exception of Grey’s Anatomy, serialized dramas simply are not built this long (and Grey’s Anatomy, which has run for 13 seasons, has a lot of episodic elements to it). Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries have also run longer, but nothing on the level of The Walking Dead, which is expected to keep the attention of 15 million viewers year after year.
Twelve seasons would be an incredibly impressive run, and if AMC were wise, it would make that official. It gives the series enough time to finish the existing run of The Walking Dead comics and begin a slow march toward the end. However, instead of hobbling toward the end date while shedding viewers along the way, it could stabilize the existing fanbase (and perhaps add new viewers who pick it up knowing there’s an endgame) into 2022. By that time, hopefully AMC will have found a new flagship series to replace what would still be, by that point, the second longest running serialized drama of the modern era and The Walking Dead could theoretically still go out with its head held high.
Dustin Rowles
2 days ago
FACEBOOKTWITTER
AMC
The good news for fans of the AMC series is this: The Walking Dead is the highest rated drama on cable, and it’s not even close. Once DVR viewership is accounted for, it still average over 15 million viewers a week. On cable right now, The Walking Dead’s closest scripted competition is Major Crimes on TNT with 4.2 million people (which isn’t even as many viewers as the 5 million that watch The Talking Dead). However, The Walking Dead may no longer be able to boast that it’s the highest rated drama on all of television for much longer, because it’s now running neck and neck with NBC’s This Is Us (15.75 million versus 15.70 million for the last week where 7 days of DVR ratings are available).
More concerning, however, is the downward trend in overnight ratings for The Walking Dead. This last week saw its lowest overnight ratings in four years when it only managed 10.16 million viewers, and some outlets are characterizing that as “dangerous” for the AMC series. It’s not, and anyone who suggests that ratings for The Walking Dead are in a free fall is wrong, because the overnight ratings do not take into account the other 5 million viewers who watch it on their DVR (or the millions that download it illegally), nor do the overnight numbers emphasize that The Walking Dead is still the most dominant drama on television.
Nevertheless, there is a downward trend. However, the drop from 17 million overnight viewers to 12 million overnight viewers after the seventh season premiere is misleading. Yes, it fell five million viewers after one episode, but more people than usual watched the premiere live, and overnight ratings have averaged in the 14 million range in past years. Nevertheless, overnight ratings have dropped from 12 million to 10 million over the course of this season. There is noticeable erosion in viewership (some of which may be attributed to Donald Trump, strangely), and there is some concern over the longevity of a series Robert Kirkman and AMC hope to run for at least 12 seasons. In the unlikely event that the ratings continue to decline at its current rate — shedding around 2 million viewers per season — the series would probably bottom out at around 5 million overall viewers per week in 2022 and end its run with a relative thud (and yet, still be one of the highest rated shows on cable).
There is one way, however, that AMC could virtually guarantee that ratings would not only stabilize, but perhaps even rebound, and it’s a plan that’s worked for a many other shows in the past, including Lost and Breaking Bad. It is this: Announce an end date. It doesn’t have even have to be an end date in the near future — The Americans announced their end date in 2016 for 2018; Justified and Breaking Bad let us know two seasons in advance that they were ending their run; Mad Men and Lost announced their end dates three years in advance, and most viewers had a rough idea that Game of Thrones would end after seven seasons after the third season (it has since been extended to eight seasons, although the final two are shortened).
AMC should follow in their footsteps. After this year’s season finale, The Walking Dead should announce an end date five years into the future.
ABC
A fixed end date — no matter how far off — gives viewers at least some sense that the show will not have an open-ended run, and that’s especially important for a series like The Walking Dead, which often spins its wheels (as Lost did after season three). With no end in sight, viewers are more likely to bail because they don’t have a good sense of if or when a series will ever conclude. An end date also lets us speculate on the finale and offers hope that we may one day get some answers about whether a cure is possible, if the zombie virus will go dormant, or if it will eventually run its course and everyone on the planet will die. Most importantly, it will give showrunner Scott Gimple an end to focus on.
An end game is important for any series, but especially so in a drama that has already been running for seven seasons. Even the best dramas run out of gas after six or seven seasons, and with the exception of Grey’s Anatomy, serialized dramas simply are not built this long (and Grey’s Anatomy, which has run for 13 seasons, has a lot of episodic elements to it). Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries have also run longer, but nothing on the level of The Walking Dead, which is expected to keep the attention of 15 million viewers year after year.
Twelve seasons would be an incredibly impressive run, and if AMC were wise, it would make that official. It gives the series enough time to finish the existing run of The Walking Dead comics and begin a slow march toward the end. However, instead of hobbling toward the end date while shedding viewers along the way, it could stabilize the existing fanbase (and perhaps add new viewers who pick it up knowing there’s an endgame) into 2022. By that time, hopefully AMC will have found a new flagship series to replace what would still be, by that point, the second longest running serialized drama of the modern era and The Walking Dead could theoretically still go out with its head held high.
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- May 15, 2003
Too many filler episodes or people are watching it in other ways
I'm wondering how you can be fat during the zombie apocalypse
Get rid of him and you save some food
I actually felt bad for him. When he inevitably dies, many tears will be shed
I'm wondering how you can be fat during the zombie apocalypse
Get rid of him and you save some food
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- May 2, 2012
I'm so bored with this show now, I barely pay attention. Just put it on to pass the time.
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- Jun 12, 2014
I've watched this show from the start and it has just gotten so slow moving and rinse/repeat with the storylines.
I continue to watch out of habit. I rarely find the episodes enjoyable.
I read the comics up to like issue 105 or something iirc, and then lost interest in them because at that time I enjoyed the show more and it had started going in different directions more noticeably.
I keep hoping the show turns around and gets good again but it's looking less and less likely.
I continue to watch out of habit. I rarely find the episodes enjoyable.
I read the comics up to like issue 105 or something iirc, and then lost interest in them because at that time I enjoyed the show more and it had started going in different directions more noticeably.
I keep hoping the show turns around and gets good again but it's looking less and less likely.
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- May 19, 2004
They really ought to deviate from the comic book and have some type of sci-fi element. It would be intriguing to know how or why the epidemic happened, maybe Rick & Co. start asking questions. The survival aspect against badder (and cornier) villains is getting old.
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- Dec 8, 2016
As bad as it sounds, AMC is still making a killing off this property despite the dip in ratings. There's no way they will end it in 2-3 years. So look forward to more zombies and more zombie-killing until the public starts tuning out enough for AMC to give a *bleep*
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- Jul 2, 2001
That will certainly, under no circumstances, ever happen.
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- Aug 22, 2012
I actually find this season to be one of the better ones, and overall the show is progressively better than a few seasons back.
-There will always be filler episodes, but they def cut down on those, I feel we are down to 2-3 per season the last couple
-They have got to find a new man for michone, just isn't believable with rick
-The King about to have the Carol yams before the war
-Would rather see Morgan venture solo than die off, my fave character that I hate
-I swear to god if they make us wait until next season for a battle with negan I will not be tuning in again
-Jesus is a better leader than Rick, better hair, and he needs a shorty soon
-They need to make Aaron a larger character or kill him off, I like him but every time I see him I am like he still alive?
-There will always be filler episodes, but they def cut down on those, I feel we are down to 2-3 per season the last couple
-They have got to find a new man for michone, just isn't believable with rick
-The King about to have the Carol yams before the war
-Would rather see Morgan venture solo than die off, my fave character that I hate
-I swear to god if they make us wait until next season for a battle with negan I will not be tuning in again
-Jesus is a better leader than Rick, better hair, and he needs a shorty soon
-They need to make Aaron a larger character or kill him off, I like him but every time I see him I am like he still alive?
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- Jul 18, 2012
I was cracking up when Morgan kicked that box real softly. I thought he was gonna do something really crazy. Well before he killed that guy anyways.
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- Nov 3, 2011
This. Ole now legged ***. Schift had me dying
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- Jul 2, 2001
You really think in the last 3 episodes we gonna see a war with Negan? The earliest would be possibly the next mid season finale
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- Mar 24, 2008
Yeah you better hope this season ends with at least the start of a war and some major character getting offed.
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- Dec 8, 2016
You know we aren't going to see who was actually offed until next season right?Yeah you better hope this season ends with at least the start of a war and some major character getting offed.
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Tru! This show man.
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- Aug 22, 2012
You really think in the last 3 episodes we gonna see a war with Negan? The earliest would be possibly the next mid season finale
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- Jan 15, 2005
I say all out war is next year for the first half season. Then when they come back in mid season premiere it will be that gap in the comics and maybe the whispers. At least I hope
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- Jul 2, 2001
This thread sleep
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- Sep 24, 2001
Im surprised this thread lasted this long, since the show has gone though some ROUGH patches. This season is pretty good though...
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RIP
This thread sleep
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- Jul 2, 2001
This is awful
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- Apr 15, 2004
Last weeks episode made me tune in
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- Jul 2, 2001
The Sasha and Rosita stuff is terrible, rest of the episode isn't awful.
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- Jan 15, 2005
The thread is asleep cause everyone it seems thinks the episodes are boring. This episode is ok. Rosita is just becoming annoying. Abe left her
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