Scott M. Gimple has a problem in his hands with ‘The Walking Dead‘ and it isn’t zombies. Ever since the showrunner took over, AMC’s smash hit series has been going down and fans have been jumping overboard progressively each season. In fact, the recent midseason finale “How It’s Gotta Be” had the lowest ratings of any of these midseason episodes since the midseason finale of Season 2 way back in 2011.
Let that sink in. We were given an extended episode, full of action, with an ending that was promising to change the shape of the show forever. With all of that in mind, it ended up only averaging a 3.4 rating in adults 18-49 and 7.9 million viewers. While this was up since last week’s viewership of a 3.3 rating and an audience of 7.5 million, it was still the lowest in six years.
While you process that, it should be noted that the entire Season 8 run so far has been running low on viewers compared to what has aired in the past. The premiere, which was also the oversized 100th episode, was the lowest views since the third season.
I will warn you right now that I’m about to include the spoiler from the end of the episode, so if you’ve somehow avoided it so far, you should turn back right now.
The show has often deviated from the comics, but the end of the last episode really changed the game here. Kirkman has often said that his endgame would include Carl and that he was the only character which could truly be safe going forward. With things clearly revolving around the younger Grimes it seems that Gimple no longer wants to follow that playbook.
From writing to bad shots, there are a lot of areas people have been complaining about. I still end up turning in every week myself but how long that can go on is always questionable.
Are you a fan of ‘The Walking Dead’? Have you been enjoying the direction of the series or has the show been turning you off recently? Share your thoughts on what you like and dislike about the series below!
Source: TV Line
