Not even The Walking Dead can stay on top forever.
Despite AMC’s bold projection for another decade of flesh-munching action, season 8 of The Walking Dead is struggling to maintain any consistency on the ratings front, after “The Big Scary U” slumped to a six-year low – not since November of 2011 has TWD scored a 3.4 rating among adults aged 18-49, the key demographic.
Yes, this is the lowest score for The Walking Dead since season 2’s “Secrets,” which only mustered 3.1 from the 18-49 audience. To be fair, “The Big Scary U” faced strong competition from both Sunday Night Football and the American Music Awards, which occupied NBC and ABC, respectively. Even still, this is a 13 percent dip from last week’s well-received (and Ezekiel-centric) “Some Guy.”
Viewership-wise, The Walking Dead season 8 hasn’t managed to pull in the same numbers as previous instalments, but with a winter finale imminent (December 10th) and the rest of the All-Out War storyline still to come, we’re confident that AMC’s flagship will be able to gain some ground on the ratings front over the coming weeks.
For the sake of perspective, here’s a recap of season 8’s ratings thus far, with “Some Guy” marking the only upturn since The Walking Dead returned late last month.
Episode 8×01: 11.44 million (5.0)
Episode 8×02: 8.92 million (4.0)
Episode 8×03: 8.52 million (3.8)
Episode 8×04: 8.69 million (3.9)
Episode 8×05: 7.85 million (3.4)
Season 8 of The Walking Dead will shuffle back onto the airwaves this Sunday, November 26th, with the premiere of “The King, the Widow, and Rick.” And there may be hope for Negan’s backstory yet, after Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick hinted that AMC may include a nod to the bat-wielding maniac in the upcoming Walking Dead/Fear The Walking Dead crossover.
