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“The Walking Dead” Hits 6-Year Ratings Low as Negan Storyline Continues to Lose Viewers

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At the risk of coming off like we’re piling on “The Walking Dead” (personally speaking, I’ve been a huge fan and defender of the show since the very beginning), we do think it’s important to talk about what’s happening with the show right now.

What’s happening, you ask? Well, viewers are continuing to tune out in droves this season, with the latest ratings report showing some serious cause for concern: the most recent episode, titled “The Big Scary U,” brought the hit AMC series to a six-year ratings low, pulling in just 7.85 million viewers this past Sunday night.

That’s the lowest number of viewers “The Walking Dead” has had since way back in 2011, when 6.89 million people tuned in for Season 2’s second to last episode.

Mind you, as it’s always important to point out, “The Walking Dead” continues to be a ratings juggernaut despite its recent ratings troubles; most shows would sacrifice goats and cut off hands to grab as many viewers as the series continues to. But it’s at least worth discussing what’s going on, if only to try and figure out WHY it’s going on.

With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 83%, “The Big Scary U” is one of the best reviewed episodes of Season 8, mostly serving to humanize Negan in a way that has altogether made him a more interesting, realistic villain. Of course, the issue isn’t so much with Sunday night’s episode, but rather that many just plain didn’t watch it.

Oddly enough, the previous week’s episode, “Some Guy,” was critically acclaimed across the board – yours truly, in a piece here on Bloody Disgusting last week, dubbed it Season 8’s best episode – so it’s certainly interesting to see the ratings dip in the wake of such a solid hour of television. “Some Guy” actually brought an uptick to the show’s ratings, besting the previous week’s 8.52 million viewers by pulling in 8.69 million viewers. So why then did nearly one million people tune out this past Sunday?

If you look back at the numbers, you’ll see that the ratings slide began back in Season 7, which kicked off with one of the most watched episodes in the series’ history (it promised, after all, a bombshell resolution to the show’s biggest cliffhanger) but then started pulling in weekly numbers considerably lower than it had been enjoying at that time. Of course, Season 7 is when Negan came onto the scene as the show’s new villain, suggesting that viewers, well, they’re just not all that into the Negan vs. Rick feud; interesting, given it was the show’s most anticipated storyline for many years.

The war between Rick and Negan was kicked into high gear right out of the gate in Season 8, and yet, many of the show’s faithful viewers just haven’t been sticking around to see how it all plays out. Of course, it’s only natural for the episodes sandwiched in-between premieres and finales to pull in numbers much lower than those premieres and finales, but even Season 8’s premiere drew in numbers that paled in comparison to those of other season premieres. And again, subsequent numbers have only continued to experience drops that are way more concerning than the show’s have ever been.

The easy explanation for this dilemma? “The Walking Dead” hasn’t exactly been must-watch television since its shocking Season 7 premiere, and the week-to-week numbers have been a reflection of that simple fact. Despite being one of the most fan-favorite storylines from Robert Kirkman’s comic books, the show’s version of the so-called “all-out war” has been decidedly lackluster, and it seems to me that viewers have caught on to the fact that they won’t be missing much as long as they tune in for the mid-season finale on December 10. You can expect the numbers to jump significantly on that date, but until then, what are the stakes of this war if we know all of the main characters are immune to its horrors? And with no real stakes, why should anyone care?

“The Walking Dead” has for years been sticking to a pretty clear formula, one that ensures that major happenings are for the most part entirely exclusive to season/mid-season premieres and finales. And I think that formula is hurting Season 8 more than any other season because we’re in the midst of a war that *needs* casualties in order to be compelling; alas, we’ve all caught on to the fact that substantial casualties very likely won’t be sustained until the night of December 10. If nothing much is going to be happening between now and then, can you really blame viewers for spending their Sunday nights doing something else?

And if Rick, Daryl and all of our favorite characters continue to be almost supernaturally bulletproof, is it even worth being invested in their plights anymore?

For a show like “The Walking Dead,” there are of course stakes and storytelling techniques beyond character deaths – simple things like a change of scenery and some fresh storylines would go a long way to keep things interesting. But Season 8, in particular, needs to start spilling some blood (the blood of important characters, that is) if it hopes to keep viewers interested. After all, the only real water cooler conversation we’ve gotten out of the season so far was the death of a computer-generated tiger, which one could argue just isn’t compelling enough.

Here’s hoping the “all-out war” starts feeling like one real soon.

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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