Fantastic read, Alex. Like most that spend any amount of time on review sites, I had known that this show was fading into obscurity but I had never actually seen the numbers behind it until now. You have to wonder how much this waning interest impacted the general atmosphere on the sets for the last few years.
Count me as one of the many that dipped during the Negan storyline. I know many claimed to have dipped after *THAT* brutal season opener but I remember sticking around a while after that. The unbearable nihilism was one thing -- but the biggest sin the show committed was that it was just downright boring and forgettable.
I always felt that Alexandria was a perfect endgame for the show. The storyline of our gang being practically feral at that point having to reintegrate with a somewhat "normal" society was unique and satisfying. The way they were able to defend themselves from that huge zombie horde that broke through the walls felt like perfect finale potential.
Not sure what it ever was that launched this show in particular to such highs, but I'm thankful it happened. It was a blast to be a part of this cultural phenomenon during its height. I feel I'm too disengaged from it at this point to ever want to return, but I hope that the finale was satisfying to those who stuck around, and that there's some quality to all those upcoming miniseries they have.
This was an excellent piece and analysis. A friend who watches a lot of TV was surprised it was still on and my partner (who used to be a dutiful fan) didn't even know it was ending. Fizzled out of the public consciousness indeed.
"But she has also succumbed to some of the show’s worst tendencies: refusing to kill people unexpectedly, dragging out stories that should be wrapped up quicker, and playing it too safe by half when it comes to shaking up the narrative."
Among the many ways in which the show has gotten much worse, the drastic shift away from anybody actually dying I think really hurt the show. Its not that I need a show to callously kill characters left and right to be enjoyable, but in this particular instance this change (a) caused the cast size to balloon to such a degree that a character can completely disappear for most of the season and then randomly appear as part of the group again 10 episodes later with no explanation and (b) completely removed the trademark suspense the show did quite well in the beginning where anybody was risk of dying by zombie bit in any episode. Character deaths have become so rare and are then strongly telegraphed when they do actually occur, there is very little suspense left.
It's still crazy to me that TWD did as well as it did, because what did the show actually do well that others didn't? Maybe it's become easy to focus on the bad as the show went on, but this was a weekly favourite of mine for years and now I don't think about it at all. I especially loved S5 when it aired. But looking back, there are definitely better shows with the same appeal that didn't have as large an audience. Hell, the comics are super successful on their own, but I doubt at any point they had a fraction of the audience the show had, despite being much less frustrating. Maybe there's something to be said about how much the show resonated with conservative audiences. Perhaps they were less attuned to more 'prestigious' shows that were probably getting the most praise from publications they weren't engaging with. Or maybe just the whole callous cowboy killing people fed into some sort of ideological power fantasy. It's hard to see that being the case if they handicapped Rick like they did in the comics (I'd argue that's still the show's most cowardly move, more so than any of the fakeout deaths.)
I think it's easy to forget how big of a deal this was when it was announced and first aired. The TV landscape was different back then. This was a cult comic that was being created by the guy that did the Shawshank Redemption. It was huge. And it was actually GOOD. Post-apocalyptic content wasn't huge back then, and you could argue it was the success of TWD that made it so. It launched the careers of Steven Yeun, and Jon Bernthal and so many others.
It was up there with GoT as part of the second coming of really good TV. How far it has fallen. 11 years! That's the equivalent of a child's entire education. It's the equivalent of doing a Bachelor's, a Master's, and a PhD.
I won't miss it, because it's gotten so ridiculous, just like I haven't re-read any of the entire graphic novel series on my bookcase - I might even sell it all. But there's still no denying its cultural impact before it well and truly jumped the shark (post saviors storyline I would argue)
Just watched the finale, and it was so... meh. Didn't feel a thing. The ends of some series are like finishing a really good book. This just felt like relief that I got to the end.
I wonder how much of it is the show vs the medium. The Walking Dead was the first cable show to outrate every single broadcast network series. It represented the ratings high-point of an era when cable was stealing all of broadcast's viewers. In hindsight, that era was over just as it began. The Walking Dead never figured out how to remain relevant as a show most people watched on streaming first and foremost. It got disrupted.
"Is there a more clear-cut case of something being extended past its televisual sell-by date in recent memory than The Walking Dead, which concludes its run this weekend? "
I believe, from various perspectives, one can make a case for "The Flash" (CW), "The Simpsons" (FOX/Disney) and "Dexter" (Showtime).
I think I bailed sometime during season 5. Something about Terminus and the false hope of another safe haven just rubbed me the wrong way. It sort of made me reexamine why I wanted to spend my time watching this repeated misery cycle over and over.
It was certainly a fun cultural experience to be a part of in the early going. Can't take that away from it. I will never forget the visual of little zombie Sophia shuffling out of the barn in season 2.
When the Office was airing I bailed out sometime in the 5th season, because I thought it had already gone on too long and was already unfairly comparing it to the UK original in my head. When I heard Carrell was leaving and the show was still going on I watched his last two episodes just to be part of the cultural moment and then stopped watching, thinking it ridiculous that the protagonist, Michael Scott, being written out of the show wasn't a season finale let alone series.
So I started a rewatch of the entire series from the beginning during the pandemic and I'm just getting to Season 9 now and I've since become a semi-apologist for the later seasons of the show, even the entirely post-Carrell Seasons 8 and 9. I think it's fair to say the Office is an example of a show that lost a huge amount of both popularity and critical respect in its later years from once being near the top in both categories. But being in the process of watching probably the worst years of that show I don't think it's fair to say it's anywhere near as precipitous a decline as the last few years of "The Walking Dead". Of course i have to admit I haven't watched TWD since like season 2.
Fantastic read, Alex. Like most that spend any amount of time on review sites, I had known that this show was fading into obscurity but I had never actually seen the numbers behind it until now. You have to wonder how much this waning interest impacted the general atmosphere on the sets for the last few years.
Count me as one of the many that dipped during the Negan storyline. I know many claimed to have dipped after *THAT* brutal season opener but I remember sticking around a while after that. The unbearable nihilism was one thing -- but the biggest sin the show committed was that it was just downright boring and forgettable.
I always felt that Alexandria was a perfect endgame for the show. The storyline of our gang being practically feral at that point having to reintegrate with a somewhat "normal" society was unique and satisfying. The way they were able to defend themselves from that huge zombie horde that broke through the walls felt like perfect finale potential.
Not sure what it ever was that launched this show in particular to such highs, but I'm thankful it happened. It was a blast to be a part of this cultural phenomenon during its height. I feel I'm too disengaged from it at this point to ever want to return, but I hope that the finale was satisfying to those who stuck around, and that there's some quality to all those upcoming miniseries they have.
This was an excellent piece and analysis. A friend who watches a lot of TV was surprised it was still on and my partner (who used to be a dutiful fan) didn't even know it was ending. Fizzled out of the public consciousness indeed.
"But she has also succumbed to some of the show’s worst tendencies: refusing to kill people unexpectedly, dragging out stories that should be wrapped up quicker, and playing it too safe by half when it comes to shaking up the narrative."
Among the many ways in which the show has gotten much worse, the drastic shift away from anybody actually dying I think really hurt the show. Its not that I need a show to callously kill characters left and right to be enjoyable, but in this particular instance this change (a) caused the cast size to balloon to such a degree that a character can completely disappear for most of the season and then randomly appear as part of the group again 10 episodes later with no explanation and (b) completely removed the trademark suspense the show did quite well in the beginning where anybody was risk of dying by zombie bit in any episode. Character deaths have become so rare and are then strongly telegraphed when they do actually occur, there is very little suspense left.
It's still crazy to me that TWD did as well as it did, because what did the show actually do well that others didn't? Maybe it's become easy to focus on the bad as the show went on, but this was a weekly favourite of mine for years and now I don't think about it at all. I especially loved S5 when it aired. But looking back, there are definitely better shows with the same appeal that didn't have as large an audience. Hell, the comics are super successful on their own, but I doubt at any point they had a fraction of the audience the show had, despite being much less frustrating. Maybe there's something to be said about how much the show resonated with conservative audiences. Perhaps they were less attuned to more 'prestigious' shows that were probably getting the most praise from publications they weren't engaging with. Or maybe just the whole callous cowboy killing people fed into some sort of ideological power fantasy. It's hard to see that being the case if they handicapped Rick like they did in the comics (I'd argue that's still the show's most cowardly move, more so than any of the fakeout deaths.)
I think it's easy to forget how big of a deal this was when it was announced and first aired. The TV landscape was different back then. This was a cult comic that was being created by the guy that did the Shawshank Redemption. It was huge. And it was actually GOOD. Post-apocalyptic content wasn't huge back then, and you could argue it was the success of TWD that made it so. It launched the careers of Steven Yeun, and Jon Bernthal and so many others.
It was up there with GoT as part of the second coming of really good TV. How far it has fallen. 11 years! That's the equivalent of a child's entire education. It's the equivalent of doing a Bachelor's, a Master's, and a PhD.
I won't miss it, because it's gotten so ridiculous, just like I haven't re-read any of the entire graphic novel series on my bookcase - I might even sell it all. But there's still no denying its cultural impact before it well and truly jumped the shark (post saviors storyline I would argue)
Just watched the finale, and it was so... meh. Didn't feel a thing. The ends of some series are like finishing a really good book. This just felt like relief that I got to the end.
I wonder how much of it is the show vs the medium. The Walking Dead was the first cable show to outrate every single broadcast network series. It represented the ratings high-point of an era when cable was stealing all of broadcast's viewers. In hindsight, that era was over just as it began. The Walking Dead never figured out how to remain relevant as a show most people watched on streaming first and foremost. It got disrupted.
"Is there a more clear-cut case of something being extended past its televisual sell-by date in recent memory than The Walking Dead, which concludes its run this weekend? "
I believe, from various perspectives, one can make a case for "The Flash" (CW), "The Simpsons" (FOX/Disney) and "Dexter" (Showtime).
I think I bailed sometime during season 5. Something about Terminus and the false hope of another safe haven just rubbed me the wrong way. It sort of made me reexamine why I wanted to spend my time watching this repeated misery cycle over and over.
It was certainly a fun cultural experience to be a part of in the early going. Can't take that away from it. I will never forget the visual of little zombie Sophia shuffling out of the barn in season 2.
In re: the US Office
When the Office was airing I bailed out sometime in the 5th season, because I thought it had already gone on too long and was already unfairly comparing it to the UK original in my head. When I heard Carrell was leaving and the show was still going on I watched his last two episodes just to be part of the cultural moment and then stopped watching, thinking it ridiculous that the protagonist, Michael Scott, being written out of the show wasn't a season finale let alone series.
So I started a rewatch of the entire series from the beginning during the pandemic and I'm just getting to Season 9 now and I've since become a semi-apologist for the later seasons of the show, even the entirely post-Carrell Seasons 8 and 9. I think it's fair to say the Office is an example of a show that lost a huge amount of both popularity and critical respect in its later years from once being near the top in both categories. But being in the process of watching probably the worst years of that show I don't think it's fair to say it's anywhere near as precipitous a decline as the last few years of "The Walking Dead". Of course i have to admit I haven't watched TWD since like season 2.