20 years later, this is still the biggest mistake any TV show makes
Joshua Tyler | publishing
Often, when we discuss why something fails because of why we fail a series, it’s about the whole movie or series that performs poorly or missed scores. This time, I’m doing something different. Instead of watching the whole show, I wanted to amplify a specific decision.
It was such a bad, so disastrous decision that it not only wiped out the ratings of the TV show, but also eliminated the entire future. A decision, a moment completely ruined the most popular series on TV.
This is why killing Glenn failed.
The Walking Dead was once a popular generation
by the time Walking zombies This is Season 7 of 2016, the largest show on cable, attracting over 17 million viewers in its Season 7 premiere and dominant pop culture. The series is cementing a place that has one of the great TV shows of all time.
In the season 7 opener, Walking zombies Throw it all away. The show killed Glenn Rhee in the first episode of Season 7. This is a turning point that the series has never recovered.
From the outside, that’s something that ruins the show might not make any sense. By then, the series had killed dozens of major characters. Killing the beloved character has become The Walking Dead Trademark, that’s the problem.
By season 7, viewers have begun to question why they are watching the show. Week after week Walking zombies It brings endless pain and moments of death. Things never get better, the characters you love are always eaten.
The audience began to feel as if they were being abused
Steven Yeun’s Glenn Rhee has been performing since episode 2. He is one of the few remaining people who survived the original cast.
He is more than just a survivor. He is smart, loyal and resourceful. He is the moral compass, he saves Rick, takes the team from countless jams, and builds a credible, heartfelt relationship with Lauren Cohan. He is the only consistent highlight in the performance surrounding endless pain.
but, Walking zombies Glenn has been taken for granted. In Season 6, the show brings together an arc that fakes Glenn’s death and then teases the audience whether he’s still alive. Maybe that’s how they prepare the audience for the way the audience really killed him, but for fans, it’s starting to feel like they’re being abused.
Why Kill Glen to drive the audience away
In the season 7 premiere, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) killed Gludgeon in front of the entire group with a baseball bat, with a heavy loss. But it’s not just death. This is what does. The infamous “eye pop” and the lingering close-up of the long sadistic sadism make it feel less dramatic than a punishment for watching.
The audience has endured many character deaths before, but Glenn’s execution crossed a line. People are starting to question why they are still looking at this, wondering why they are going to take root. These are not questions Walking zombies Want the audience to ask because once they do it, the answer is nothing.
The Walking Dead’s massive ratings dropped after Glenn’s death
Ratings fell immediately. 17 million watched Glenn’s murder. Only 12 million are still watching the next episode. The third one is only 11 million. This decline never stopped. It has been accelerating. In the final season of the show, the average average audience per episode was less than 2 million.
Walking zombies The movie AMC announced that it never happened. It was cancelled and eventually reworked into a six-episode miniseries, which was predictable and no one had seen. It can hardly manage a million viewers.
The Walking Dead audience needs safety
When they kill Glenn, the emotional heart of the show disappears, replaced by the value of shock. The show’s production team believes they proved that no one was safe, but the audience already knew that, so they felt edgy. What their audience needs to feel safe, and Walking zombies Take it from them.
Defenders of the move want to point out that Glenn also died in the comics, but that’s irrelevant. By season 7, Walking zombies Firmly sure it doesn’t stick to comics Canon.
Beyond that, this original argument misses the importance of how death is handled. They not only killed the only hope in the show. They stomped it on the ground and spit.
In this way, they eliminated The Walking Dead The legacy of the future. No longer talking about the biggest TV show once loved by tens of thousands of enthusiastic fans. In the age of endless streaming, everything old is new, Walking zombies Actually dead. This is the reward for what they do to Glenn.
