Did 'Walking Dead' Mid-Season Finale Lure Viewers Back?

Last week, it looked as if The Walking Dead might have stabilized its ratings collapse by airing, for the first time this season, an episode that didn't draw fewer viewers than the episode that came before it. Last week's episode, though, only ticked upward slightly in terms of viewership, and hope for a redemption of the series' season shifted to this week's mid-season finale.

The last episode before the winter hiatus has always been a reliable winner for TWD, and there was an expectation that many of those millions of viewers who'd tuned out so far in season seven would come back for the mid-year climax.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The mid-season finale did see a ratings gain compared to last week, but it was a miniscule one. The episode's 5.0 rating in the 18-49 age demographic was statistically a tie with last week's 4.95 rating, and this week's total viewership of 10.58 million is barely bigger than last week's 10.48 million.

The good news is that TWD avoiding having the lowest-rated mid-season finale since 2011, but again, not by much. The ratings for this season's mid-year finale are on a par with those of season three's.

At this point, it's beginning to look like TWD might have shed for good the millions of fans it gained during its peak years of 2014-2016. It's still one of the most-watched series on TV, but will it ever again be a must-watch cultural phenomenon? We'll have to keep our eyes on the second-half premiere in February for the next clue to the series' future.