Sunday Night Cable: 'Westworld' Wins, 'Walking Dead' Loses

The Walking Dead is still, by far, the most-watched series on cable TV, but its ratings trend so far this season has been consistently in a downward direction. Over on HBO on Sunday nights, Westworld looks like it's starting to pick up steam to become the second-most-popular cable-TV fantasy on Sunday nights.

This week's fourth episode of TWD's seventh season continued to lose viewers, as the episode turned in ratings that were down by 5 percent compared to the week before. The season's debut episode delivered huge ratings--along with huge controversy--but each subsequent episode has racked up lower and lower ratings. Episode four was down a staggering 36 percent from the season premiere in the 18-49 age demographic.

The news is better for Westworld, which saw its ratings edge up this week compared to last week. The new series is holding steady, and although its ratings are a fraction of TWD's, Westworld still manages to be the most-watched Sunday-night cable show that doesn't involve zombies or Real Housewives.

TWD has a long way to go to turn the season around; it's just halfway through the first half of its seventh season. Westworld, on the other hand, is beginning to wind down; it has just three more episodes to go in its debut season.