It's niche. Zombies are popular these days. People will flock zombie like to watch a show with zombies in just because it's got zombies in. And it's well marketed. There are loads of TV shows out there that are much greater than Walking Dead but people won't watch them because they don't have zombies in. Try convincing someone to watch The Wire and they'll just stare at you blankly. Slap some zombos in it and they'll have binge watched it before you can finish your sentence.

But then I watch Walking Dead so I'm just as guilty. Though it's not really the zombie aspect that really interests me. More the exploration of collapsed society and how it would change people.

The problem is that occasionally WD is very good. So just as our soul has almost been drained by the unrelentingly, meandering filler episodes we get an awesome episode that relights the fires of hope. Unfortunately we never learn.

I genuinely think it has a lot to do with the mood in the world at the time. People wanted to escape our dreadful reality and imagine being in a post apocalypse where survival is the most important thing because it seemed way more exciting than our consumerist driven lives, with our horrible unjust society, where the rich get richer and the poor suffer etc etc... It just came at the right time for the climate that was around then. It still might be on top if the writing was good and they had that exciting show. Instead Game of Thrones took over since at least it can still shock and entertain people.

@JustinJackFlash said:

It's niche. Zombies are popular these days. People will flock zombie like to watch a show with zombies in just because it's got zombies in. And it's well marketed. There are loads of TV shows out there that are much greater than Walking Dead but people won't watch them because they don't have zombies in. Try convincing someone to watch The Wire and they'll just stare at you blankly. Slap some zombos in it and they'll have binge watched it before you can finish your sentence.

But then I watch Walking Dead so I'm just as guilty. Though it's not really the zombie aspect that really interests me. More the exploration of collapsed society and how it would change people.

The problem is that occasionally WD is very good. So just as our soul has almost been drained by the unrelentingly, meandering filler episodes we get an awesome episode that relights the fires of hope. Unfortunately we never learn.

** So just as our soul has almost been drained by the unrelentingly, meandering filler episodes we get an awesome episode that relights the fires of hope. Unfortunately we never learn. **

This is so true!! I may have started watch TWD because of the horror aspect, as I am a horror fan. But , I have stuck around to see Rick and his gang live in the ZA. He is mesmerizing to me, well, at least, he used to be. I am very disappointed with the state of the show these days. Season 6 and 7 were god-awful. JDM as Negan has been a pure unadulterated mess and faux pas. The show made a big mistake with him. His acting is sub-par and he is a joke. "Negan" works in the comics, but in TV he is campy and childish and just not scary.

@MongoLloyd said:

I mean, it's a basic zombie story, right? Get chased by zombies, kill some, get away and wait to get chased by zombies again?

Come on, people. WTF.

I had no interest to watch this show when it started - the third week in I was at work and the woman I work for told me I had to watch and put the first episode on (she had DVRd it) By the time Rick walked out of his hospital room I was hooked.

I have never been a zombie fan and what I liked, really LOVED. about TWD was watching society being forced to start over.

I almost feel that by now they are just re telling the same 2 stories over and over again - 1) Rick and Co. find a community - get head strong and ruin it OR 2)they are settling in - and bad guys come and ruin it for them. It is getting stale.

This is all interesting. I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories, so I'm gonna check it out but I'll probably scrub through the zombie nonsense.

I think people liked the idea of a tv series about a zombie apocalypse. The story and characters were captivating but after about season 6, the writing has gotten consistently worse. There is no character development and the story moves at a sluggish pace. Negan and his Saviors aren't interesting villains and these new characters, like Ezekiel and his Kingdom are quite boring. The lack of effort from the production team is painfully obvious as they seem to just be going through the motions while milking the popularity of the show for all it's worth without actually having to deliver anything worthwhile. If they continue at this rate, they will continue to lose viewers and at this point, the producers should really consider ending the show anyway because I doubt any of the main cast will stay with this series for as long as in the comic book. Eventually, the main actors (if they're wise enough) will want to move their careers in different direction.