'Sunday Night Football' Crushes 'Walking Dead' Midseason Finale by 11 Million Viewers

Sorry, zombies: Sunday night is still Football Night in America.

The weekend-ending midseason finale of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” bit off 14 million total viewers — up 6 percent from the prior week — but NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” scored 25.2 million. Impressively, the game marked the fifth “SNF” game this season with 25-plus million viewers. Who says live viewing is dead? (Answer: anyone without NFL programming.)

Episode 608 of “The Walking Dead” attracted 8.9 million total viewers from the all-important 18-49 demographic, good for a national rating of 7.02. In the older-shifted 25-54 demo, the pre-winter-break episode landed 8.6 million viewers. Both of those demos were also up 6 percent versus the previous week.

The big Denver Broncos-New England Patriots game earned an 8.5 in the main 18-49 demo, per fast national numbers. That translates to 10.8 million viewers. Read more about Sunday’s broadcast competition here; final national numbers for the contest are expected tomorrow.

Also Read: Why 'Walking Dead's' Daryl May Be Next Character to Die

At 10 p.m., the third episode of AMC’s “Into the Badlands” reached 5.2 million total viewers, up 7 percent from last week. In the key 18-49 demo, its 3.1 million viewers and 2.46 national rating is up 8 percent. The same viewer total among adults 25-54 jumped 12 percent.

To be fair to AMC, however, the cable channel (like many) does not report its Nielsen ratings until three-day delayed viewing numbers are available. “The Walking Dead” and “Into the Badlands” should rise far more than the live sporting event. Roughly, both scripted dramas should increase by about one-third or so in Live + 3 Day delayed viewing. That said, “Sunday Night Football” won’t be in any danger of losing its first-place claim even when those come in.

The gap between the top Sunday offerings will close even more when Live + 7 Day numbers become available.

Additionally, broadcast simply reaches more TV sets than cable does. Our final asterisk: primetime football has the benefit of an earlier start, which provides more potential tune-in. “The Walking Dead” has a 9 o’clock start.

16 Shocking TV Show Deaths Fake Outs Ranked: 'Game of Thrones' to 'Bates Motel' (Photos)

No, he's not officially back, but Jon Snow (Kit Harington) being alive is just about the worst kept secret in Westeros. You can thank eagle-eyed fans and airport paparazzi for this non-mystery, as well as Harington's much scrutinized hair.
HBO
Fan-favorite Glenn (Steve Yuen) had managed to survive "The Walking Dead" for six seasons, but that appeared to come to an end as he was attacked and buried under a zombie horde. But using the recently deceased Nicholas' body as a human shield, he survived - though it took three weeks for the show to answer the "Is he dead?" question.

Also Read: ‘Walking Dead’ Star Andrew Lincoln Reveals What Steven Yeun Told Him About Glenn’s Fate
AMC
The mother of all shocking death fake-outs, Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) died in a car accident, setting the story arc for an entire season of "Dallas" -- only for it all to have been a dream.

Also Read: ‘Dallas’ Revival Efforts Fail: ‘It Did Not Work Out’
CBS
On a show with a magical pit of water that brings people back to life, "Arrow's" dead are usually just "mostly" dead. So far, the Lazarus Pit has been used twice, to bring back Thea Queen (Willa Holland), and the then Sara Lance (Caity Lotz).

Also Read: ‘Arrow’ EP Teases Constantine’s Arrival, ‘The Flash’ Crossover and Resolution to Season-Premiere Death Shocker
The CW
Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) appeared to commit suicide in the Season 2 finale of "Sherlock," but since it's a show named after him, fans were skeptical that there wasn't something more afoot. And their suspicions were proved correct when the Season 3 premiere explained how and why he faked his own death.
BBC
"Family Guy" killed off its talking dog Brian, and he seemed to stay dead -- for a while at least and the Griffins even got a new dog. But Stewie has a time machine, and Brian is his best friend, so this death was probably always meant to be temporary.

Also Read: ‘Simpsons’-‘Family Guy’ Crossover Viewers Either Loved It or Hated It
Fox
"What's in the box?" It appeared to be Sara's (Sarah Wayne Callies) head, but "Prison Break" brought the character back anyway, and explained away the apparently decapitation by saying that it really wasn't her head after all.
Fox
"Scandal's" Jake (Scott Foley) got the Jon Snow treatment -- that is, stabbed multiple times and left for dead -- in Season 4, and the actor even prolonged the con by tweeting ominous goodbye-sounding messages, but it was all part of the scam as Jake was patched up in no time.
ABC
Persuaded to die in order to battle his hallucination of Patty (Ann Dowd) in the after-life, Kevin (Justin Theroux) willingly allowed himself to be killed, not realizing the guy who was supposed to bring him back decided to off himself seconds later. But by the next episode, he persevered, defeated his nemesis, and was seen digging himself out of his own grave. Just another night in Miracle, Texas.
HBO
Season 1 of "The 100" ended with Isaiah Washington's Chancellor Jaha making a noble sacrifice, staying behind on a dying space station in order for his people to make it safely to Earth and that appeared to be the end of him - until Season 2, when Jaha made one more last-ditch effort to get himself off the Ark, and succeeded.
The CW
Katee Sackhoff's Starbuck appeared to have died toward the end of "Battlestar Galactica's" third season, but she miraculously returned episodes later in the season finale. Her resurrection is never fully explained, and it only becomes more confusing when she discovers her own dead body in the final season.
Syfy
When he seemed to be cured of his deadly aversion to sunlight, "True Blood's" Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) went nude sunbathing -- just in time for the cure to end and things appear to come to a fiery end. It was the Season 6 cliffhanger but by the Season 7 premiere, he was being rescued.
HBO
The mystery of Alison's murder was the throughline for much of the ABC Family teen drama "Pretty Little Liars," but she turned out to not be so dead after all, as was revealed in the Season 4 summer finale. She also turned out not to be the show's elusive villain "A," so the mystery continued.
ABC Family
When Colin Farrell's Ray was shot in the chest by a creepy bird-costume-wearing bad guy, it seemed like Season 2 of "True Detective" had just done something shocking - killed off its leading man 3 episodes in. But by the very next episode viewers saw that Ray was just fine.
HBO
"Teen Wolf" brought back the wrong Argent when Jill Wagner's Kate returned for Season 4. Her throat was ripped out in Season 1 and that seemed like the end, but it was later revealed that she survived by becoming a werejaguar instead.
MTV
"Bates Motel" appeared to kill of Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga) in the penultimate episode of Season 4, but chances are you will be seeing her overbearing mother figure again
A&E

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Shows have royally riled up their fan bases by killing off major characters only to bring them back

No, he's not officially back, but Jon Snow (Kit Harington) being alive is just about the worst kept secret in Westeros. You can thank eagle-eyed fans and airport paparazzi for this non-mystery, as well as Harington's much scrutinized hair.

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16 Shocking TV Show Deaths Fake Outs Ranked: 'Game of Thrones' to 'Bates Motel' (Photos)

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