Dead On Its Feet

Last night was the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead.  It's one of the shows I sort of watch, but sort of don't--if I miss it, no big deal.

But this ninth season has been a big deal, since Rick, the hero from the start, left. (But--Spoiler Alert--he didn't die, he miraculously survived to do some Walking Dead TV movies.  Another character, Maggie, also left, which much less fanfare). So how has the show gone on without him?

The short answer is who cares? The Walking Dead never made much sense, and really said everything it had to say by around season three.  Even with Rick gone, there are plenty of other audience favorites to keep the story moving forward.  The plot has jumped ahead several years (so that Rick's daughter is grown up enough to shoot people) and still has, among others, Daryl, Michonne, Carol, Ezekiel and Eugene.  And it's still got Negan, who, for an enterprising villain, sure took a long time to escape from his cell.

So the question now is how to build a new society. (Though hasn't that always been the question?)  And we know, in the new storyline, people will continue to do stupid things that get themselves in trouble, and occasionally killed.  And the zombies will keep popping up in inexhaustible numbers at unfortunate times doing whatever it is they're required to do.  The biggest change in the past few years is the downward slump in audience size.  That's the only thing that could really end it all.

PS  That sitcom built around Sue Heck has been rejected by ABC.  I haven't seen the pilot, but I'm guessing it's just as well.  Sue Heck was a great character on The Middle, but I'm not sure if an entirely new show with her at the center would work. As it was, it was hard to keep her peppy character going into college and adulthood.