Angry at 'Walking Dead'? Vote with your remote
Are you still angry about last week's finale of "The Walking Dead"? The one in which a character's fate was, once again, left up in the air when the credits rolled? The one that gave fans 10 whole minutes with super-baddie Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan) after a year of teasing his introduction?
Remember that anger in October when the runaway hit returns to AMC for its seventh season. If you want showrunner Scott M. Gimple to start playing fair with his audience, show him your displeasure by not watching the premiere - because so far, the audience is telling AMC that these infuriating cliffhangers are exactly what it wants.
"The Walking Dead" is consistently the most-watched show on cable. (And all of television, for that matter.) Let's take a look at the cable ratings for the week of March 14-20: According to tvbythenumbers.com, "Walking Dead" was watched by more than 7.6 million viewers. The next-highest show? Chris Hardwick's post-"TWD" yakker, "The Talking Dead," with a little more than 3 million viewers. Everything below those two juggernauts drew fewer than 2 million viewers, including NCAA Tournament games. The second-best scripted drama that week? "The People Vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," with 1.478 million viewers.
"The Walking Dead" is a bona fide, live-watching phenomenon in the age of DVRs and streaming. Until people stop watching the show and its commercials at 8 p.m. Sunday, Gimple and Co. have no reason to change their game plan.
The 'Star Wars' standard
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" arrived last Friday on digital HD and this week on DVD and Blu-ray. The most popular theatrical release in the galaxy would have been the most popular home release without any extras, but Lucasfilm and Disney weren't stingy - not even for the digital release, which contains the same documentaries and deleted scenes as the physical release.
The "Star Wars" release should be a model for all film distributors looking to combat piracy and keep the money rolling in. Digital releases, via services like iTunes, vudu and Amazon, are hard sells to collectors because they so rarely contain the bonus features to which DVD buyers have become accustomed. (Not to mention the fact that you can't display your collection of digital movie files on a bookcase next to your "Orphan Black" Funko POP! figures.) But Disney, with its roster of sought-after franchises and animated classics, is one of those companies leading the flight away from physical media by bundling the bonuses with their digital HD films.
It was an easy decision: Wait until Tuesday and buy "The Force Awakens" at a store for $22.99, or spend $17.99 the previous Friday and get everything but the packaging and the discs. Option 2 leaves me room for even more Funko POP! figures.
• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.