‘Duck Dynasty’ season 5: As we near premiere, will Phil Robertson leave impact?

Over the past week or so, things have really started to quiet down when it comes to “Duck Dynasty.” A&E has reinstated Phil Robertson after some controversial comments to GQ got him suspended indefinitely, and the strategy for everyone involved seems to be to just do everything within their power to move forward, and act as though nothing ever really happened here in the first place.

Is that really going to work? Here is the thing: It’s going to be hard. While Twitter indicates that the majority of “Duck Dynasty” fans continued to support Phil through the initial story and the fallout, there was still a minority who had been turned off by him. Those people still count in the ratings.

For some of these people, the metaphorical bubble surrounding this show has been broken. The trouble for any reality show trying to sell you on “real-life” scenarios, whether it is this one, “Jersey Shore,” “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” or any of the “Real Housewives,” is that they have to do a good job keeping up the illusion. “Duck Dynasty” was struggling with this even before the scandal broke in that you rarely saw the sort of impact that the family’s fame had on them while watching the show. Now, the family has a very different shift in tone publicly versus what you see on TV. Knowing that there is more than what you’re seeing with any “reality” TV star is always problematic.

We still believe that season 5 is going to be a huge hit for A&E, especially the premiere; but, we feel like the viewership will slip down significantly by the time the season comes to a close.

Do you think that Phil is going to make an impact on the “Duck Dynasty” ratings, or do you think that this was a show destined to start its slow descent at this point to begin with? Share some of your thoughts below.