Ratings: ‘Blood & Oil,’ ‘Once Upon a Time’ feel the pain of ‘The Walking Dead’

When you’ve got a show like “The Walking Dead” premiering on AMC, all other networks should just go ahead and enter the night with one simple expectation: Declines, and plenty of them. This is, after all, what happened to most of the primetime lineup on network TV.

For the time being, we are not going to put too much stock in the ratings over on CBS, given the fact that their air times were all out of whack thanks to an NFL overrun. What we can say with confidence right now is that ABC needs to either cut back on the 13-episode order for “Blood & Oil,” or simply prepare for a future without it. In posting a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic, this show was clearly impacted the most by the zombie drama, and we cannot see a future for it beyond the initial order.

Another indictment of North Dakota-set drama is merely the performance of some other shows on the night for ABC. Both “Once Upon a Time” and “Quantico” were reasonably steady with 1.6 ratings, and in between decent numbers and strong buzz behind Priyanka Chopra’s performance, “Quantico” seems to be very likely get an order for a full season. At the moment, “Blindspot” is the only new show that has been officially given this honor.

For those wondering what the ratings were for the premiere of “The Walking Dead,” that is a question we hope to have some further answers for in the near future. At the moment, we’re not altogether optimistic of it setting a new ratings record; even if it is reasonably close to season 5, AMC will have to be happy in an era where so many shows routinely fall apart once they get past the fourth or fifth season.