I don't know. I have said to my husband that Walking Dead is a soap opera for guys. I know girls watch too, but it is built so men will like it a lot. It has many story arcs very similar to soap operas in how they play out and how realism sometimes needs to be put aside. Well when I watched Days of our Lives I and many others all the time said we are done, we can't take it anymore. Then we would maybe stop for a couple weeks, but always come back. Sometimes we didn't stop at all. I would fast forward boring parts, but still watch. Having twins kind of kicked my habit for good about 3 years ago when I was 40 episodes behind. I deleted all 40 episodes and stopped my season pass on my Tivo. I still read the magazine covers in the store and seriously can't watch one episode as I know I will be hooked again. So I feel like Walking Dead is like this. You watch one episode (like you said to see who dies) and it will pull you into the other story lines they start up in that season premier. I don't think ratings will drop as much as people think.