Sunday Final Nationals: ‘The Walking Dead’ Opens Eighth Season On Par with its Season Seven Average

NBC led Sunday prime time with “Sunday Night Football”. The New England Patriots’ win over the Atlanta Falcons (19.24 million viewers on NBC), in a rematch from Super Bowl LI, was up 9 percent in total viewers from the year-ago SNF game (17.7 million for Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals from Oct. 23, 2016).

The live plus same day data for the eighth season premiere telecast of “The Walking Dead” (11.44 million viewers, 5.03 adults 18-49 rating) was similar to its 16-night season seven average (about 11.3 million, 5.4 adults 18-49 rating) from 2016-17. On the downside, it was the least watched fall premiere since 2012 and lowest rated fall premiere (among adults 18-49) since 2011. Despite its erosion, “The Walking Dead” remains as TV’s No. 1 scripted series among adults 18-49, as of Oct. 22 — the summer 2017 season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” (4.8 average rating) may overtake it soon.

Cable Rankings – Sunday 10/22/17
What follows are the top 100 most-watched shows in prime time on cable (by order of network) for Sunday, October 22: