Man, I can't stand Gimple! I'm only adding snippets from the article. The whole thing can be found here:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/apos-walking-dead-apos-star-161500353.html
'The Walking Dead' Star Was Told During Show Event That His Character Would Die
Gina Carbone
MoviefoneApril 9, 2018
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Here's that section of the Q&A:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Start of off by telling us the how, when, and where of you finding out about Simon's untimely demise?
STEVEN OGG: [Showrunner Scott] Gimple talked to me. It could have been at the premiere. It was at some event where I sort of found out, "Oh yeah, you're going to be dying." I was like, "Oh, that would have been cool to find out
tomorrow." That's the way of the world. That's the life of the show. It was just like, you know, you're sad. You're bummed because it's your friends and your family and it's work, and it's a job. More importantly, it's your friends and your family. You love it and, "Okay, yeah. Well, as long as I go down in flames. Can I get a big cannonball?"
Scott Gimple may need to work on his bedside manner. ..........
.....But Gimple has taken a lot of heat in the past year, especially for the decision to kill off Carl Grimes, and the manner in which that happened.
Chandler
Riggs said he was blindsided by his character's exit, after he bought a house in the Atlanta area and thought he was staying on the show. Riggs' father also posted frustration with Gimple and the network, then deleted his post.
It sounds like Steven Ogg didn't have the best departure experience either. He had only been on the show since the end of Season 6, but still. To be told at a premiere, or panel event? TWD loses characters all the time, so maybe it's tough to make that phone call or sit down with someone to spell it out......"
And it seems Gimple is asking fans to watch the show live....for their own benefit. (!?) Right, like ratings have nothing to do with it.
In true Gimple-speak: (snippets)
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‘Walking Dead’ Boss Wants Fans to Watch His Show ‘Live’ – and It’s Not for the Ratings
Fans “can’t all pile in to the same house, but I’d love for them all to watch it at the same time,” Scott Gimple tells TheWrap
Ashley Boucher | Last Updated: April 9, 2018 @ 5:21 PM
https://www.thewrap.com/walking-dea...ch-his-show-live-and-its-not-for-the-ratings/
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“Walking Dead” fans: if you’ve got a watch party planned for Sunday night’s Season 8 finale, you’re helping to make Scott Gimple’s day.
The “Walking Dead” boss told TheWrap in an interview ahead of the finale that he hopes fans make watching the show a chance to “share an experience.”
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Gimple recognized that the TV landscape looks a lot different than it did when the show started in 2010, and noted that although “Walking Dead” ratings are down, “ratings across television have gone down. And that people are watching TV in a lot of different ways.”
In other words, it’s easy to skip watching your favorite show on cable or network TV to stream it later. But by not tuning in to the live broadcast, viewers can miss out on the shared experience of those OMG moments “TWD” is known for.
“For a show that started in 2010, the entire world has changed over those 8 years,” Gimple added. “If ‘The Walking Dead’ was a person and just sort of, like, zapped into 2018, they wouldn’t recognize the world anymore. So it’s absolutely fair play to bring up that the ratings have gone down on ‘Walking Dead,’ but it is a little silly not to bring up the entirety of television.”
Despite ratings being down from the show’s height in Season 5 — the premiere drew 17.3 million — “The Walking Dead” still pulls relatively big numbers every week. The Season 8 premiere drew 11.4 million zombie fans.
“I like hearing about high ratings of any TV show nowadays just because I like the idea of people watching it together, and of people having an experience together,” Gimple said. “And I want to continue to work on ways to tell stories that encourages people to watch it all on the same night. [Fans] can’t all pile in to the same house, but I’d love for them all to watch it at the same time and share an experience.”