Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20171008010933/@comment-34911450-20180317121543

CoolDudeAl wrote: If you are truly a fan of something, you stick with it, even through rough patches, so if people gave up on the show, or fell behind and decided not to catch up, or whatever the reason is, then yeah, I would say they aren't fans, or at least they aren't commited fans. Also, regarding people who left because Snowing is gone or Emma is gone or whatever: liking one character or one ship means you are a fan of that character or that ship, not the show as a whole. Totally agree!

I for one am watching the show out of a sense of duty at this point. As you describe, there is a loyalty that develops over several seasons of enjoyment that cannot be ignored when the show suddenly drops out of the zone of enjoyment. I would argue that the ratings are inflated by people like me who watch it as a way to complete the story previously enjoyed rather than the enjoyment of any Season 7 episode.

I am also a fan of Mavel's Agents of Shield, so I was interested to watch Inhumans, but it was easy to stop watching Inhumans when it became obvious there was no real tie-in to Shield. In other words, Season 7 would have to outperform a stand alone, eight episode, unfamiliar show. So no comparison between Season 7 and Inhumans for fan base and willingness to watch, only the legitimate comparisons of no interesting characters or storyline.