Is it really the end for Duck Dynasty?
The show once dominated television with extremely high ratings. But ever since its patriarch Phil Robertson sounded off on homosexuality as a sin during an interview with GQ magazine, the show received flak and a dip in ratings eventually followed.
He was suspended briely from the show, but A&E later welcomed him back, especially after the Robertson family strongly rallied behind him.
But the show's ratings have really suffered since then. The Inquisitr shared that 2014's Season 6 numbers averaged 3.8 million viewers, a drop of more than 40 percent from the 6.5 million who watched Season 5. The show is even further from its peak viewership during Season 4.
Experts, however, point to several other factors aside from Phil's scathing gay comments.
Zap2It noted, "With a very rare handful of exceptions, just about every successful show — from "American Idol" to "Modern Family" — goes through this kind of ratings cycle. That "Duck Dynasty" was able to hit the heights it did was pretty remarkable; its subsequent drop may have been steeper, but the fact that it came down to earth again is just business as usual."
Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune said, "What happened? Frankly, the Robertsons' drift away from their show and onto side projects was reflected in the audience's attention span. Which should be fine. After all, as we've detailed here before, the whole point of doing a reality show is to catapult you to bigger and better things. The Robertsons have that now: They have their increasing line of businesses, such as the latest with the Robertson wives (Korie, Jessica, Missy) launching a line of handbags."