AMC Networks boss credits Orphan Black for Killing Eve's success, says The Walking Dead's bleak seasons probably pushed viewers away

UPROXX

In an extensive conversation with the Los Angeles Times, AMC Networks president Sarah Barnett said "we did this study and we realized the reason people liked a show like Orphan Black was not because it was sci-fi. They liked it because it was propulsive, it was surprising, and it was one of the few shows at that time that had complicated representations of women, that had a lot to say about sexual identity, that had stuff to say about women and their bodies and science. ... I don’t know that we’d have gotten to Killing Eve if we hadn’t done that research, because I think you would have thought that it was, frankly, not a good use of investment to go for something that wasn’t sci-fi." As for The Walking Dead, Barnett says the Negan-focused episodes "became a little too hopeless for audiences. I think that there was creative intention behind it that was really smart and thoughtful, but it I think it probably pushed people to a place where it was a lot to take at a time when maybe people just didn’t want to see that." ALSO: Sarah Barnett says analytics-based streaming shows "will hurt the quality and diversity of television and we stand to counter to that."