Duck Dynasty returned for its fifth season Wednesday night to 8.5 million viewers, down 28% from last year's record opener, which was the top non-fiction telecast in cable history.
The one-hour episode, the first since Phil Robertson's controversial GQ interview, averaged slightly higher than the 8.4 million who tuned into last year's finale. Duck Dynasty also dipped 33% with adults 18-49 to 4.2 million and 35% among the 25-54 crowd to 4.1 million.
The fifth season premiere marked the first time that Duck Dynasty suffered a year-over-year loss for a season debut.
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