In real life, people don’t like to see gore and violence, and might even consider themselves to have a weak stomach for that kind of thing.

However, gore and violence recently have become the norm in popular television culture. The much anticipated season seven premiere of The Walking Dead left fans in awe and didn’t fail to follow this new trend in television.

Six years ago The Walking Dead first aired on television and quickly climbed the ratings chart. Since then many similarly violent shows have aired, including Game of Thrones and American Horror Story.

American Horror Story and Game of Thrones definitely have left a mark on their audience, often leaving their viewers wondering, “Did I really just watch that?”

These shows have climbed the charts to become some of the most-watched programs on television.

In the new episode of The Walking Dead, a scene that was already heartbreaking took the drama to a new extreme by showing Negan, a new dictator in the post-apocalyptic world, beating two of the protagonists with a bat.

It feels as though television has become a competition of who can freak out the audience the most. And while some violence makes for a more realistic story and one that really pulls at the heartstrings, there is a point where fading to black would surely suffice.

However, television networks may not be completely to blame. With viewers and critics becoming increasingly harder to please, and as typical horror cliches become more played out, the only next step could be a more a graphic and violent story, writers seem to think.

But a more graphic scene does not necessarily mean a scarier one. It can be just plain unnecessary and rather distasteful.

Violence may create a more connectable story and cool effects may leave an audience in awe, but there has to be a line drawn when it’s just too much.