'Fear the Walking Dead' Continues Ratings Freefall

We've been cautioning that it's too early to worry about the relatively low ratings for Fear The Walking Dead since the series returned for the second half of its second season. Well, maybe now it's time to worry. The third episode of season 2.2 last Sunday turned in another series-low ratings number, after the previous two episodes had already lowered the bar. Now the series' ratings decline is starting to look serious.

This past weekend's episode drew just short of 3 million total viewers, a total that's down almost 20 percent from last week's number, which was already a series low. Even worse, the series' rating in the 18-49 demographic fell four tenths of a point to 1.2, a drop of 25 percent from last week's series low. Young viewers are what advertisers care about, and they're the group that has traditionally been the most enthusiastic about zombie dramas.

FTWD still won the night among cable offerings, and it was up against a thrilling Texas-Notre Dame college football game on ABC, a rarity for a Sunday night. Even so, it's hard to see the trend in FTWD's ratings so far this season as anything but a concerning plunge.

The question is whether FTWD's ratings troubles are caused by its own quality, which has never been praised as highly as that of its parent series, or is it part of an overall cooling in enthusiasm for zombie dramas? We'll know for sure this October, when season seven of The Walking Dead premieres.