Something to Fear? Walking Dead Spin-Off Ratings Fall Again

When Fear The Walking Dead, the new spin-off of the extremely popular The Walking Dead, debuted on AMC a few weeks ago, it looked like the cable network had another monster hit on its hand. The series' premiere episode set a new ratings record, and its ratings numbers were on a par with those of the original series. Subsequent episodes have suggested, however, that as the novelty wears off, Fear the Walking Dead might have a tough path to travel.

The series' first episode drew about 10.1 million total viewers, an audience that is nearly as big as the ones that tune in to regular episodes of the original Walking Dead series. The second episode, though, drew only 8.2 million viewers, a drop of 20 percent. That in itself wouldn't necessarily have been cause for concern - no one really expected the series to keep pace with its parent - if there hadn't been another big fall-off with the airing of the series' third episode. That episode drew 7.2 million viewers, a fall of about 12 percent from the previous episode and a whopping 30 percent from the debut episode.

The continued slide is certainly cause for concern. Fan reaction to the series has been mixed but with a fair proportion of negative responses from viewers who find the pace too slow and its plotting clumsy. The question now becomes whether the bad taste left in the mouths of fans from Fear the Walking Dead will have a negative impact on The Walkng Dead itself when that series' new season premieres in October.