‘Fear the Walking Dead’ episode 3 ratings down again
We really wish that we could say that we are surprised by the ratings for “Fear the Walking Dead” episode 3, but in all honesty, we’re really not. It makes sense that the ratings for the show would go down given the fact that the show took a week off for the Labor Day holiday, and also that for the first time the show was up against regular-season NFL football. This is something that always puts a dent in pretty much every show that is not the flagship “Walking Dead” series.
Overall, the second episode of the series drew in total 7.2 million viewers, with a solid 4.6 million of those coming in the 18-49 demographic. This is a drop of more than 10% from the second episode of the show, which was in turn down more than 10% from the series premiere. There are ultimately a few reasons to not be too stunned by this:
1. This is not a show that was coming in with little buzz like the original “Walking Dead.” It was already a huge franchise, and it had an opportunity to appeal to a wide audience. It doesn’t have momentum on its side.
2. Not everyone has loved the first three episodes. We’ve been for the most part high on them, but there is without dispute a significant change in pace for these in comparison to what we get from “The Walking Dead” proper at this point, which moves along at a far faster speed.
3. As we mentioned, there is more competition, and shows tend to lose audience after a week off.
What do you think about the “Fear the Walking Dead” ratings for the week? Share in the comments below, and you can head over here to see our review from Sunday night’s installment! Also, you can sign up here to have some other TV news on everything we cover sent right to you, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: AMC.)
Lazy Recluse
September 15, 2015 @ 1:04 am
The biggest reasons that the ratings are slipping seem obvious to me:
1. Viewers are realizing that these characters aren’t worth caring about! Nothing about them inspires feelings of empathy from the viewers. I actually WANT a lot of these characters to get killed off…especially Nick and his idiotic drug addict stepson. This guy is _no_ Rick Grimes. The audience needs to form a connection with these characters in order to care about them and worry for their well-being, and so far that just isn’t happening. The original series spawned the catch-phrase “If Darryl dies, we riot”. NOBODY in this cast is going to form that kind of a bond with the audience. Bad casting can turn even the greatest scripts and the highest production values into piles of poo.
2. This whole “blended family” angle is something that many viewers don’t want rammed down their throats. They don’t identify with it so they can’t identify with the characters themselves, and they won’t care about the characters surviving the zombie apocalypse. This was a massive mistake.
3. They’re taking MUCH too long to reach the apex of the zombie apocalypse! We know that civilization can’t fall apart completely in just a few episodes, but these early episodes have been dominated by boring conversations and excruciatingly slow development of the plot…it’s putting us to sleep! More action and a faster pace is needed to keep the audience’s attention.
Even my hardcore Walking Dead-addicted girlfriend said she wouldn’t care if FtWD ended after season 1 wrapped up. And that’s saying something.
Thomas
September 15, 2015 @ 12:56 am
I believe the show’s realistic, if this really happened, I don’t think the first thing you’d think is it’s zombies start chopping off heads.
diane
September 14, 2015 @ 10:39 pm
The living people act more like zombies then the zombies do. It’s like they are all sleep walking through the show.