‘Fear The Walking Dead’: Episode 2 Ratings Drop, But Still Manages To Pull In A Huge Audience

AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead premiered its second episode (entitled “So Far, Yet So Close”) last Sunday with the promise of more action than the first episode. But did it deliver? While there were still quiet moments and background reminders that all is not right in the world (can anyone say “saddest birthday party ever”?), there was also plenty of action. But was it enough to lure in those fans who thought last week’s pilot episode was just a bit too dull and lacking in zombies?

Well, according to the ratings released in Entertainment Weekly, while there was a dip in numbers, 8.2 million people still decided to give Fear The Walking Dead a second chance. Of those, 5.2 million viewers fell into the ever coveted 18-49 age demographic. This is still a massive 2 million slump though. After all, 10.1 million viewers watched Episode 1 of Fear The Walking Dead last week, effectively breaking previous cable records.

So what does that mean? Well, not a lot really. 8.2 million viewers is still an incredibly good pull. Considering both The Big Bang Theory and NCIS pulled in just over 7 million viewers each this week, according to Neilsen, it looks like Fear The Walking Dead can rest easy for its first season at least. And 8.2 million is still 3 million more views than its companion program, The Walking Dead got for its pilot episode, so it is ahead already in that department as well.

After Fear The Walking Dead broke cable records last week, AMC’s president, Charlie Collier released the following statement.

“Fear the Walking Dead delivered record-breaking numbers that are all the more special in this era of time-shifted viewing and audience fragmentation. To have a companion series to the #1 show on television driving communal, urgent viewing, social activity and pop cultural relevance of this magnitude is truly differentiating. Of course none of it is possible without the fans, whose passion leads to these remarkable results.”

Collier was careful to also point out that one episode was no indicator of the over all success of the show, but after last night’s numbers, he can probably relax a little more now. AMC were, after all, so sure Fear The Walking Dead would be a success, they picked up a second season of 15 episodes before the first season had even screened.

Fear The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, September 13, 2015.

What did you think of the second episode of Fear The Walking Dead? Was it better or worse than the pilot? Let us know by commenting below!

[Image credit: AMC]