Fear the Walking Dead: Premiere sets cable ratings record, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint
By Susie Graham
Fear the Walking Dead premiered Sunday night with a 90-minute episode to record numbers of 10.1 million viewers, setting a cable record for premieres. It also became the top cable premiere for the coveted 18-49 year old , young adult viewers, with 6.3 million.
Once when a fan said we needed to see more Abraham, Michael Cudlitz said, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint!” That idea applies to so much when discussing things related to Walking Dead.
With Fear the Walking Dead, hopefully, the ratings will remain steady or even increase with time because people will grow to love the show and word of mouth will add viewers. Perhaps people who missed the premiere will catch up on the rerun this week and tune in as the weeks go on.
Aside from ratings, the marathon concept is very relevant in Walking Dead land just because of how they develop the stories and introduce the characters. We’ve only just warmed up. We’re on about mile one. New characters will be introduced and die at each mile marker.
I look at The Walking Dead like a long movie or a mini-series. I hope people decide to give it a chance. Even if people give up, they might come back if they hear from others that it got really good and they should give it another try.
Ratings-wise, Fear the Walking Dead is lucky because it has already been picked up for its second season so the ratings won’t determine if it will get a chance for a second season, it already has that! So, thankfully, Fear will have a chance for the marathon nature of the show to work its magic.
Did you tune in for the premiere? Do you plan to catch it in a rerun this week? Will you eventually watch Fear? Did you like it? Will you give it a chance? I know one viewer who hated it, but after sleeping on it, realized he needed to stop comparing it to The Walking Dead and think of it as its own show and decided to continue watching.
Next: Everything we know about Fear so far
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