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‘Bible’ Miniseries Beats Zombies as Year’s Most-Watched Cable TV Show
EXCERPT:
The History Channel’s latest hit drew crowds of biblical proportions, with 13.1 million viewers tuning in Sunday for the premiere of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey’s miniseries on the Bible.
The two-hour episode, portraying Genesis and Exodus, was the most-watched and highest-rated show on TV that night and the most popular cable telecast of the year, beating out The Walking Dead on AMC, according to Nielsen.
“God Beats Zombies! Guess it pays to be eternal vs immortal! #TheBible,” Burnett tweeted following the news.
Last year’s premiere of Hatfields & McCoys on the History Channel scored an audience of 13.9 million, the network’s most-watched program ever and the only one more popular than The Bible, Bloomberg News reported.
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. The Gospel Coalition points out the Bible’s been an entertainment hit for decades, with The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, and The Passion of the Christ ranked among the top-grossing films of all time.
I heard it was awful
LOL. Any bets on whether this NBC show has a black family that is treated as equals by the leading characters (other than, ironically, the evil racist Republican) and shows women in prominent, leading roles where they are doing everything the men are doing? This show will tank after a couple episodes when the novelty of the historical setting wears off.
The problem with anything a network does is that it will impose today's values on the historical characters. It is the rare show that actually shows what life really was like (as closely as possible) in past ages. If religion is introduced into more shows, it will be Hollywood's version of religion (humanistic, gay tolerant, let's get along with all religions-type religion).
It would be “fun” to see this done with the Koran. I think it is a different story.
I have to wonder why the surprise - we know we outnumber them.
Is it just that so many of us actually discovered that it was playing?
(I posted the other day that Raymond Arroyo’s show WorldOver on EWTN interviewed those 2 on the show last week - final segment of the hour.)
Mostly it was Bible-lite with a gloss over on details (why did the crowd in Sodom want Lot to hand over his angel visitors) to pure fantasy (Ninja angels???). I remember having a better book as a child with various Bible stories.
Gee, no bias from TIME there.
History Channel’s The Vikings also premiered with ‘good’ numbers, higher than many broadcast network programs.
Broadcast Networks are experiencing low viewership:
Zero Hour, pulled after 3 episodes.
Do No Harm, pulled after 2 episodes.
Cult, relegated to the Friday night dark zone.*
Golden Boy, relegated to Friday night. Late update, Golden Boy to remain in timeslot, Vega to move to Friday night.*
[* Could be worse — they could be relegated to Saturday night.]
It’s pitiful!
The personalities are weak, and the heart of the story is lost.
When Moses comes down from the mountain, they don’t even show his breaking of the Tablets, or the crowd behaving badly.
You didn’t really expect the History channel to teach any of the lessons of the Bible, did you?
The Chuck Heston version even had better special effects.
My view on it:
Our culture has been completely cut off from the Bible. If you asked people on the street to tell you about a story in the Bible, they might be able to say the words “Noah’s Ark”, but that’s about it.
For there to be a huge exposure to the Bible is a good thing. But people will pick and argue about the little things. The phrase “you can’t see the forest for all of the trees” comes to mind.
Putting the Bible into people’s minds, even if it isn’t 100% accurate, is better than not exposing them to it at all. If 1% of the 13.1 millions people were to pick up a Bible to read the stories that were touched on in the series, then I think it’s wonderful!
I wrote a book called “Bible Stories for Grown-Ups” just for people who do not have any idea what fabulous stories are in the Bible. And if people will learn about the stories of the Bible whether by reading or watching, then it is seeds being planted in their souls. The Holy Spirit can then work in them.
Well, I love The Walking Dead....it’s the best show on TV, IMO. That’s where we will be on Sunday nights.
But I’m DVRing “The Bible”. Haven’t watched the first episode, though, because frankly I find it hard to believe that the History Channel didn’t give it a PC spin. If I see any of that, I’ll stop watching immediately.
Amazing. I didn’t watch it and I still believe.
I tuned in and was pleasantly surprised. Many people are very stuck on the sodomy issue... but remember, it’s supposed to be viewing for the whole family.
What a shameful mistreatment of the Bible’s accounts. I just can’t watch the second dose.
My favorite show... Duck Dynasty... is all about FAITH and FAMILY.
And guess what? Its popular! Its a refreshing change from metroqueers designing window treatments or pregnant teenagers smoking dope or overtly sexual filthy rich socialites on a 24/7 drunken vacation.
This show has FAMILY, NO FOUL LANGUAGE, NO DRUG USE, NO OVERSEXUALIZED TEENAGERS.
And its popular. Networks see it. Advertisers see it.
The people on this show PRAY! They actually say grace around a supper table at the end of every episode.
CHRISTIANS PRAYING ON TV! THE HORROS! AND ITS POPULAR IN AMERICA! GASP!
I thought it was very good. Not perfect. But, for those who have never been exposed to the Bible, it might be a great introduction to the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
will tv get religion? no.
They lost us with the Brit accents and Ninja Angels. Ninja? Really? One would think that angels could smite Sodomites without Samurai swords.