'The Bible' Miniseries Mark Burnett and Roma Downey Enjoy Record Ratings on History Channel, Gets People Talking

"The Voice" and "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett and Roma Downey had a tale to tell through "The Bible" miniseries shown on the History Channel. It did make history for the year 2013 as the most-watched entertainment telecast on major broadcast networks this past Sunday. Over 13.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the premiere according to Nielsen.

The first 2 hours of a 10 hour series was shown and will continue until Easter in 2 hour parts. The TV series will cover stories from the Bible from Genesis through Revelation.

Entertainment Weekly reported that the president of A&E Networks, Nancy Dubuc said, “The success of The Bible has catapulted History into one of the most powerful brands across media landscape and we could not be more thrilled and more proud."

"Clearly there is a nationwide groundswell that was waiting for this moment … An enormous debt of gratitude goes out to everyone and the amazing effort put forth to drive us to this amazing win. Clearly the passion for this project has resonated with our viewers and across the nation. We are thrilled, and the story is only just beginning.”

The husband and wife duo came to an agreement to tackle this project 4 years ago.

Christian Science Monitor reported that Downey had suggested the idea over tea.

She shared, "Momentarily, I think he thought I'd lost my mind. He went out on his bicycle and he prayed on it and he came back and said, 'You know what, I think it's a good idea. I think we should do it together.' We shook hands and haven't looked back."
Burnett explained that he noticed that there was a growing illiteracy of the Bible among the younger generation and he had felt a passion to use his talents to help encourage people to learn about the Bible.

"It's like saying you never heard of Macbeth or King Lear," Burnett was reported saying by CSM. "In school, you have to know a certain amount of Shakespeare, but no Bible. So there's got to be a way to look at it from a pure literature point of view. If it wasn't for the Bible, arguably Shakespeare wouldn't have written those stories."

What the couple wanted most was for people to take a greater interest in opening up The Bible to read it for themselves.

Both Christians and non Christians were talking about "The Bible" causing it to trend online. There were both positive and negative reviews.

"This book is alive," Burnett said in a statement. "Today, more Americans and Canadians are talking about God's chosen people. They're talking more about the faithfulness and perseverance of Noah, Abraham and Moses than ant time in recent history."

Here are what people are saying about "The Bible" miniseries online.

"History Channel's "The Bible" won the ratings war last night w/ ~15mm viewers. Personally I preferred the book."

"Why does everyone in "The Bible" have a British accent?"

Remember that we talked in the past about wanting to see Bible as a lengthy mini-series? HC did it.

The bible has inspired me. I'm gonna become a Shepard. How do I go about that?

mom won't stop watching Cody Drug's Harlem Shake video while I'm trying to watch The Bible!

Top search results: Kipling, Dark Knight, Hamlet, and the Bible. Sounds like a dark, biblical, poetic thing for someone to say.

Watching The Bible from History Channel. I had no idea Noah was Scottish.

Watching The Bible on History...does this make me religious?

Did you watch "The Bible"?