'The Bible' Is Most Watched TV Program for Second Consecutive Week

Christian Post ^ | 03/12/2013 | Katherine Weber

[SeekAndFind]

The History Channel's "The Bible" miniseries once again raked in the ratings this past weekend, drawing in 10.8 million total viewers for its second episode, thus making it the most popular program in all of television on Sunday night.

Although the historical miniseries was down 18 percent in total viewership from its premiere on March 3, it still managed to attract 3.2 million adults, ages 18-49, and 3.8 million adults, ages 25-54, according to Deadline.

These high numbers made the new miniseries the most watched television program on Sunday from 8 p.m.-10 p.m. According to Channel Guide Magazine, over 50 million cumulative viewers have seen some portion of "The Bible" since its premiere on March 3, whether on the History Channel or on the Lifetime channel, which also re-airs episodes.

In its season premiere two weekends ago, "The Bible" attracted over 13 million viewers, making it the most watched cable entertainment telecast of 2013, as well as the No. 1 scripted program on television.

Some critics blame the second week's drop in ratings on national Daylight Saving Time, which also occurred Sunday.

The Hollywood power couple behind the new miniseries, producer Mark Burnett of "Survivor" fame and Roma Downey of "Touched By An Angel," have attributed their profoundly successful series to God.

"The hand of God was on this. The edit came together perfectly, the actors came together perfectly, it just comes to life," Burnett said of the series in a previous interview with Entertainment Weekly.

The show has also gained the attention of religious leaders as well as the tech world.

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Southern California promoted the show, saying that it is by far the best Bible movie he has ever seen.

Additionally, Lightside Games has launched a digital game carrying "The Bible" theme, which will be accessible on Facebook, iPhone, and iPad.

This past weekend's episode left off with the Prophet Nathan confronting King David on his sinful, adulterous ways as found in the second Book of Samuel.

The series' third episode, titled "Hope," will begin to cover the New Testament, as well as introduce Jesus, played by actor Diogo Morgado.

The 10-part miniseries airs on the History Channel every Sunday from 8 p.m.-10 p.m. EST.

[Agamemnon]

Mike Burnett, Roma Downey "The Bible Brought to Life" (Guideposts)

I know a lot of FReepers have been dissing this series, but I have watched the first 2 (of 5) installments and speaking as one who is very familiar with the Scriptural passages that have been featured so far, I am reasonably pleased with the quality of the work product.

Was Samson of such a dark complexion? Who knows? I have been to Ethiopia and have known plenty of Ethiopian Jews who are blacker than the ace of spades. So what? The Queen of Sheba (believed by many to have come from Ethiopia) was quite dark in complexion and Solomon was quite enamored of her. It is believed by some scholars that the Shunamite woman described in The Song of Solomon was dark complexioned. Many Egyptians are very dark complexioned. Could Samson have been of darker complexion? Possibly. I wouldn't be inclined to pre-judge.

While there are scholarly improvements I could make, as I am sure others could also, I think these are 2 Hollywood producers who have remained true to their faith and have approach their work with a reverence for Christ, even as detailed in the linked article.

The snipers and critics are all out there, even as one might have expected. Rick Warren is applauding the series, and while I don't care for him at all, I will not judge Burnett's and Downey's work negatively like some will just because he happens to like it.

Burnett and Downey should applauded for building on their success in other areas of entertainment to uplift the Christian message and communicate their faith in "The Bible" series, breaking through the bilge that typically characterizes the work product of Hollywood.

They are standing in their professions in ways that too few snipers who call themselves Christians are willing to do in their own lives and careers. It's just easier to snipe when some have so little to show for themselves by comparison.

Burnett and Downey have prayerfully summoned the guts to take the risk to affirm the veracity of the Bible.

I am willing to keep an open mind as I watch the rest of the series and at this moment I continue to remain thankful for their bold effort.

FReegards!

[MeganC]

My guess is that Amazon is pushing an attitude that’s supported by their internal and politically correct corporate culture. It is the rare corporation these days that doesn’t have an ‘Equal Employment Opportunity’ office to insure that the ‘proper’ attitudes and opinions are represented by the workforce. Amazon is little different and their marketing department is no doubt influenced by the political officers.

The Soviets used to call such people ‘chekists’ and now in America we just call them ‘the HR department’. They’re very powerful and they ARE a driver of the culture.

And there is also the possibility that the people behind this highly destructive ad campaign are just old fashioned communists who are hard at work destroying the moral fabric of America.

Occam’s Razor would lead me to go with the first option.

[MCH]

Was the Historical Samson Black?

Presumably brown skinned of some hue or other, like everyone else in that part of the ancient world at that time. As such, all the white guys running around portraying various Bible characters aren't any better. Nor is that fact that they're all speaking English, some with American accents, some British, and some Scottish (like Noah).

It's basically a sequence of Bible stories, with non-homogeneous stand-in actors playing the parts. No matter how you slice it, you have to get past the language/race issues of the actors, since the goal was apparently to convey the stories in an interesting way, rather than to display an attempt at complete historical accuracy. In the latter case, we'd be watching short little brown people jabbering in unintelligible ancient languages, in which case - who would watch that?

[Wurlitzer]

While I find it orders of magnitude easier to learn new computer languages than the inside out, upside down, cryptic language used in the bible I was hoping this series would be enlightening. I can barely keep all my 20 plus aunts and uncles straight but all the “begotting” leaves me at a loss to name the players without a program.

However, as I believe I detected one error, I am now suspicious of the shows accuracy.

In the show Delilah was shown to be cutting Samson’s hair but I was always told: Delilah called in a co-conspirator to shave off the seven braids of his hair.

Now that may be nit picking but when we are asked to believe the unbelievable it does not help to have errors.

[RJS1950]

Where is there a description of Samson? The Nubians ruled ancient Egypt for almost 200 years and they were certainly black. Those tribes in that region frequently intermixed in cities and larger settlements and traded with each other as well as warring with each other. Did the black jews in Ethiopia just appear out of nowhere as a distinct group? He might have been black or he might have been more mediterranean; who knows for sure.

[Daveinyork]

“who knows for sure.”

And who cares? And who cares what race the actors are?

[vladimir998]

bttt

[SeekAndFind]

RE: And who cares what race the actors are?

I’m not sure I can stand watching a white guy playing Martin Luther King.

[left that other site]

The “Black Irish” are descendants of Spanish Sailors who were shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland when the Spanish Armada was defeated in the reign of Elizabeth I.

St. Patrick, while not an Irishman by birth, was definitely a White European, from centuries before that episode.

But, of course, I caught the /s symbol. Just had to add my 2 cents! LOL!

[wrcase]

There are photographs of Martin Luther King. Nobody knows what the various characters of the Bible looked like.

[Tolkien]

I watched the first half hour and couldn't take it anymore.

It wasn't even close to being accurate and anything associated with Joel Ostean, I should have known, would be close to blaspheme. Ninja angels? Give me a break.

[ilovesarah2012]

If the series actually gets people interested in reading the Bible, then that’s a good thing.

[Agamemnon]

If the series actually gets people interested in reading the Bible, then that’s a good thing.

That certainly appears to be one of their goals.

FReegards!

[cardinal4]

I’m quite pleased with it, too..

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks SeekAndFind. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Daveinyork]

“I’m not sure I can stand watching a white guy playing Martin Luther King.”

Or John Wayne playing Ghenghis Khan.

[RJS1950]

Exactly.

[SeekAndFind]

RE:“I’m not sure I can stand watching a white guy playing Martin Luther King.”

Or John Wayne playing Ghenghis Khan.

---

One of the worst casting decisions ever -- Genghis Khan with a cowboy accent:

[Graybeard58]

It is believed by some scholars that the Shunamite woman described in The Song of Solomon was dark complexioned

Except her neck?

S.O.S. 7:4, K.J.V.

Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

Ivory:

A hard creamy-white substance composing the main part of the tusks of an elephant, walrus, or narwhal

[Agamemnon]

Except her neck?

S.O.S. 7:4, K.J.V.

Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

Ivory:

A hard creamy-white substance composing the main part of the tusks of an elephant, walrus, or narwhal.

It actually helps one's understanding to start reading the book from the beginning rather just than pulling something out of the middle and extrapolating narrow implications from it.

A "creamy-white" appearance is but one attribute to describe ivory. Ivory tusks are often described by their smoothness, as well. Eyes described as fish pools and a nose like a tower are all descriptions freely availing themselves of poetic license -- as a song relying on imagery as it does here allows.

Let's take it from the top, shall we?

Song of Solomon 1 King James Version (KJV)

"1 The song of songs, which is Solomon's.

2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.

3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me:"

That said, there is such a thing as "Ivory Black" -- the carbon black of charred ivory.

But of course, let's also not over look the somewhat less relevant BLACK IVORY!

"You and I"

FReegards!