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'The Bible' premiere gets whopping 13.1 million viewers

Abraham (Gary Oliver) prepares Isaac (Hugo Rossi) for

Abraham (Gary Oliver) prepares Isaac (Hugo Rossi) for the sacrifice in The History Channel's "The Bible." (Credit: History Channel)

"The Bible" - History Channel's big, sprawling , not-exactly-cheese-free miniseries based on (well) the Bible - was seen by 13.1 million viewers last night. Yes - Biblical numbers.

 Also, "The Vikings" - the History Channel's other big weekend launch - did well too: 6.2 million. 

  Understandably, the series producers (and husband and wife)  Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, couldn't help but kvell a little bit:


 Critics were tepid - heck, I was tepid - about "The Bible" but this isn't about critics or' even Mark or Roma, but those two very magic words - the Bible.  It remains not only the bestselling book in America but bottomless source material for many hundreds, thousands, of miniseries, TV movies, and films  over the last hundred years. This isn't the first big Biblical success, won't be the last. Four installments to go! 

Tags: the bible , history channel , roma downey , mark burnett

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