The premiere of "The Bible" on the History Channel was a massive ratings success Sunday night. The mini-series landed at 13.1 rating and ranked as cable's most-watched entertainment telecast this year and including the shows repeat, the viewership rose to 14.8 million for the night. "The Bible" handily beat out all of the other major broadcast shows in competition and interesting as well, nearly doubled the ratings of the highly promoted show "The Vikings" airing just after on the History Channel which came in at a 8.2 rating.

Nancy Dubuc, president of A&E Networks commented, "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." She went onto mention the min-series helping The History Channel become one of the most powerful brands in media.

"The Bible" was less then a million viewers from gaining the highest rated mini-series event on the History channel ever, but "Hatfields & McCoys" had a shocking 13.9 rating with their debut last year. The "All Star Celebrity Apprentice" premiered on NBC Sunday night to a disappointing 5.1 viewers.
"The Bible" is a 10-hour live-action miniseries which will be aired in 5 parts and to the surprised of many, has been executive produced by "Survivor" and "Celebrity Apprentice" executive producer Mark Burnett along with his wife Roma Downey ("Touched by an Angel").