"The Bible", the 10-hour, 5 part mini-series on The History Channel has surprised everyone with its ratings since it premiered on Sunday night, March 3rd.  

The epic series became the highest rated show on cable television beating out "The Walking Dead" and others with almost 14 million views the night it premiered.  The  ratings have stayed up in the same ballpark for episodes two and three and the unofficial word is that over 50 million people have tuned into at least a part of an episode to watch.  

The Lifetime network made a surprising move to some by offering to play "The Bible" episodes on repeat through out the week which has helped viewership and allow people to get caught up if they missed an episode.  Also, as the episodes progress, The History Channel also plays the previous episodes before the new episode Sunday night 7pm CST.  So as the series progresses it almost is turning into a "The Bible" day marathon leading up to the new episode which has been another smart way to get new people into the series as they can watch and get caught up and interested to see the new episode. 

With ratings luke-warm by some reviewers, many are perplexed that the rating still stays the #1 show on cable television, even beating out "American Idol" on a weekly basis. 

I however, have been thoroughly impressed by the episodes and think that the people complaining or giving it bad reviews are missing the point that just having the stories come to life in realistic ways is a monumental event that some people have never seen.  

Most people are not worried about a wrong accent, perceived wrong skin tone or that they skipped over certain parts of the bible.  Most Christians are just happy that their faith is being shared in a professional way to millions and the people are responding to it.  

With just two episodes left and the arrival of Jesus in this last episode (three) I can't imagine that viewership would decrease at this point.  If anything with the addition of the life of Jesus and the great timing of the series leading up to Easter, the ratings and interest will continue to grow as word of the series spreads.