The Bible Miniseries

Admittedly right now I don't watch much television. Films are one thing, but TV series can take a lot of dedication that I just don't have time for. However, on this lovely Easter Sunday I decided to sit down with my family and watch the History Channel's miniseries, The Bible. And I have to say that overall I was pleasantly surprised. I felt like the series had a fine balance between entertainment and history. But most of all, I was surprised to find out how much attention this miniseries had garnered for the History Channel. Nielsen ratings for the show came out and showed some fantastic numbers for the cable station. But even more so, I was surprised at how relatively little controversy there has been over the series.

Whenever you see religion or the discussion of the topic hit the mainstream it often is coupled with some margins of outrage or celebration. This series, judging from the reviews, actually came out with a crowd whose biggest concern was how the devil-character is portrayed by someone who resembles the President. Which may actually be quite controversial, but even on social media channels there aren't people tearing the series apart based on its historical accuracy or approach to telling the story. This event came off as more of an inclusive exploration of the historical text. It caught a great audience because it appeared on Sunday nights, so maybe it appealed to a large audience of Christian viewers. But the millions of views overall suggest a keen interest across the board.

The production was significantly strong for a TV series from the History Channel, that naturally had no archival footage. And it didn't use scholars to analyze the events, instead it just reenacted the stories from the Old and New Testament, like an extended "10 Commandments." The entertainment quality of the program probably attracted a more diverse audience than the usual Conspiracy-theory television shows that so often dominate the History Channel's programming. And then to use this show as a lead-in to Vikings is a clever idea. Because Vikings is similar in the type of programming, a narrative as opposed to documentary. Maybe this content is the type of thing that History Channel needed to bring it some stronger relevance. I feel like it was successful and the ratings showed it. It's interesting too to see something as controversial and important as religion discussed through this medium. I'm looking forward to similar series that explore this topic, though I doubt with the issues in portraying Muhammed that we are likely to see a similar treatment about Islam; but there are many different historical characters and works that could be transformed into an experience much like this one.