'The Bible' Maintains Strong Ratings in Third Week, Still No. 1 TV Show

By Katherine Weber, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The History Channel's "The Bible" miniseries once again maintained steady ratings this past Sunday night as it featured its third episode, delving into the Bible's New Testament and introducing Jesus, played by actor Diogo Morgado.

The 10-part miniseries' third episode managed to rake in 10.9 million viewers, and score a 2.8 Nielsen rating among adults ages 18 to 49, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The success of the most recent episode of "The Bible" makes the miniseries the number one show in all of television for the third consecutive week.

These most recent ratings stack up nicely to the series' previous episodes, with the debut seeing over 13 million viewers and the second episode garnering a slightly softer number of 10.8 million viewers.

Sunday's episode started off with a re-telling of the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, the Roman occupation, the birth of Jesus, the introduction of John the Baptist, and a portrayal of the relationship between Jesus and Peter.

This particular episode received a widespread amount of attention on social media platforms due to some viewers' claim that the actor who played Satan, Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni, bore a striking resemblance to President Barack Obama.

The series' producers, Mark Burnett of "Survivor" fame and Roma Downey of "Touched by an Angel," shot down these claims as "utter nonsense."

"The actor who played Satan, Mehdi Ouzaani, is a highly acclaimed Moroccan actor. He has previously played parts in several Biblical epics – including Satanic characters long before Barack Obama was elected as our President," the Hollywood producing couple said in a joint statement.

Downey added, "Both Mark and I have nothing but respect and love our President, who is a fellow Christian. False statements such as these are just designed as a foolish distraction to try and discredit the beauty of the story of The Bible."

The highly-acclaimed miniseries will wrap up on March 31, Easter Sunday, with a two-hour episode featuring the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The upcoming episode will delve into Jesus' raising of Lazarus from the dead, Jesus' confrontation of the money-changers in the temple, the Last Supper, and Jesus' arrest, among other events.