History Channel's surprise hit The Bible tops flailing American Idol in ratings with 13.1million viewers

It's the David and Goliath of television: an obscure religious miniseries has beaten television's former top show in the ratings.



The premier of the History Channel's The Bible attracted 13.1 million viewers, topping American Idol's 12.8 million viewers on Wednesday of the same week.



The ratings have confounded Hollywood's biggest decision-makers. Overt religious programming can be a notorious tough sell to the public, while American Idol has dominated television for the past eight seasons.

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Tastes are changing? History Channel's The Bible beat American Idol in the ratings last week, drawing in 13.1 million viewers



The about-turn is evidence again that Idol is just not the ratings juggernaut it once was, while also pointing to an opportunity for networks to capitalise on the largely untapped religious genre.



Thursday's episode of American Idol sank to an all-time low 3.0 rating for its scheduled episodes, attracting a paltry 11.8 million viewers.



The ratings for television's former top show are less than half of what they were during the height of the show's success, when nearly 37 million people tuned in to watch.

Fall from grace: The ratings for television's former top show are less than half of what they were during the height of the show's success, when nearly 37 million people tuned in to watch

'This is when the show pulls in its biggest viewing figures of the season,' a source told RadarOnline . 'Traditionally, the live show phase pulls in the highest ratings, and Fox will be looking at this closely to see how it performs.'



To add to its troubles, Idol judge Nicki Minaj showed up 20 minutes late for the reality show's first live broadcast, then proceeded to create a scene when her favourite contestant was voted off the competition.



She blamed her late arrival on traffic, but the unprofessional incident only added to the perception that Idol is a show that's sinking, and fast.



From Genesis to Revelation: The Mark Burnett-produced ten-part miniseries retells the scriptures from the Old Testament through the New Testament



The Bible, meanwhile, drew 10.8 million viewers for its second episode, placing it at number one in its time slot and number 11 overall for the week.

Part one of the ten-part miniseries drew an even larger audience - a whopping 13.1 million viewers, cable television's largest of the year so far. The premiere attracted more viewers than both of last week's Idol episodes.



The Mark Burnett-produced programme retells the stories from the scriptures in a scripted format, from Genesis through to Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.



What audiences want: The Bible premiere attracted more viewers than both of last week's Idol episodes

The miniseries' popularity is somewhat of a mystery. For one, the drama wasn't a hit with television critics, receiving a mediocre score of 44 on the Metacritic site.



'As a cable series, The Bible lacked the ready-made, large scale promotional platform and popular lead-in that can drive strong ratings for a new show on a major broadcast network, of the kind NBC was, for many years,' writes a columnist in The Washington Times .



The series also lacks a big name cast, other than Touched By An Angel's Roma Downey. Jesus Christ is played by Diogo Morcaldo, famous in his native Portugal but little known elsewhere.



It may just be that audiences enjoy a good biblical story. Nearly a decade ago, Hollywood was taken by surprise when Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ became the top-grossing R-rated flick of all time, bringing in over $600 million worldwide.