Mark Burnett, the savvy reality TV producer behind "Survivor" and "Shark Tank" deviated from his beaten path for his new 10-hour miniseries, {link:"The Bible" "http://www.history.com/shows/the-bible" target="_blank"}.
The series is the brain child of Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey (who stars as Mary, mother of Jesus). As two Americans who were born in Europe and moved to the U.S., the couple decided to create the show after they realized Bible Scripture wasn't taught in American public schools, CNN reported.
“It was time for an updating. Adding fresh visual life to a sacred text,” Burnett told CNN.
Burnett's "The Bible" looks to achieve a continuous narrative by compressing several stories from the holy book into one. The first episode, for one, combines Adam and Eve and Noah's Ark into one tale, which is understandable considering he has to put thousands of pages of scripture into 10 hours of screen time.
“The first decision was, it’s one story,” Burnett said. “It’s not a series of unconnected stories, it’s one grand narrative.”
In spite the concentrated narrative, Burnett plans to stay as faithful to scripture as possible and expects his interpretation of the Bible to reach many Americans and have a massive impact.
“Will it be screened in movie theaters? Yes, for sure. "Already been approached. Arenas, churches, every way you can imagine,” Burnett said.
Burnett, who rose to fame producing reality shows like "Survivor", "The Apprentice" and "The Voice", believes "The Bible" will be his most successful show in the long-run.
“Over the next 25 years," he said, "more people will see this than all the [other shows] combined.”
"The Bible" premiered Sunday on The History Channel.
