The Bible miniseries: Hollywood drama meets scripture

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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.

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.

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.

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.

"The Bible" premiered Sunday on The History Channel.