From 'The Bible' to the Amish, Why Religion Is Hot on Cable

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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/bible-amish-why-religion-is-430350

8:00 AM PDT 3/22/2013 by Kimberly Nordyke

"Clearly a lot of people are talking about it, which is great," "Bible" EP Mark Burnett tells THR of the hit miniseries' impact.


"The Bible"

The cable networks have found religion.

History has a hit with The Bible, Showtime is visiting The Vatican, Lifetime is keeping tabs on Preachers' Daughters, GSN has a Bible-themed game show, and several channels (TLC, Discovery Channel, National Geographic) have sparked to the Amish. And that's just for starters.

"Faith has always been a big part of American culture, and I think the majority of Americans are believers and attend church, so it's not like that is a new trend," says Rob Sharenow, executive vp programming at Lifetime Networks. "But in terms of programming, there have been several things that just seem to be popping right now. It feels kind of natural to me. This is a something that a lot of people understand and believe, and they like to see that reflected in the context of movies and TV shows."

Lifetime recently debuted the reality show Preachers' Daughters -- whose second episode saw a 13 percent increase in viewers (1.7 million) and a 39 percent increase among adults 18-49 (936,000 viewers) from last week's premiere -- on the heels of two movies timed to coincide with Black History Month: the original movie Twist of Faith, an interfaith love story starring Toni Braxton, and Pastor Brown, starring Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Eureka) as a young woman who takes over the family church.

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