Erik the Red and the settlement of Greenland, always a favorite Bible story.
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8 P.M. (History) THE BIBLE Mark Burnett, the reality television impresario, and his wife, the actress Roma Downey, tackle great biblical moments in this 10-hour mini-series, which Neil Genzlinger, writing in The New York Times, called “a rickety, often cheesy spectacle that is calculated to play well to a certain segment of the already enlisted choir but risks being ignored or scorned in other quarters.” Ms. Downey leads the cast, which also includes Diogo Morgaldo as Jesus, above center, being baptized by John (Daniel Percival). Alas, “Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel and the other great biblical figures aren’t really developed in a way that illuminates them or makes them linger in our minds,” Mr. Genzlinger said. “And those thinking that the ancient miracles might be better served by the special effects available in 2013 than they have been in previous versions should prepare for disappointment. The Red Sea parts no more convincingly here than it did for Charlton Heston in 1956.” (“All-Star Celebrity Apprentice,” of which Mr. Burnett is an executive producer, has its season premiere on NBC at 9.) “Vikings,” making its premiere at 10, fares somewhat better in Mr. Genzlinger’s opinion. It is “a mini-series about a band of professional pillagers with a disregard for human life and a relentless focus on gratifying material desires,” he wrote. “So it is somewhat surprising that it is also a refreshing study in restraint.” Created by Michael Hirst, whose previous projects include “Camelot,” on Starz, and “The Tudors,” on Showtime, “it has the same relatively high production values,” and “sometimes the cinematography is downright arresting,” he said. “But what really drives the series are the performances”; he cited in particular Travis Fimmel, Gabriel Byrne and Gustaf Skarsgard.
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