http://twitter.com/#!/History/status/308700608330887169

The Seth MacFarlane-hosted Academy Awards might have won more than 40 million viewers for ABC, but The History Channel is showing it can be a contender as well. Today the cable network is celebrating tremendous viewership for the first installment of its five-part miniseries, “The Bible,” which premiered last night. Roma Downey, who created the series with her  husband, Mark Burnett, tweeted the good news as well.

Thank you for tuning in & making #TheBible the MOST-WATCHED TV show of the night & the #1 TV telecast of THE YEAR!

— Roma Downey (@RealRomaDowney) March 4, 2013

Thanks so much for watching tonight, #thebible was trending on @twitter. #amazing.Sundays in March 8p @history @realromadowney

— Mark Burnett (@MarkBurnettTV) March 4, 2013

@history that was great last last night

— Antonio sabato jr (@antoniosabatojr) March 4, 2013

Congrats to @realromadowney & @markburnetttv on the stunning success of #TheBible – ratings of appropriately biblical proportions!

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 4, 2013

Viewers also managed to drive #TheBible to the top of Twitter’s trending list.

THANKS for helping make #TheBible the #1 Most Watched Show on TV last night.#13Million saw episode 1. Also #1 on Twitterl

— Rick Warren (@RickWarren) March 4, 2013

@bibleseries Number 1 in television.Number 1 on Twitter.Number 1 on the web. #thebible

— Mark Burnett (@MarkBurnettTV) March 4, 2013

19th century = Nietzsche says God is dead. 20th = More people slaughtered than previous 19 centuries combined. 21st = #TheBible is trending

— The Young Cons (@YoungCons) March 4, 2013

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2013/03/04/historys-the-bible-is-a-hit/