Ratings for ‘The Passion’ are not a miracle for Fox

Fox’s “The Passion” scored less than miraculous results in its Palm Sunday broadcast.

The semi-live musical, which told the story of Jesus’ last days on Earth and was broadcast from the streets of New Orleans, drew a relatively modest audience of 6.6 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among viewers ages 18 to 49.

That’s down sharply from the network’s previous live musical event, “Grease: Live,” which drew 12.2 million viewers and an impressive 4.3 demo rating. It’s also down from NBC’s various live musicals, including “The Wiz” (11.5 million viewers) and “Peter Pan” (9.2 million viewers).

Still, it’s not terrible considering that “The Passion” faced off against a new episode of “The Walking Dead” and NBC’s popular new variety show “Little Big Shots,” or that the special outrated Fox’s usual Sunday night programming by a significant margin.

Narrated by prolific entertainer Tyler Perry, “The Passion” starred Jencarlos Canela as Jesus, Chris Daughtry as Judas Iscariot, Trisha Yearwood as the Virgin Mary and Seal and used a mishmash of pop songs from Tears for Fears to Creed to dramatize Jesus’ trial, crucifixion and resurrection.

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