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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