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This is shaping up to be one bloody Easter Sunday.
That’s when the fifth and final installment of the History Channel’s blockbuster mini-series, “The Bible,” will square off one last time against AMC’s post-apocalyptic zombie hit, “The Walking Dead.”
The latter will wrap up its gory third season with the death of scores of cast members, while the Christian series from reality TV show producer Mark Burnett will re-enact the beating, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
The two cable phenomena have been fighting for ratings supremacy every Sunday night for the past four weeks as they take turns laying claim to the top spot.
Last week, “The Walking Dead” beat the “The Bible” in total viewers, with 10.9 million to 10.3 million, according to Nielsen figures. The week before, their positions were reversed, with Jesus edging out zombies by 29,000 viewers.
Overall, “The Bible” has averaged 11.2 million total viewers over the past four weeks — perhaps helped by the controversy over whether the actor who plays the devil bears a resemblance to President Obama.
“The Walking Dead” trails in total viewers with 10.6 million. But by a large margin, zombies are winning the battle for 18- to 49-year-old viewers that advertisers covet, with the show averaging 6.9 million viewers in that category over the past 15 episodes.
Complicating matters, the History Channel is getting creative with its ratings comparisons, allowing it to claim victory in all four weeks.
Each installment of the “The Bible” runs from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. “The Walking Dead” is a one-hour show at 9 p.m. It is preceded by a rerun of the previous week’s episode at 8 p.m., which, not surprisingly, draws lower ratings than the fresh episode.
History has claimed to be the No. 1 by taking the average of the 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. hours, even though it is competing with a repeat on AMC.
Asked to predict a winner tomorrow night, one TV veteran quipped, “Jesus will rise this weekend.”
Miracle or no, advertisers have been hitting the phones trying to capitalize on the huge ratings for the two series — both of which have outperformed the major broadcast networks.
“We’ve been talking about how cable needs to close the gap [in ratings and in pricing] versus the networks. Now there is no gap,” said Brad Adgate, Horizon Media’s chief researcher. “Cable is putting out really breakout shows.”