'Survivor' Producer Mark Burnett to Visit CBS SUNDAY MORNING, 3/17

Survivor producer Mark Burnett and his wife, actress Roma Downey, dismiss critics who have attacked their hit TV miniseries "The Bible," in an interview with Lee Cowan this weekend on CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH Charles Osgood to be broadcast March 17, 2013 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.

While the audience of more than 13 million viewers has been record breaking in the cable world, some critics have called "The Bible" more an action film than spiritual adventure. Burnett, however, says he ignores the jabs.

"Listen, if the critics were so good, they'd be making TV themselves, wouldn't they?" Burnett tells Cowan. "So, I mean, listen, the numbers speak. I don't even pay attention to anything like that."

"The Bible" as a TV show was Downey's idea. "I would say it was God's idea placed in my heart," says Downey, who starred in the long-running CBS drama "Touched by An Angel." She also plays Mary in "The Bible."

Both say the project was a spiritual calling rather than an effort to produce yet another show. "We don't need to make more TV," Burnett says. "This is way more than that." Burnett also tells Cowan the show would have been made with a network's support, or not. "I just knew we were making it. We were going to make it no matter what," he says.

The project has also changed his thinking on the subject, too.

"I think until the last few years, I think I still felt of The Bible as a rule book, and at times, a little threatening," Burnett says. "But this series has made me feel and know it's a story of love. It's really been such a growth, and maybe that's the biggest blessing of all."

Cowan's interview with Burnett and Downey will be broadcast March 17, 2013 on CBS SUNDAY MORNING on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

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