Nat Geo's 'Killing Lincoln' scores record ratings for the network

Billy Campbell as Abraham Lincoln in NatGeo's "Killing Lincoln"

Credit: Nat Geo

Daniel Day-Lewis's Lincoln isn't the only one drawing eyes this season.

The National Geographic Channel hit a ratings goldmine with their Ridley Scott-produced adaptation of Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Lincoln" on Sunday night, pulling in a whopping 3.4 million viewers over the telefilm's two hour premiere. That set a total viewership record for the cable network, which also scored with last November's original movie "SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden."

“Killing Lincoln was our latest effort to expand the original programming we present on the National Geographic Channel, while still maintaining the brand values viewers expect from us,” said National Geographic Channel president Howard T. Owens in a statement. “The success we saw last night proved that authentic and entertaining are not mutually exclusive, and I think we’ve tapped into a new genre of factual drama that clearly resonates with our audience.  Our record ratings would not have been possible without our partnership with Bill O’Reilly, Scott Free Productions and the incredible team that worked on this production.”

"Killing Lincoln" stars Billy Campbell as the 16th President and Jesse Johnson as his assassin John Wilkes Booth; other cast members including Geraldine Hughes, Graham Beckel and Shawn Pyfrom. The Tom Hanks-narrated film was directed by Adrian Moat ("Gettysburg") and written by Erik Jendresen ("Band of Brothers"). It's slated to encore twice this coming Saturday, at 7 and 9 PM.

Did you watch "Killing Lincoln" last night? Let us know what you thought in the comments.
 

Chris Eggertsen
Producer

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A former contributor to sites including Bloody-Disgusting and AfterElton, Eggertsen enjoys rock music, rainy days and smelling the pages of old books. You should read all of his articles and follow him on Twitter because it's the right thing to do.