Christian television. Need I say more? But before you write it off ...

Let me assure you that The Chosen is nothing like the Left Behind movie series that the faith community was painfully exposed to in the 2000s. "Media production" and "Christian" spoken in the same breath were sure to be B-rated, at best, with Kirk Cameron in the lead role ...  BUT, The Chosen is different.

The Chosen has been rated 9.7 in IMDb and garnered over 100 million views for Seasons 1 and 2. To put it into perspective, Friends garnered 52.5 million viewers for its finale episode. Although, the creator Dallas Jenkins is the son of Jerry B. Jenkins (author of The Left Behind series). Thankfully, things improve generationally, and Dallas is doing a lot of things differently.

The series details the life of Jesus Christ in compelling ways. Many of us have never considered Jesus as ever laughing, eating, sleeping, and playing, but the show depicts just that. Watch the trailer below:

In addition to the Christian content, there are some other unique aspects of this series: 

• The Chosen is 100% funded by people (like you and me) who have started coining the phrase "crowd-funded media project." To be exact, it's actually "the #1 highest crowd-funded media project of all time" to the tune of a $100 million overall budget. January 2020 kicked off Season 1 (eight episodes) and April 2021 released Season 2 (eight episodes)—both fully funded. Season 3 is coming soon in November 2021 and approximately a third of the way to be fully funded. There were plans for six Seasons, but now seven Seasons have been confirmed. A new season begins filming once the previous season is fully funded.
• The Chosen is distributed on an app (Apple or Google) or online as a live stream from Angel Studios, Youtube, or Facebook. There is no fee attached to the app, episodes, subscriptions, and not even an email address required. The saying, you can't get something for free, just doesn't apply here—at least not yet. The show receives funding through a campaign, Pay It Forward which offers different ways you can help fund each episode. Already, over 200,000 people have funded both Seasons 1 and 2. 

The goal of The Chosen: "To reach 1 billion people, it needs to be free. To be done right, we must be outside the system." Whether or not you are a believer in Jesus, there's no doubt that this series about his life is turning heads, not only in the faith community but also in the entertainment industry. With over 160 million views to date and an ambitious goal of 1 billion views, that could possibly rival "the greatest story ever told" if The Chosen meets those numbers. 

Have you seen The Chosen? Share your thoughts in the comments.