The last two episodes of the 10-part Michael Jordan documentary, strung out over the last five Sunday nights, averaged 5.9 million viewers, the Nielsen company said.

That’s easily the highest-rated documentary project ever for the sports network.

It was also a desperately-needed bright spot for ESPN, which has been suffering because of the absence of live sporting events during the coronavirus pandemic.

It was considered such a high-profile event that some newspaper sports pages — also deprived of material — have covered the documentary like its own event.

“The exceptional content of the series has cut through culturally and sparked conversations far beyond ESPN platforms,” said Connor Schell, the network’s executive vice president for content.