The long-delayed fourth-season premiere of HBO’s “The Sopranos” made ratings history for the cable network on Sunday, becoming its most-watched program ever and beating all network competition.
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According to Nielsen figures released Tuesday, 17.7 million viewers watched some portion of the mob drama.
That’s quite a feat considering HBO and its Cinemax channel have fewer than 38 million subscribers, while network television is available in an estimated 106 million television households in America.
The highest-rated network show Sunday was CBS’ “60 Minutes,” which was seen by 11.2 million viewers. Trailing “The Sopranos” in the 8 p.m. time slot was NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” which had 10.8 million viewers.
Before Sunday, the last original episode of “The Sopranos” was in May 2001.