All hail Kathy Bates. The Oscar-winning veteran returns to broadcast television with CBS’ Matlock Live+Same Day linear ratings seldom seen anymore. The “sneak peak” premiere of Jennie Snyder Uraman’s reimagining of the Andy Griffin classic starring Bates as the eponymous attorney averaged 7.73 million viewers Sunday in the time-adjusted Fast National L+SD Nielsen ratings.

That was the largest audience CBS had for a non-Super Bowl series premiere in five and a half years, since The Code‘s debut on April 9, 2019 after NCIS member.

While benefiting from the Steelers-Chargers halo effect (and free promotion via Chargers star Scott Matlock’s jersey), Matlock did not follow the match immediately – it was broadcast after the opening match, the news magazine 60 minutes.

Time-corrected numbers for 60 minutes are not available (CBS primetime was delayed in a few East Coast markets), but preliminary estimates suggest that Matlock built on his 60 minutes lead-in with about 1 million viewers. That’s still a big achievement for the rookie, whose premiere was moved from last season to this fall because of the Hollywood strikes.

The high ratings started with strong reviews, with Matlock currently sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The CBS Studios-produced series has also been embraced by fans, who have flooded social media with positive — and shocked — reactions approving of the pilot episode’s surprising twist, which Urman dissected in an interview with Deadline.

That’s a testament to CBS and CBS Studios, who supported Urman’s vision for a series with an older lead and cast the 70-year-old Bates as the title character.

In Canada the Matlock Sneak Peek Premiere was the most popular show in terms of viewers on Sunday, with nearly 1.2 million viewers.

The first episode of Matlock is currently streaming on Paramount+ with CBS reruns scheduled to air on October 8 and 10. The series will begin airing original episodes in its regular Thursday 9:00 p.m. timeslot on October 17.