Laura Linney of "The Big C"/ Showtime

"The Big C," the wonderful new Showtime series set in Minnesota, delivered Monday night with some of the best numbers ever for a debut on the pay channel. About 1.583 million viewers watched the premiere Monday night, the best numbers for an original series debut since "Odyssey 5" in 2002.

Nearly 2 mllion people watched its lead-in, "Weeds," which returns for its sixth season.