Showtime series return to strong ratings

After raking in the awards at last night's Golden Globes, the high continues for premium network Showtime.

Last night saw the season premieres of three of the network's comedy series, each showing significant growth from last season. In its third season premiere, "Shameless" brought in 2 million viewers, up 26% from the show's second season premiere and ranking as the series' highest rated episode yet. David Duchovny's "Californication" returned for its sixth season, bringing in 1.07 million viewers, up a significant 41% from the 758000 who tuned in for its fifth season premiere.

"House of Lies," returning for its second season, enjoyed 1.19 million viewers, up 15% from the 1.03 million who watched the series premiere and up 53% from the number who tuned in for its first season finale. The numbers are even more impressive considering they only include the network's subscribers, despite the premieres occurring on a free preview weekend, which would mean that viewership was likely even higher.

That's not the only good news for the Don Cheadle-led series. On the same night the series was pulling its best ratings ever, Cheadle took home the Golden Globe for Best Comedy Actor on the Sunday awards show. All signs point to this being a breakout year for the series, as earlier this week TV Rage reported that Cheadle would reunite with his "Ocean's Eleven" co-star Matt Damon in a future episode.

What did you think of Showtime's premiere night?