'Comanche Moon' stars Rachel Griffiths, Steve Zahn, Karl Urban and Val Kilmer

CBS has picked a premiere date for its "Lonesome Dove" prequel "Comanche Moon."

While you might expect a star-studded prequel to one of the most successful miniseries in history would get a plum sweeps showcase, but you'd be wrong.

CBS has scheduled "Comanche Moon," a six-hour miniseries, to be broadcast on Dec. 30, Jan. 1 and Jan. 2, airing from 9-11 p.m. ET all three nights.

Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, who won an Oscar for their "Brokeback Mountain" script, adapted McMurtry's novel and Simon Wincer, an Emmy winner for "Lonesome Dove," directed.

"Comanche Moon" follows Woodrow F. Call and Augustus McCrae (Karl Urban and Steve Zahn in the roles played by Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall in the 1989 CBS miniseries) as younger men who enlist with the Texas Rangers in pursuit of several outlaws.

The cast also includes Val Kilmer, Rachel Griffiths, Linda Cardellini, Elizabeth Banks and Wes Studi.

Production on "Comanche Moon" began in the spring of 2006 and the project was originally intended to air at some point during the 2006-07 season.