Channel's best ratings ever for first night of the miniseries

There was no place like the Sci Fi Channel for miniseries viewers on Sunday night.

The network scored its best ratings ever for the first night of its "Tin Man" miniseries, a reimagining of the L. Frank Baum classic, "The Wizard of Oz."

The Dec. 2 airing at 9-11 p.m. ET/PT was the channel's most-watched telecast ever in overall viewership, boasting more than 6.3 million total viewers. It also delivered in both of its key demos, 3.8 million viewers aged 25-54 and 3.4 million viewers aged 18-49. It also scored a 4.2 rating in 3.93 million households.

To put this into a Sci Fi Channel context, it even surpassed the ratings for the first parts of the Emmy-winning Steven Spielberg miniseries "Taken" (in overall ratings, in adults 25-54 and households) and Frank Herbert's "Dune" (adults 18-49).

The second night of the three-part "Tin Man" aired Monday night, Dec. 3 at 9 p.m. ET.

In the reimagining of the classic tale, the young woman DG (Zooey Deschanel) is snatched up and thrust into the O.Z., where she joins forces with the half-brained man Glitch (Alan Cumming), the wolverine-like Raw (Raoul Trujillo) who seeks courage and the emotionally scarred, heroic Cain (Neal McDonough), who was once part of the police force known as Tin Men. They journey along the Old Road to seek the help of the Mystic Man (Richard Dreyfuss), who holds the key to revealing her destiny, which is strangely tied to the wicked Azkeadellia (Kathleen Robertson). During the final showdown, DG's life and the future of O.Z. itself hang in the balance.