They're high, but let's not lose our heads...

Showtime isn't big on giving out actual viewership figures, but the premium cable network is certainly pleased by the early returns for "The Tudors."

"The Tudors," which stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII, premiered on Sunday (April 1) to an audience more three times the network's primetime average, Showtime reports. What's that primetime average? Who knows.

Showtime says that the 10 p.m. debut telecast of "The Tudors" outperformed the season one debut telecasts for "Dexter" and "Weeds" by 44 percent and 78 percent respectively. Again, though, without the debut telecast figures for "Dexter" and "Weeds," it's a little complicated to put those numbers in perspective.

The audience for "The Tudors" was 46 percent male, 54 percent female, a slightly more illustrative fact, and Showtime says that the drama tied with "Fat Actress" for the net's highest series debut in three years.

The industry trade papers get a bit more specific, saying that the first "Tudors" airing attracted 870,000 viewers and that a repeat episode immediately afterwards hooked another 404,000.

Showtime says that over a million people had actually sampled "The Tudors" either online or in other on-demand formats. Since the network made each of the first two episodes available (in slightly edited forms), perhaps the true test will be the third episode.