The Kids in the Hall saw boffo numbers for their return to television 15 years after their sketch comedy series ended on CBC.

The first episode of the eight-part mini The Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town debuted to one million viewers in its Tuesday, 9 p.m. slot on Jan. 12, with 600,000 of those in the 25-54 demographic. (All numbers 2+.)

The comic murder mystery series features the original five troupe members, Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson.

‘Wow, if we had numbers like this the first time around, we may not have stopped!’ commented exec producer McCulloch. The original Kids in the Hall aired on CBC from 1988 to 1994, and also on HBO, beginning in 1989.

The numbers are impressive considering the competition, as Kids aired in part opposite the two-hour season premiere of CTV’s top-rated reality American Idol, which returned with 3.2 million viewers at 8 p.m., despite the absence of judge Paula Abdul, who left the Fox show last year.