Despite the entire pilot episode of this new Cedric the Entertainer original scripted sit-com for TV Land being made available on the web a full week before its official TV debut, last night's premiere of The Soul Man still managed to pull in 1.9 million viewers during its 10pm time slot (1 million viewers in the adults 25-54 demographic), to make it TV Land's second highest-rated original series debut ever, behind the June 2010 season premiere of Hot in Cleveland.

The series is a spinoff of Hot in Cleveland, and stars Cedric as Rev. Boyce "The Voice" Ballantine, a former R & B singer turned minister, who takes over his father's church.

In the series Niecy Nash plays his wife, Jazz Raycole plays his daughter Lyric, John Beasley as Boyce’s father, Barton, and Wesley Jonathan as his brother, Stamps.

The Soul Man was reportedly heavily marketed to African American audiences, with the intent being to attract new audiences to the network.

Looks like it worked.

The new series airs Wednesdays 10/9c on TV Land.

And if you weren't 1 of the 1.9 million who tuned in to watch episode 1 last night, you can watch it in full below: