Showtime has scored a big win with its new series "Homeland."

Just when it seemed that deep political intrigue shows based on American intelligence was passé (see: "Rubicon"), "Homeland" proved that some action, intrigue and pretty wacked-out characters could be turned into pure gold.

The first season finale of "Homeland" was watched by 1.1 million viewers on Showtime, and when Sunday reruns were added in, brought teetotal unique viewers to 2 million. That was a jump of more than 58 percent from its premiere, according to The New York Times, meaning that word of mouth has really fueled the growth of the series.

Showtime has already ordered a second season of the series, which stars Claire Danes, Damian Lewis and Mandy Patinkin. While viewership is important, its relevance to overall decision-making is different to a premium cable channel than to a broadcast network or even a basic cable network. There, viewership translates into advertising dollars. However, for premium cable, there are no advertisements.

So instead, success is based on hype and the number of new subscribers (or the number of current subscribers retained) a particular show can create.

Starz experienced some of that with its Kelsey Grammer series "Boss," which had well under a million viewers, but earned a renewal ahead of its premiere simply based on hype and subscription load it created.

If "Homeland" picks up some Emmy nominations later this year as expected, its profile could be raised even higher, possibly ensuring a third season before the second season even starts.

While it finished lower than Showtime's primary hit, "Dexter" (which had 2.7 million viewers), it's still the best first-year series the cable channel has ever had.

"Homeland" was created by Gideon Raff and is based on the Israeli series "Kidnapped." It was developed for American television by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, both who have a long career with shows like "Spenser: For Hire," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "The X-Files" and "24."

Danes and Patinkin play CIA operatives who have to fight against the system to investigate a freed prisoner of war (Lewis) who returned home after years of captivity, to whom they believe was turned by Al-Qaeda.