Based on the William Brinkley novel, the Michael Bay drama centers on a global catastrophe that nearly destroys the Earth's population.

Months of promotions pay off for the cable network, which sees the Michael Bay drama launch as the biggest new cable series of 2014.

There's more good news for TNT. The network's second scripted launch of the summer, The Last Ship, set a new 2014 high for cable. Sunday's premiere took in 5.3 million viewers.

The open, heavily promoted for the last few months during TNT's coverage of the NBA playoffs, led into the return for Falling Skies. The latest season of the alien drama brought in respectable 3.7 million viewers at 10 p.m.., though not quite at the level of last year's premiere (4.2 million).

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An especially strong Sunday comes just two weeks after the new Monday pairing of Major Crimes and Murder in the First debuted to good ratings. In fact, the Michael Bay-produced series now ranks as TNT's most-watched drama telecast of the year, edging out Major Crimes by 100,000 viewers.

The Last Ship fared even better looking at the whole night. It grossed 7.4 million viewers over the night, with demo hauls of 2.6 million adults 25-54 and 2.3 million adults 18-49. TNT still has several more originals slated for the summer — including new entry Legends on Aug. 13.