The Lifetime original movie based on the life of suspected murderer Drew Peterson pulled in the highest ratings for the cable network since "The Pregnancy Pact" aired two years ago.
According to a Lifetime press release, the Saturday evening world premiere of the movie, which starred Rob Lowe and Kaley Cuoco, generated a 4.25 Nielsen household rating and averaged 5.8 million total viewers -- a 241 percent jump over the average viewership of the network's original movies last year.
"This is an amazing way to start the year and is a direct result of our aggressive strategy to green light quality programming that showcases such A-List talent as Rob Lowe and Kaley Cuoco giving captivating performances," Nancy Dubuc, Lifetime Networks president and general manager, said in a statement.
The network also touted how the film resonated on social media, as Bluefin Labs ranked it as the fourth most social telecast in primetime Saturday.
Indeed, the film stirred up a lot of buzz on Twitter, as the phrase "Drew Peterson" and the hash tag #untouchable were trending Saturday evening. Notable Twitter users including Lowe, Kathy Griffin, Piers Morgan, Steve Dahl and others weighed in on the film over the weekend.
In the Chicago Sun-Times, film critic Richard Roeper said, "I don't know if Lowe has ever been more hilarious than he is in 'Untouchable.'"
Peterson himself, according to his lead attorney Joel Brodsky, thought the film was "hysterical." The former Bolingbrook police sergeant is currently awaiting trial in the death of his third wife Kathleen Savio and is also the prime suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife Stacy Peterson.
"He chuckled at all of the inaccuracies and things that never happened," Brodsky told the Chicago Tribune, before adding that potential jurors will be asked if they saw the film when they are selected. Brodsky said that he may push for the trial to be relocated altogether as a result of the movie.
The movie will be rebroadcast Saturday, Jan. 28, at 5 p.m. CST on Lifetime and is already available on demand from Comcast.
WATCH a clip from "Drew Peterson: Untouchable":