WASHINGTON: Some 14.3 million Americans tuned in to watch Sunday’s premiere of a new CBS drama that recalls Hillary Clinton’s stint as US secretary of state, according to initial ratings data Monday.

“Madam Secretary,” starring Tea Leoni, is the latest in a raft of US television series inspired by real-life drama in Washington’s corridors of power.

Nielsen’s “fast affiliate ratings” — which are subject to revision as more detailed viewer data trickles in — indicated it was the most-watched telecast after CBS’s “60 Minutes” news magazine and live American football.

With the new US television season getting underway, “Madam Secretary ” has attracted special interest just as Clinton is mulling another run for the White House in 2016.

The wife of former president Bill Clinton was President Barack Obama’s first-term secretary of state. She lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Obama in 2008.