The Sunday-night season premieres of Showtime’s serial-killer thriller Dexter and horny-professor comedy Californication achieved record highs for both series, according to a Showtime release. Dexter‘s fourth-season premiere at 9 p.m. scored 1.5 million viewers (up from 1.2 million for season 3′s premiere), while Californication‘s audience of 821,000 for its third-season opener at 10 p.m. was up from 522,000 for the show’s season 2 kick-off. What’s more, Showtime noted that Dexter’s audience was the network’s biggest single-episode draw since 2004, when it changed the way it calculates ratings.
Sep 30
2009
06:57 AM ET
'Dexter' and 'Californication' premieres hit record highs for Showtime
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dexter rules … serial killer turn 1st time daddy (great comedy)
I totally agree with you jack…I loved “Dexter” before (I like to think of him as my role model, is that a bad thing?) but now, he’s hysterically funny too!
The show is brilliant. I enjoy the fact that the writers create opponents for Dexter – Dexter’s brother, Doakes and Miguel Prado. I hope for more of the same this season.
And this is pretty fantastic considering that viewers can actually catch Dexter and Californication about 8 different times. I personally watched Dexter at 9:00 but Californication after midnight on the West feed.
Actually now that I think about it, I watched them both on west feed since I watched Housewives at 9:00.
I got caught up on Dexter much in thanks to Showtime re-running all the previous seasons over the summer. I would maybe credit that dedication from Showtime to stick to that commitment to scheduling and marketing.
I do miss Sgt. Doaks, though.
Hooray for the return of Dexter! I’m glad more people are watching – I agree it’s probably due to advertising and the all-summer availability of Season 3 on Showtime On-Demand. I wonder how many viewers a show has to pull in before ew.com will do a TV Watch…
Don’t forget Netflix streaming. I was able to watch the first 2 seasons right off of my TiVo through Netflix. Had to get a little more creative with season 3 before the DVDs came out, but by that point I was hooked enough to go the extra mile! lol Great show! Strong season 4 opener!
I totally agree about Netflix. I’m a teacher and spent a lot of my summer watching Dexter online. Then I was excited for Season 3 to come out (which I just finished). Oh no! What to do for Season 4? I don’t have Showtime. Oh wait, Netflix even had this past Sunday’s premiere episode.
Sad to see Angel’s girlfriend go. She was exotic.
Re: “Dexter,” way to go, Daddy-O! I was late to the party on this series, and rented seasons one and two on Netflix, and watched the season three reruns on Showtime. So worth it! Can’t wait to see how things unfold – as a mum of a toddler I can totally sympathize trying to get things done while sleep deprived, lol.
Dexter is a great show. Glad is getting good ratings. More shows for all….hooorrrray
Dexter has become one of my favorite shows. Other cable dramas always got weaker as seasons went on (ummm, Soprano’s anyone?) But Dexter keeps getting better. I wasn’t sure how they would top season 3 but they are well on their way!
I agree! Dexter has been a fav of mine since S1 and I think it just keeps getting better and better. It’s still fresh and exciting and creepy. And the acting is top notch.
Dexter is fantastic…I think that Californication’s Hank Moody is the best written character on t.v. Showtime keeps on cranking out great shows…Now bring back Brotherhood…
I have been hooked on Dexter since season 1. It is one of my all time favorite shows. Dealing with who he is and trying to live a “normal” life. It’s awsum!!!
Dexter is my favorite show on TV and the only one I want to make time for.
EW – where is the TV Watch love for Dexter?
It’s shows like these that make me wish I had Showtime. Dexter and Californication are easily two of my favorite shows on television. Unfortunately, I have to wait for the DVD’s to come out first!
I agree with all the comments above. Dexter rocks!!! By far the best program on television. With the addition of another great actor (John Lithgow) it can only get better. Kudos to Showtime.
THere are so many of us out here who love Dexter. I even started watching Californication last year. Thats the reason I keep my Showtime subscription.
i LOVE californication! i have to say the sex is a bit much, but the hank and becca story line is great!!!!!!! best part of the show in my opinion.
The premise of the show is lame – the Becca stuff is stupid.