Showtime’s “Dexter” Has Record Fifth Season Opening

Posted Sep 28, 2010 by Walt Belcher

Updated Sep 28, 2010 at 09:53 AM

  Showtime’s serial killer drama “Dexter” killed in the ratings Sunday night by cable TV standards. The season five debut hit a record number of viewers.

The series, starring Michael C. Hall as a serial-killer who kills serial killers, drew 1.77 million viewers for its 9 p.m. premiere episode - up 16 percent from the 1.52 million viewers generated for its season four premiere show, according to Showtime officials.  Add another 575,000 viewers for a 11 p.m. repeat telecast and the total is 2.34 million combined viewers for the night—a 22 percent increase from the 1.92 million combined viewers garnered last year.

But this is far lower than the 6 million that are watching HBO’s new “Boardwalk: Empire” and 1.77 million would be considered a miserable audience for a broadcast network series.

The network also announced Monday that Dexter fans can access a new killer app for iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
The App includes a Dexter social trivia game; preview scenes for upcoming episodes; behind the scenes videos; exclusive interviews and early cut webisodes from the series.

The free App also allows users to download full episodes and podcasts as well as soundtracks from previous seasons, said the network.