‘Homeland’ season 2 tops ‘Dexter’ season 7 for first time in total viewers

When you consider the momentum that “Homeland” is building, you had to expect this to happen at some point: the Emmy-winning series has finally eclipsed its “Dexter” lead-in on Showtime in total viewers. Granted, “Dexter” is still winning at the moment in the adults 18-49 demographic, but this is not as important to a premium cable network without advertisers.

Overall, the Claire Danes drama drew 2.2 million viewers (its highest total ever) for the season 2 episode Sunday night that featured Brody shockingly killing Vice-President Walden by rigging his pacemaker. Meanwhile, the Michael C. Hall series had just under 2.1 viewers for its episode that featured Dexter killing his girlfriend Hannah’s father and (of course) dumping his body in the ocean.

So how can you attest this change to what was at one point a lopsided lineup? The ratings for “Dexter” really have not changed that much, but the difference between it and “Homeland” is that it is a harder show to get people invested in over 75 episodes in. (That’s too much of a commitment to catch up on.) Meanwhile, Danes and company are coming off of Showtime’s first-ever Outstanding Drama Series win, and they are continuing to draw positive ratings and buzz (even if Sunday night’s new episode felt like too much of a stretch to some viewers). “Homeland” may also have an advantage in that “Dexter” comes on against “The Walking Dead,” “Revenge,” “The Good Wife,” and “Boardwalk Empire.”

So will this tradition continue for the final two episodes of the season? Considering that ratings always increase over the final weeks of the season, we do expect good news for both shows; the reason we think “Dexter” may emerge on top, though, is because all of the shows listed above are now on hiatus for the holidays, and our serial killer will have a great deal less competition.

Are you happy with the ratings for both shows? If you want to watch a promo for next week’s “Homeland” season 2 episode, you can do so over here.

Photo: Showtime