‘Homeland’: Season 2 keeps growing; ‘Dexter’ nears season 7 high

Somewhere, Showtime president David Nevins has to be throwing himself a little party over some of the stellar ratings that we are seeing at the moment for his shows.

Want the latest example of it? Just consider this. After spending part of the first season barely registering on the ratings radar, “Homeland,” as a end result of strictly being awesome, is now up to a series high with 2.07 million viewers watching the episode that aired Sunday night. This is the first time that the show has cracked the 2 million mark, and over 5 million are watching once you include some other platforms including repeats, On Demand, and DVR viewing after the fact.

These ratings are likely wonderful news given that this series is still pretty early on in what could be a pretty lengthy run, whereas “Dexter” is in many ways is a show that is setting up for its end. Even though the show scored its second-best viewing audience of the year in 2.28 million on Sunday, it’s still not likely to deviate from its plan to end next year due to creative reasons (mostly in that the show wants to go out when it feels complete, not when the ratings are starting to fall).

Really, what should be commended here for both shows above all else are that these ratings gains are coinciding with what was a very busy Sunday night. Not only did you have preparations for Hurricane Sandy, but “The Walking Dead” was on AMC against “Dexter” and you had both Sunday Night Football and the World Series on.

Do you think that this is more proof from Showtime that quality trumps everything else?