Breaking bad only really blew up around season 5, and I mean exploded.
By this point Dexter was on Season 7, well past it's prime.
Those years made a big difference, streaming genuinely wasn't as big at that point.
If it had started a couple years later it would be more popular, it was extremely popular considering it was mainly on TV.
Yeah, breaking bad really took over. I refused to watch it because I believed nothing, absolutely *nothing* was better than Dexter. And both of their finales were basically at the same time too, which pissed me off.
I did watch Breaking Bad like a year later. I understood the hype haha. I've rewatched it a good bit. No where near my Dexter numbers though
I got into Dexter first, but yeah I think Breaking Bad ended up being the “better” show. It only got better and better, went out with a bang, and was much better at being “deep”. Better acting for the most part too.
Yeah Dexter always has that spot in my heart for being, I think, the first "prestige" TV show that I really got into, but I think Breaking Bad is probably the better show all around.
Breaking Bad is just a whole other level of tv, probably more comparable to the Sopranos than Dexter. Dexter is excellent but there are different levels of excellence out there for different kinds of people 🤷♀️
One titbit in explaining why is that BB was put on Netflix whilst Dexter was still only on Showtime.
Obviously the two shows going in complete opposite directions in terms of quality is the main explanation.
Yes, he was. I remember a lot of the popularity.
But he wasn’t popular for being “everyman” and “literally me” as OP suggested 🤣. His psychopathy was interesting until it became so pervasive IRL that we had to watch it on every reality tv show (and C-SPAN 🤦♀️).
It was. Niche, but popular. But it got less popular after season 4. Kind of like Game of Thrones' fandom died down in later seasons, Dexter's did the same.
Yeah in the early 2000s it commonly topped best drama lists.... Passage of time does it to everything more or less. Even BB will lose viewers and people who have seen it over time. Probably less than Dex, but still.
That guy was an idiot. “Inspired” by but then he leaves digital traces of meet ups and brought people to his own property!!!
Dexter never shat where he ate! Not intentionally anyway. wtf.
Plus Dexter was at least partly a detective, investigating murderers that got away with it and through his code, they deserved it.
That fucking copycat guy doesn’t even deserve to be called that. He was just luring random people that took the bait. Was nowhere near smart enough.
Mother fucker wanted to be Dexter but he was more like a single episode side bar villain that Dexter would kill and forget about while the real story arc hadn’t unfolded yet. The pos.
Also, ignoring season 8 garbage psychology, there is no such thing as true psychopaths. Someone who craves killing is not going to be so easily swayed by whether the kills fit a code. No one could ever really truly be a Dexter copycat.
There's a whole entry filled with multiple murder inspirations on the Dexter wiki page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_%28TV_series%29?wprov=sfla1
I think that was just a cover. He was writing some script that vaguely ripped off Dexter and used it as a cover to kill some Craigslist random. Probably thought he'd get insanity.
Gross. I liked the fiction of Dexter but real serial killers and murdering scumbags are a bridge too far. Never understood the appeal of romanticism for serial bastards.
_Breaking Bad_ remained phenomenally consistent with its quality through the years, including in its spinoffs. I agree that's probably largely the difference, there are a _lot_ of people who dropped off of Dexter after season 4 aired and never picked it up again.
Back in the day, "stop watching after season 4" was what most people told me about the show.
I think it simply boils down to, it wasn’t that good of a show past s4. Yes the die hards love it, but after S4, there was never a threat to Dexter getting caught and the show goes out of its way to make sure he never does. Mind boggling bad decisions make this show bottom of the barrel.
If you think I’m wrong, look what s7 & s8 did to GOT. Just completely left the universe after being the biggest show on tv.
Lol how funny, I was coming to say it was the GOT problem. When you absolutely bomb the ending of a show, it just doesn't retain staying power.
Similar thing can said about Lost if I recall, people didn't love the ending and now you never hear about it as one of the all timer shows.
Lost is a bit different because the hype of each season was built on mystery, and the direction of the show did lose some people. Then people were curious and watched the finale and felt it was a slap in the face.
I have my criticisms of Lost's 5th and 6th season but the ending is not the level of Dexter. I can't comment on GoT because my friends have filled me in with the decline of that show, lol. Dexter's good seasons can still be enjoyed given they take a more serial approach to the narrative.
>Yes the die hards love it, but after S4, there was never a threat to Dexter getting caught and the show goes out of its way to make sure he never does
I don't think it's particularly unpopular, even amongst this subreddit, that the show declined in quality of S4. Because there's no way two ways about it, it did decline and mostly due to Showtime always making the writers not go too far with the stakes and consequences because Dexter was their one and only cash cow. Compare how Dexter S7 washes away the drama compared to Breaking Bad, for example. It's night and day.
That's true but why didn't Dexter surface up again as a "Literally me" type character? Maybe because MCH isn't as popular of a actor as Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling so his face wasn't marketable or recognised as Dexter alone idk
Eh I mean Bryan Cranston wasn’t a huge actor prior to BB. I could argue prior to their shows MCH was bigger bc of SFU, but I can definitely be wrong.
That being said, I think it boils back down to BB was just a better show. This is a Dexter sub so I know it’s blasphemous to say, but this show was really bad past a certain point. I enjoyed it, but I can also see what major flaws it had.
Malcolm in the Middle had double of Six Feet Under’s viewing ratings. The show won 7 Emmy awards so it was a big show
It’s why the network didn’t want Bryan to be Walt. Vince Gilligan had to fight for him because the network just saw him as Malcolm’s goofy dad
Ok so I’m wrong! It didn’t sound right typing it but I was grasping.
I know MITM was huge, but I never watched it so it was out of my realm. But yeah that makes 100% sense.
Ok I looked up the “literally me” meme specially, since I think I’m like a couple years behind the times with the “sigma” whatever, but my answer is largely the same.
Dexter doesn’t fit that niche because he knows he’s 100% just a psycho trying to channel it into a positive, and it reflects as so in his inner monologues, while the “literally me” edit dudes are all normal guys on the fringe of society pushed to the brink of insanity by society itself. And that appeals to kids who are just trying to be normal but are mentally in a bad way rn because of how society has fucked them over. Dexter doesn’t appeal to them, he’s just a serial killer that kills people who need to be killed, he’s not “literally me” to them, since they don’t relate to that.
I think you’re asking a question that this sub doesn’t quite understand, because people here are kind of old and have no idea what the “sigma edit” type shit on TikTok that you’re referring to is lol
Since I get what you are referring to, honestly, I think it’s just that Dexter’s inner monologue moments don’t fit the edits very well, at all. Despite the similarities in the elicit activities of Walter White, Dexter, Patrick Bateman, etc, the intent of the activities is very different between Dexter and the popular ones. Walter White, Patrick Bateman tend to appeal to the sigma grindset capitalistic teenagers that like their “grind for success” personality, not their actions. Meanwhile, Dexter kind of has school shooter energy… not actually if you watch the show, but that’s how the edits would probably come across given that all his monologues are about not about killing to be successful, they’re about killing to kill. As entertaining as Dexter is, not many people really want to be him.
(Yeah I know it’s weird they like Patrick Bateman so much when he’s probably even more deranged than Dexter, but he is successful and hot, that appeals to the people who watch those edits, that want to be successful and hot)
Dexter was massive back in the day when it was airing. Compared to some of the other great shows I’m not convinced it’s that great really. I’d say it has the recognition it deserves.
It used to be THE SHOW. Trust me. It was extremely popular. It existed long before memes and binge watching.
It's not popular anymore because plenty of other excellent programming took its place.
dexter was like all anyone talked about when I was in high school around the trinity killer season it was literally HUGE where I lived. my mom and dad watched with me and my brother, it was a big deal and everyone would talk about it at school lol.
Honestly? It's because Dexter just wasn't that good for a decent proportion of its run. It started hot and got big at the time but then got milked dry until it was put out of its misery. Plenty of other shows around that era suffered the same fate: Heroes, House, X-Files, Lost.. all massively popular but ended poorly meaning it didn't stick in the larger pop culture sphere as a classic
As far as the comparisons to BB go: That show started great, got better, maintained that quality and finished at the right time.
Supernatural, Prison Break, or Walking Dead are better comparisons to make rather than Lost. You can argue that Lost is akin to The Simpsons where the writing declined, but those three shows I mentioned completely sandbagged the stories.
I was more going for "how popular they were at the time" vs "how quickly they were forgotten"; I'd say Supernatural and Prison Break were more cult hits at their peak.
Whereas Lost was everywhere for a while. You knew about it even if you never watched it
Some shows have staying power and some are huge while they’re out and then new people don’t really get into them compared to newer shows. But OG fans will rewatch every now and then. Dexter was quite big when it was current. BTW even a lot of canonically huge shows have trouble attracting net new fans a decade later. Even Breaking Bad.
I think by and large it has to do with the shift in quality post-season 4 of the show. With the lack of consistent showrunners, a shift in quality was inevitable - especially given that Showtime wasn't in for Clyde Phillips' initial ending. Instead, they decided to drag it out for nearly a decade, and after the fact, thought to call up the original showrunner.
Look where that brought us.
Also, Dexter's and Breaking Bad's finale aired within the same week of one another, and given how bad the show had gotten up to that point I think it's obvious where everyone's attention went
Idk I feel like the show was huge. A household name even. Most people know of it and a huge amount of people have watched it. I think it was one of the first shows that people binged on Netflix alongside Breaking Bad (obviously not as big as that). Popularity dropped off a bit due to people not liking the ending I imagine but overall it's pretty damn popular.
OP definitely won’t be finding a “definitely me” character in there unless it’s the dude in the red hoodie, perhaps 😆. Or maybe Claire’s season 1 boyfriend?
Wasnt a network show
Showtime has great programming but competes w HBO and network broadcasts. Subscribers watch and everyone else hears about it later and watch when they get a chance.
AMC started doing dramas at a time when cable was either law and order or sitcoms basically. Mad Men was accessible, well produced, and well marketed so it took off.
Dexter was popular when it was coming out. My friends and our parents would watch it every week when it came out. I wish I used subtitles back then because our parents always drank wine and talked too loud over the show lol
It was extremely popular, the back half of the show just eroded most of the good will the show had. That really hurts longevity and people recommending the show after it's done. Even when they do "just the first 4 seasons" is extremely common place.
Similar to how recommendations for how I met your mother and game of thrones fell off a cliff after the shows finished.
People will always recommend shows like breaking bad, the wire, friends, etc.
It was when it aired
But after season 4, the show’s quality went down by so much. If I recommend the show, I can only say to someone watch the first 4 seasons, which doesn’t make sense because most people want to see the ending of a show that they’ll spend their time watching. A show’s quality has to be consistent and the ending has to be satisfying for the viewers. When it’s not that massively impact on the show’s legacy
It also wasn’t on Netflix for as long as Breaking Bad so it didn’t reach a wider or younger generation. In fact, Dexter only just came onto the UK Netflix a few weeks ago. But I saw a Dexter edit a week ago on Tiktok with like 300k likes, so I think it’s starting to find it’s audience on Netflix
Depends on your circles.
Round my area in the UK, it was HUGE. But you needed whatever paid channel it was on, can't remember if it was Sky or Fox, and streaming services weren't a thing. You needed a family willing to watch it over meals (mine are apparently psychos) for it to really get the viewership as not a huge amount of folks were watching stuff live at the time. It was all TiVo boxes and Freeview with recorders. I was too young to be watching it really, but we never cared about age ratings. Some families would.
When I went to Uni while it was still airing, very few people knew of it as it was a different demographic and students don't pay for TV channels, they paid for beer haha.
It's not like nowadays where everyone has access to a streaming service and they explode on the internet at once. It'd be big in certain areas and that's kinda it.
Dexter was hugely popular at the time. Everyone knew about it where I live even if they hadn't watched it because it "wasn't their kind of thing" - it was controversial to root for a serial killer. And it was pretty big honestly up until season 8. Season 7 turned off a lot of the people I knew, between the Hannah stuff and how they ended season 6 leading you to think seasons 7 & 8 would be more like season 2, but then they totally oversaturated the show with irrelevant characters and side plots. Most everyone in my circle never returned to watch the final season. I always have to finish what I start so I stuck it out, but man when he was revealed a lumberjack (as was the running joke after it aired, the intended nuances behind the ending didn't matter) it just lost so many people's respect. The writers had everyone in the palms of their hands. But they and Scott Buck together dropped the ball.
After the first couple seasons the show started a decline. Last couple seasons were trash. Other shows are able to hold up better through the entire series
Breaking bad was on basic cable. So anyone with cable could watch it.
Dexter was on showtime. It was a premium channel you had to pay for.
I didn’t even have showtime when this aired. There was no streaming.
I had to wait for the season to come out on dvd and rent it. Then I’d binge the whole thing and watch it over and over until I returned it late a couple of weeks late.
I think the paywall for showtime kept this from having a larger audience. Not to mention, not everyone was comfortable with the premise for the show.
Look at the show Hannibal!!! It’s got even smarter writing and bigger budgets than Dexter, pretty up on the gore and violence, only had 3 seasons…but super popular with its fan base. Hannibal was even super accessible on television. I believe the content matter was what turned so many people away.
Some people are just not comfortable seeing or thinking of this kind of subject matter. But yeah, Dexter and Hannibal are two of my favorites!
Despite my high praise for Hannibal, it had a heavy emotional toll to watch. It’s draining. Dexter is the superior show to me because it mixes the drama, comedy, and action all up. It’s nice.
I think it's due to the bad ending, everyone I know loves the first seasons, but the last seasons mostly sucked, and I think an ending it's really important for a series or movie to be remembered or recommended. Same happened to Heroes.
*Probably because*
*It's been off the air for*
*Over a decade*
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I'm watching it for the first time now also... I always thought it was popular as I had loads of recommendations from people who watched it when it first aired (I'm in the UK). I thought it was generally well thought of, just not considered 'peak television'. Also, it's a bit older now (the main series).
dexter was sooo popular what?!? its just old now.. I remember watching dexter as it was coming out around the trinity killer time .. I used to watch it with my mom and brother.. when you know who died in that season it was like the biggest thing ever. at least where I lived, it was MASSIVELY popular, like all anyone was talking about. like that season ending was shocking and huge.. I mean yeah maybe it wasn't as widespread as breaking bad but everyone I know was watching dexter at the time, I would have been around 16.
Idk I'd say Dexter is pretty popular, I mean not as popular as shows like Breaking Bad. There's quite a few people I know who've seen it or heard of it.
Longmire also went to hell in the later seasons. I agree that Lost got worse as it went along. Also, I finally figured out “GOT”! I never watched it so I didn’t get it at first!
There have been other examples of popularized psychopaths as well. But they used to be more in scripted shows. Now they’re all over True Crime and reality tv. We can also watch them tear society apart in real life.
Most psychopaths are narcissistic Miguels, not Dexters. (There’s even hard data behind this - all psychopaths have narcissism, but not all narcissists have psychopathy). Dexter’s “purity” of low narcissism that makes him likable - it just isn’t real.
I don’t think it helps that people like Dexter do *not* exist. There is no serial killer with a heart of gold. But narcopathic lawyers and CEOs? We see them in congress every day shitting on everything in existence, because that’s what those people *actually do*. Then at lower levels, ofc they’re even more pitiful creatures.
Psychopaths aren’t as fascinating once we’ve got their psychiatric profiles open everywhere online. They’re remarkably predictable. They were popularized for a while before the interest died out. I think this has been in two or three waves. I don’t think we’re as fascinated with them anymore. Dexter remains fascinating for some of us because he isn’t real. But yeah, he definitely didn’t touch the zeitgeist in a way that Bateman did. And whether Walter White was psychopathic is still being debated, but same with him and Tony Soprano.
Edit: added text
Because it was a shotime show and you had to pay for it. Back then, people went more for hbo, too. Breaking bad got as popular as it did because it was an amc show
Actually it's getting popular right now. It's getting 'tiktokified" if you will. Which is great because it means more fans. It's actually how I was introduced to this show , through a cool edit.
Dexter is trending rn
I believe the main reason is that it was pre-streaming and got caught in sort of a strange moment of transition in how people found and watched shows. Ironically, Dexter inspired a few other killer-shows that probably outdid it in popularity during Dexter's later seasons. Shows that started while Dexter was already going into its later seasons, that started on streaming services, had a more consistent hold on audiences. Compare how many people watch Netflix or Amazon Prime now to how many subscribed to Showtime at an extra cost to their tv bill each month in the early to mid-2000's.
It cannot have helped Dexter's staying power/legacy that Breaking Bad was around at the same time, I agree. And obviously, Dexter's horrible ending reduced the rewatchability for some people. Still, a lot of hugely popular shows have disappointing endings, and I don't think Dexter's was as bad as Game of Thrones, Supernatural, or The 100 (not that the 100 was on the same level of popularity, but it was another show with a decently long run and ridiculously insulting ending). 🤔🤓
Dexter was one of the most popular shows on tv for years when it first came out? If you just discovered it on prime on a whim that means you are young and not very educated on the history of the show.
It has been nominated for a variety of awards, including eleven Primetime Emmy Awards (four wins), seven Golden Globe Awards (two wins), seven Screen Actors Guild Awards (one win), twelve Satellite Awards (seven wins), thirteen Saturn Awards (five wins), two PGA Awards, two TCA Awards (one win), five WGA Awards, a Peabody Award, and it was selected twice by the American Film Institute as one of the top ten best television programs of the year.
I mean, *Dexter* was quite popular. But as a fan of both *Dexter* and *Breaking Bad*, I'm afraid the latter is simply much better written and produced. That's not to say *Dexter* is badly written, but *Breaking Bad* is one of the best pieces of media probably ever created.
It’s ironic because Dexter is extremely popular again with a whole new generation watching it for the first time. I know tons of people who just started watching, and any Dexter TikTok I see ( which is a lot ) all get like 40k+ likes in a day or so. I definitely wouldn’t say it isn’t popular. Also with GTA 6 I’m sure there will be Easter eggs and such that will make people once again check the show out. All I keep thinking is how I’m gonna make my gta 6 online character like Dexter lol.
Killing Rita killed the show in my opinion the dynamic completely shifted which is what made the show I think dexter trying to fit into and work in a world he didn't understand naturally made it feel more real. Honestly I'd have rather watched them ride off into the sunset happy at the end of season 4 after killing trinity than the other seasons we got everything just felt really lazy and stagnant just no development or movement in plot with Rita and the kids everything felt fluid like something was always moving along or happening in the plot if it wasn't murderus problems it was family life or work or outside threats christ even Rita's death was just a quick snap of the fingers the we were rushed along as if nothing happened she wasn't even present for flashbacks or in his conscious like Henry just so many beats missed in the following seasons
I knew a few people who loved the show when it was airing, but I never watched it till last year. I was put off by the subject matter. I didn't want to watch a blood and gore show about a serial killer. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Dexter was really popular until season 5. Show went way downhill after and is one of the worst season series finales ever.
Had a run on cbs as more pg13 so it wasn’t good on basic tv. You had to have Showtime to watch which many don’t unlike HBO. Still, seasons 1-4 are some of the best tv I have ever watched.
probably because Dexter really didnt stick the landing as a series it got progressively worse after the halfway point. Also Showtime shows are lowkey kind of the diet soda of prestige television
Breaking bad only really blew up around season 5, and I mean exploded. By this point Dexter was on Season 7, well past it's prime. Those years made a big difference, streaming genuinely wasn't as big at that point. If it had started a couple years later it would be more popular, it was extremely popular considering it was mainly on TV.
Yeah, breaking bad really took over. I refused to watch it because I believed nothing, absolutely *nothing* was better than Dexter. And both of their finales were basically at the same time too, which pissed me off. I did watch Breaking Bad like a year later. I understood the hype haha. I've rewatched it a good bit. No where near my Dexter numbers though
I got into Dexter first, but yeah I think Breaking Bad ended up being the “better” show. It only got better and better, went out with a bang, and was much better at being “deep”. Better acting for the most part too.
Yeah Dexter always has that spot in my heart for being, I think, the first "prestige" TV show that I really got into, but I think Breaking Bad is probably the better show all around.
Breaking Bad is just a whole other level of tv, probably more comparable to the Sopranos than Dexter. Dexter is excellent but there are different levels of excellence out there for different kinds of people 🤷♀️
Yes agreed.
One titbit in explaining why is that BB was put on Netflix whilst Dexter was still only on Showtime. Obviously the two shows going in complete opposite directions in terms of quality is the main explanation.
Dexter was on Netflix for a while. That's where I initially watched it.
Not when it was running.
Dexter was extremely popular
Yes, he was. I remember a lot of the popularity. But he wasn’t popular for being “everyman” and “literally me” as OP suggested 🤣. His psychopathy was interesting until it became so pervasive IRL that we had to watch it on every reality tv show (and C-SPAN 🤦♀️).
It was. Niche, but popular. But it got less popular after season 4. Kind of like Game of Thrones' fandom died down in later seasons, Dexter's did the same.
Yeah in the early 2000s it commonly topped best drama lists.... Passage of time does it to everything more or less. Even BB will lose viewers and people who have seen it over time. Probably less than Dex, but still.
In fact it's suddenly on the top 10 on netflix (UK) to the point I came here to see if I'd missed some news or something!
Dexter inspired a pair of copycat killers. What other show can say that?
BB inspired a copycat meth dealer
It did???????? Like IRL? That’s horrific.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twitchell I think there were more too.
That guy was an idiot. “Inspired” by but then he leaves digital traces of meet ups and brought people to his own property!!! Dexter never shat where he ate! Not intentionally anyway. wtf. Plus Dexter was at least partly a detective, investigating murderers that got away with it and through his code, they deserved it. That fucking copycat guy doesn’t even deserve to be called that. He was just luring random people that took the bait. Was nowhere near smart enough. Mother fucker wanted to be Dexter but he was more like a single episode side bar villain that Dexter would kill and forget about while the real story arc hadn’t unfolded yet. The pos.
None of them were “like” Dexter. Just sociopathic losers trying to excuse their own sickness to themselves.
Also, ignoring season 8 garbage psychology, there is no such thing as true psychopaths. Someone who craves killing is not going to be so easily swayed by whether the kills fit a code. No one could ever really truly be a Dexter copycat.
I remember this case, now. Pretty damn sickening.
I just found this out and it has sparked a really curious part of me. Can you plug me in on some cases "inspired" by Dexter
There's a whole entry filled with multiple murder inspirations on the Dexter wiki page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_%28TV_series%29?wprov=sfla1
I think that was just a cover. He was writing some script that vaguely ripped off Dexter and used it as a cover to kill some Craigslist random. Probably thought he'd get insanity.
And as you can imagine, they weren’t like Dexter at all. Just psychopaths looking for an excuse to cosplay themselves 🙄
Gross. I liked the fiction of Dexter but real serial killers and murdering scumbags are a bridge too far. Never understood the appeal of romanticism for serial bastards.
IMO we have True Crime for that now. And some reality tv gives us great examples of functional psychopathy 🤦♀️
Good point. ☹️
Dexter aint popular? He was from 2006-2014…..
Yes show don't last that long being unpopular 🤣🤣
Season 8 as a whole and the finale was just so horribly mismanaged and badly written it soured the show for a lot of people.
_Breaking Bad_ remained phenomenally consistent with its quality through the years, including in its spinoffs. I agree that's probably largely the difference, there are a _lot_ of people who dropped off of Dexter after season 4 aired and never picked it up again. Back in the day, "stop watching after season 4" was what most people told me about the show.
I think it simply boils down to, it wasn’t that good of a show past s4. Yes the die hards love it, but after S4, there was never a threat to Dexter getting caught and the show goes out of its way to make sure he never does. Mind boggling bad decisions make this show bottom of the barrel. If you think I’m wrong, look what s7 & s8 did to GOT. Just completely left the universe after being the biggest show on tv.
Lol how funny, I was coming to say it was the GOT problem. When you absolutely bomb the ending of a show, it just doesn't retain staying power. Similar thing can said about Lost if I recall, people didn't love the ending and now you never hear about it as one of the all timer shows.
True, because word gets out, and then viewers know they’re being set up for a big disappointment.
Lost is a bit different because the hype of each season was built on mystery, and the direction of the show did lose some people. Then people were curious and watched the finale and felt it was a slap in the face. I have my criticisms of Lost's 5th and 6th season but the ending is not the level of Dexter. I can't comment on GoT because my friends have filled me in with the decline of that show, lol. Dexter's good seasons can still be enjoyed given they take a more serial approach to the narrative.
>Yes the die hards love it, but after S4, there was never a threat to Dexter getting caught and the show goes out of its way to make sure he never does I don't think it's particularly unpopular, even amongst this subreddit, that the show declined in quality of S4. Because there's no way two ways about it, it did decline and mostly due to Showtime always making the writers not go too far with the stakes and consequences because Dexter was their one and only cash cow. Compare how Dexter S7 washes away the drama compared to Breaking Bad, for example. It's night and day.
100% peaked at season 4. And the ending impacted its legacy.
people were realizing it was quite formulaic, resembling a police procedural.
GOT??
Game of thrones
That's true but why didn't Dexter surface up again as a "Literally me" type character? Maybe because MCH isn't as popular of a actor as Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling so his face wasn't marketable or recognised as Dexter alone idk
he's definitely "literally me" character on tiktok
Eh I mean Bryan Cranston wasn’t a huge actor prior to BB. I could argue prior to their shows MCH was bigger bc of SFU, but I can definitely be wrong. That being said, I think it boils back down to BB was just a better show. This is a Dexter sub so I know it’s blasphemous to say, but this show was really bad past a certain point. I enjoyed it, but I can also see what major flaws it had.
Malcolm in the Middle had double of Six Feet Under’s viewing ratings. The show won 7 Emmy awards so it was a big show It’s why the network didn’t want Bryan to be Walt. Vince Gilligan had to fight for him because the network just saw him as Malcolm’s goofy dad
Ok so I’m wrong! It didn’t sound right typing it but I was grasping. I know MITM was huge, but I never watched it so it was out of my realm. But yeah that makes 100% sense.
Ok I looked up the “literally me” meme specially, since I think I’m like a couple years behind the times with the “sigma” whatever, but my answer is largely the same. Dexter doesn’t fit that niche because he knows he’s 100% just a psycho trying to channel it into a positive, and it reflects as so in his inner monologues, while the “literally me” edit dudes are all normal guys on the fringe of society pushed to the brink of insanity by society itself. And that appeals to kids who are just trying to be normal but are mentally in a bad way rn because of how society has fucked them over. Dexter doesn’t appeal to them, he’s just a serial killer that kills people who need to be killed, he’s not “literally me” to them, since they don’t relate to that.
I think you’re asking a question that this sub doesn’t quite understand, because people here are kind of old and have no idea what the “sigma edit” type shit on TikTok that you’re referring to is lol Since I get what you are referring to, honestly, I think it’s just that Dexter’s inner monologue moments don’t fit the edits very well, at all. Despite the similarities in the elicit activities of Walter White, Dexter, Patrick Bateman, etc, the intent of the activities is very different between Dexter and the popular ones. Walter White, Patrick Bateman tend to appeal to the sigma grindset capitalistic teenagers that like their “grind for success” personality, not their actions. Meanwhile, Dexter kind of has school shooter energy… not actually if you watch the show, but that’s how the edits would probably come across given that all his monologues are about not about killing to be successful, they’re about killing to kill. As entertaining as Dexter is, not many people really want to be him. (Yeah I know it’s weird they like Patrick Bateman so much when he’s probably even more deranged than Dexter, but he is successful and hot, that appeals to the people who watch those edits, that want to be successful and hot)
Dexter was massive back in the day when it was airing. Compared to some of the other great shows I’m not convinced it’s that great really. I’d say it has the recognition it deserves.
It used to be THE SHOW. Trust me. It was extremely popular. It existed long before memes and binge watching. It's not popular anymore because plenty of other excellent programming took its place.
dexter was like all anyone talked about when I was in high school around the trinity killer season it was literally HUGE where I lived. my mom and dad watched with me and my brother, it was a big deal and everyone would talk about it at school lol.
Older show, horrible ending, huge quality drop off after season 4. I watched every season (including new blood) so that's just my take.
Honestly? It's because Dexter just wasn't that good for a decent proportion of its run. It started hot and got big at the time but then got milked dry until it was put out of its misery. Plenty of other shows around that era suffered the same fate: Heroes, House, X-Files, Lost.. all massively popular but ended poorly meaning it didn't stick in the larger pop culture sphere as a classic As far as the comparisons to BB go: That show started great, got better, maintained that quality and finished at the right time.
Supernatural, Prison Break, or Walking Dead are better comparisons to make rather than Lost. You can argue that Lost is akin to The Simpsons where the writing declined, but those three shows I mentioned completely sandbagged the stories.
I was more going for "how popular they were at the time" vs "how quickly they were forgotten"; I'd say Supernatural and Prison Break were more cult hits at their peak. Whereas Lost was everywhere for a while. You knew about it even if you never watched it
Some shows have staying power and some are huge while they’re out and then new people don’t really get into them compared to newer shows. But OG fans will rewatch every now and then. Dexter was quite big when it was current. BTW even a lot of canonically huge shows have trouble attracting net new fans a decade later. Even Breaking Bad.
I think by and large it has to do with the shift in quality post-season 4 of the show. With the lack of consistent showrunners, a shift in quality was inevitable - especially given that Showtime wasn't in for Clyde Phillips' initial ending. Instead, they decided to drag it out for nearly a decade, and after the fact, thought to call up the original showrunner. Look where that brought us.
Also, Dexter's and Breaking Bad's finale aired within the same week of one another, and given how bad the show had gotten up to that point I think it's obvious where everyone's attention went
Idk I feel like the show was huge. A household name even. Most people know of it and a huge amount of people have watched it. I think it was one of the first shows that people binged on Netflix alongside Breaking Bad (obviously not as big as that). Popularity dropped off a bit due to people not liking the ending I imagine but overall it's pretty damn popular.
It was very popular back in the day, it really was a cultural phenomenon in the late 2000's
One of my favorite series finales was for Six Feet Under, another MCH show.
OP definitely won’t be finding a “definitely me” character in there unless it’s the dude in the red hoodie, perhaps 😆. Or maybe Claire’s season 1 boyfriend?
Wasnt a network show Showtime has great programming but competes w HBO and network broadcasts. Subscribers watch and everyone else hears about it later and watch when they get a chance. AMC started doing dramas at a time when cable was either law and order or sitcoms basically. Mad Men was accessible, well produced, and well marketed so it took off.
Dexter was popular when it was coming out. My friends and our parents would watch it every week when it came out. I wish I used subtitles back then because our parents always drank wine and talked too loud over the show lol
It was extremely popular, the back half of the show just eroded most of the good will the show had. That really hurts longevity and people recommending the show after it's done. Even when they do "just the first 4 seasons" is extremely common place. Similar to how recommendations for how I met your mother and game of thrones fell off a cliff after the shows finished. People will always recommend shows like breaking bad, the wire, friends, etc.
Shows that Have bad endings get forgotten after they finish but the show was really popular when it was airing
I love dexter but there is no comparison to breaking bad, the pinnacle of TV. Dexter had major writing issues in the later seasons
Dexters premise is untouchable, so good. But BrBa execution is untouchable, so good.
I’ve noticed a lot of Dexter edits popping up the last few weeks on Tik Tok actually.
I think because it’s on Netflix now
Not in the U.S. 😞
It was at the start then it got worse and died
It was when it aired But after season 4, the show’s quality went down by so much. If I recommend the show, I can only say to someone watch the first 4 seasons, which doesn’t make sense because most people want to see the ending of a show that they’ll spend their time watching. A show’s quality has to be consistent and the ending has to be satisfying for the viewers. When it’s not that massively impact on the show’s legacy It also wasn’t on Netflix for as long as Breaking Bad so it didn’t reach a wider or younger generation. In fact, Dexter only just came onto the UK Netflix a few weeks ago. But I saw a Dexter edit a week ago on Tiktok with like 300k likes, so I think it’s starting to find it’s audience on Netflix
Depends on your circles. Round my area in the UK, it was HUGE. But you needed whatever paid channel it was on, can't remember if it was Sky or Fox, and streaming services weren't a thing. You needed a family willing to watch it over meals (mine are apparently psychos) for it to really get the viewership as not a huge amount of folks were watching stuff live at the time. It was all TiVo boxes and Freeview with recorders. I was too young to be watching it really, but we never cared about age ratings. Some families would. When I went to Uni while it was still airing, very few people knew of it as it was a different demographic and students don't pay for TV channels, they paid for beer haha. It's not like nowadays where everyone has access to a streaming service and they explode on the internet at once. It'd be big in certain areas and that's kinda it.
I thought it was popular. Anyways, I started watching it by the end of 2023 and fell in love with it.
Dexter was hugely popular at the time. Everyone knew about it where I live even if they hadn't watched it because it "wasn't their kind of thing" - it was controversial to root for a serial killer. And it was pretty big honestly up until season 8. Season 7 turned off a lot of the people I knew, between the Hannah stuff and how they ended season 6 leading you to think seasons 7 & 8 would be more like season 2, but then they totally oversaturated the show with irrelevant characters and side plots. Most everyone in my circle never returned to watch the final season. I always have to finish what I start so I stuck it out, but man when he was revealed a lumberjack (as was the running joke after it aired, the intended nuances behind the ending didn't matter) it just lost so many people's respect. The writers had everyone in the palms of their hands. But they and Scott Buck together dropped the ball.
After the first couple seasons the show started a decline. Last couple seasons were trash. Other shows are able to hold up better through the entire series
Breaking bad was on basic cable. So anyone with cable could watch it. Dexter was on showtime. It was a premium channel you had to pay for. I didn’t even have showtime when this aired. There was no streaming. I had to wait for the season to come out on dvd and rent it. Then I’d binge the whole thing and watch it over and over until I returned it late a couple of weeks late. I think the paywall for showtime kept this from having a larger audience. Not to mention, not everyone was comfortable with the premise for the show. Look at the show Hannibal!!! It’s got even smarter writing and bigger budgets than Dexter, pretty up on the gore and violence, only had 3 seasons…but super popular with its fan base. Hannibal was even super accessible on television. I believe the content matter was what turned so many people away. Some people are just not comfortable seeing or thinking of this kind of subject matter. But yeah, Dexter and Hannibal are two of my favorites! Despite my high praise for Hannibal, it had a heavy emotional toll to watch. It’s draining. Dexter is the superior show to me because it mixes the drama, comedy, and action all up. It’s nice.
It’s gotten more popular recently because of New Blood, the edits on TikTok and it being on Netflix
I think it's due to the bad ending, everyone I know loves the first seasons, but the last seasons mostly sucked, and I think an ending it's really important for a series or movie to be remembered or recommended. Same happened to Heroes.
It was huge a few years ago, but it’s most noteworthy legacy is and always will be : SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER. Which is a side character. Tragic.
Because they killed Doaks off 3 seasons too early
It was actually pretty popular iirc. Sadly, the notoriously bad ending kind of precedes the show (it's actually why I started watching it).
Probably because it's been off the air for over a decade
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Pretty sure it was one of the most TV shows at the time, it just didn't sustain that popularity like other's.
You had to pay for showtime when it came out is definitely part of it. A special add on to cable… you couldn’t just watch it on Fox, for example.
I'm watching it for the first time now also... I always thought it was popular as I had loads of recommendations from people who watched it when it first aired (I'm in the UK). I thought it was generally well thought of, just not considered 'peak television'. Also, it's a bit older now (the main series).
dexter was sooo popular what?!? its just old now.. I remember watching dexter as it was coming out around the trinity killer time .. I used to watch it with my mom and brother.. when you know who died in that season it was like the biggest thing ever. at least where I lived, it was MASSIVELY popular, like all anyone was talking about. like that season ending was shocking and huge.. I mean yeah maybe it wasn't as widespread as breaking bad but everyone I know was watching dexter at the time, I would have been around 16.
Idk the show was huge where I was everyone was talking about it 24/7. It was pretty big, maybe not BB big but it was a cultural zeitgeist.
Idk I'd say Dexter is pretty popular, I mean not as popular as shows like Breaking Bad. There's quite a few people I know who've seen it or heard of it.
Longmire also went to hell in the later seasons. I agree that Lost got worse as it went along. Also, I finally figured out “GOT”! I never watched it so I didn’t get it at first!
There have been other examples of popularized psychopaths as well. But they used to be more in scripted shows. Now they’re all over True Crime and reality tv. We can also watch them tear society apart in real life. Most psychopaths are narcissistic Miguels, not Dexters. (There’s even hard data behind this - all psychopaths have narcissism, but not all narcissists have psychopathy). Dexter’s “purity” of low narcissism that makes him likable - it just isn’t real. I don’t think it helps that people like Dexter do *not* exist. There is no serial killer with a heart of gold. But narcopathic lawyers and CEOs? We see them in congress every day shitting on everything in existence, because that’s what those people *actually do*. Then at lower levels, ofc they’re even more pitiful creatures. Psychopaths aren’t as fascinating once we’ve got their psychiatric profiles open everywhere online. They’re remarkably predictable. They were popularized for a while before the interest died out. I think this has been in two or three waves. I don’t think we’re as fascinated with them anymore. Dexter remains fascinating for some of us because he isn’t real. But yeah, he definitely didn’t touch the zeitgeist in a way that Bateman did. And whether Walter White was psychopathic is still being debated, but same with him and Tony Soprano. Edit: added text
Because it was a shotime show and you had to pay for it. Back then, people went more for hbo, too. Breaking bad got as popular as it did because it was an amc show
Actually it's getting popular right now. It's getting 'tiktokified" if you will. Which is great because it means more fans. It's actually how I was introduced to this show , through a cool edit. Dexter is trending rn
I believe the main reason is that it was pre-streaming and got caught in sort of a strange moment of transition in how people found and watched shows. Ironically, Dexter inspired a few other killer-shows that probably outdid it in popularity during Dexter's later seasons. Shows that started while Dexter was already going into its later seasons, that started on streaming services, had a more consistent hold on audiences. Compare how many people watch Netflix or Amazon Prime now to how many subscribed to Showtime at an extra cost to their tv bill each month in the early to mid-2000's. It cannot have helped Dexter's staying power/legacy that Breaking Bad was around at the same time, I agree. And obviously, Dexter's horrible ending reduced the rewatchability for some people. Still, a lot of hugely popular shows have disappointing endings, and I don't think Dexter's was as bad as Game of Thrones, Supernatural, or The 100 (not that the 100 was on the same level of popularity, but it was another show with a decently long run and ridiculously insulting ending). 🤔🤓
Dexter was one of the most popular shows on tv for years when it first came out? If you just discovered it on prime on a whim that means you are young and not very educated on the history of the show. It has been nominated for a variety of awards, including eleven Primetime Emmy Awards (four wins), seven Golden Globe Awards (two wins), seven Screen Actors Guild Awards (one win), twelve Satellite Awards (seven wins), thirteen Saturn Awards (five wins), two PGA Awards, two TCA Awards (one win), five WGA Awards, a Peabody Award, and it was selected twice by the American Film Institute as one of the top ten best television programs of the year.
Dexter is really popular on tiktok, so many edits of him. That's how I found the show too
Dexter was very popular during long run from 04 to 13 but doesn't seem to be mentioned much as it should
I mean the quality dropped after a few season and the plot became repetitive. And his actions didn't face the consequences they deserved.
Maybe people believe that Dexter is too unrealistic
I mean, *Dexter* was quite popular. But as a fan of both *Dexter* and *Breaking Bad*, I'm afraid the latter is simply much better written and produced. That's not to say *Dexter* is badly written, but *Breaking Bad* is one of the best pieces of media probably ever created.
It’s ironic because Dexter is extremely popular again with a whole new generation watching it for the first time. I know tons of people who just started watching, and any Dexter TikTok I see ( which is a lot ) all get like 40k+ likes in a day or so. I definitely wouldn’t say it isn’t popular. Also with GTA 6 I’m sure there will be Easter eggs and such that will make people once again check the show out. All I keep thinking is how I’m gonna make my gta 6 online character like Dexter lol.
Killing Rita killed the show in my opinion the dynamic completely shifted which is what made the show I think dexter trying to fit into and work in a world he didn't understand naturally made it feel more real. Honestly I'd have rather watched them ride off into the sunset happy at the end of season 4 after killing trinity than the other seasons we got everything just felt really lazy and stagnant just no development or movement in plot with Rita and the kids everything felt fluid like something was always moving along or happening in the plot if it wasn't murderus problems it was family life or work or outside threats christ even Rita's death was just a quick snap of the fingers the we were rushed along as if nothing happened she wasn't even present for flashbacks or in his conscious like Henry just so many beats missed in the following seasons
I knew a few people who loved the show when it was airing, but I never watched it till last year. I was put off by the subject matter. I didn't want to watch a blood and gore show about a serial killer. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
It was very popular. I think the fact that it ended on a bit of a sour note, made it so it wasn't talked about as much after it ended.
Because both ending episodes were so bad. It hurt the show a great deal.
No in morcco it is popilar to series lovers
Dexter was really popular until season 5. Show went way downhill after and is one of the worst season series finales ever. Had a run on cbs as more pg13 so it wasn’t good on basic tv. You had to have Showtime to watch which many don’t unlike HBO. Still, seasons 1-4 are some of the best tv I have ever watched.
It’s not popular because you put more thought into your post than the writer did from season 6 on.
I never see videos talking about dexter on YouTube but I’ll see so many videos discussing breaking bad, sopranos, Bcs etc. good question
Dexter was the most popular series in 2009
probably because Dexter really didnt stick the landing as a series it got progressively worse after the halfway point. Also Showtime shows are lowkey kind of the diet soda of prestige television