The pilot premiered on October 1, 2006. It was watched by 603,000 viewers, the highest audience numbers for a series premiere since Fat Actress aired in March 2005. Dexter bested the series premieres of Weeds, Brotherhood, Sleeper Cell and Huff. An encore from 10:00 to 11:00, one hour after the initial broadcast, brought in 443,000 viewers, bringing the total number of viewers to over a million, giving Showtime its highest ratings in nearly two years. The edited version of the pilot episode that was broadcast on CBS on February 17, 2008, was watched by 8.1 million viewers, finishing third in its timeslot and giving CBS its best ratings in the 10 p.m. timeslot since December 2007. Just under 300,000 viewers watched Dexter's premiere on FX in the United Kingdom, on July 10, 2007. On July 7, 2008 Dexter premiered in Australia on Network Ten, where it was watched by a little less than a million viewers, finishing highest in the 18-49, 16-39 and 25-54 demographics.
