It was a killer night in the ratings for Showtime’s Dexter and Homeland series. Last night’s season premieres gave the cable channel their highest audience in history.

The season seven debut of Dexter brought the drama its biggest premiere ratings to date, up 10%. Meanwhile, Homeland was up by 60% when compared to its series premiere.

Here’s the press release from Showtime with additional details:

SHOWTIME(R) DELIVERS LARGEST SUNDAY AUDIENCE EVER WITH 3.04 MILLION FOR “DEXTER(R)” AND 2.07 MILLION FOR “HOMELAND”

HOMELAND Returns Up 60 Percent Versus Season One, Poised To Be The Network’s No. 2 Series

DEXTER Season 7 Debuts With Its Highest-Rated Premiere Ever

With the one-two punch of DEXTER and HOMELAND, last night, SHOWTIME delivered its largest Sunday night audience ever with 3.04 million viewers for DEXTER and 2.07 million viewers for HOMELAND.

HOMELAND

On the heels of sweeping the major drama categories at the Emmys, HOMELAND returned for its second season up a giant 60 percent from its season one premiere. With 1.73 million viewers at 10 p.m. and 2.07 million viewers for the night, the season two premiere of HOMELAND:

· Delivered the largest season two premiere audience ever for SHOWTIME, outperforming SHAMELESS season two (vs. 1.58 million) by nine percent.

· Attracted the largest audience for HOMELAND yet, outperforming the S1 premiere by 60% at 10 p.m. (vs. 1.08 million) and up versus last year’s finale (1.7 million).

· For the night, HOMELAND was up 50% versus the season one premiere night (vs. 1.38 million) and up vs. the S1 finale (2.03 million), across three plays.

· Drew the largest premiere audience for a returning SHOWTIME series (behind only DEXTER).

· Is now poised to be SHOWTIME’s No. 2 rated series.

· Season one of HOMELAND ranks as the network’s highest-rated freshman series ever, averaging 4.4 million weekly viewers across platforms in its first season. Its season one finale was the highest-rated finale for a freshman series in SHOWTIME history, with five million viewers across platforms.

· Roughly 3.1 million viewers, or 71 percent of the series’ weekly audience, watched HOMELAND S1 on a time-shifted basis (after its Sun 10 p.m. airing) – viewing replays, on their DVR, and on-demand.

· HOMELAND saw unprecedented On Demand usage in season one – and delivered over one million new viewers On Demand every week.

DEXTER

With 3.04 million viewers for the night and 2.4 million viewers at 9 p.m., DEXTER delivered its highest-rated premiere ever.

· DEXTER continues unprecedented growth in its premieres, up every year since its prior cycle for the sixth consecutive year.

· The premiere now ranks as the top telecast of the year for SHOWTIME, outperforming the SHAMELESS (1.6 million, 3/4/12) by 50 percent.

· With 3.04 million viewers for the night, the season seven premiere night was up 10 percent versus season six premiere (vs. 2.76 million) and up versus the S6 finale (vs. 2.71 million).

· At 9 p.m., the seventh season debut was up 10 percent versus the S6 premiere (3.04 million vs. 2.19 million) and up versus the S6 finale (vs. 2.23 million).

· DEXTER is the No. 1 rated series on SHOWTIME, watched by nearly 5.5 million weekly viewers across platforms in its sixth season, the series’ highest rated season ever.

· Roughly 3.5 million viewers, or 65 percent of the series’ weekly audience, watched DEXTER S6 on a time-shifted basis (after its Sun 10 p.m. airing) – viewing replays, on their DVR, and On Demand.

*Final series ratings including all platforms (On Demand, Live+7) will be available in a few weeks.

What do you think? Were you watching either of the returns? How long do you think these TV series should run?