Things are looking good for Showtime's primetime bad boys.

Both Dexter and Californication scored some huge opening numbers last Sunday with Dexter setting a new opening record for the cable network.

More than 1.5 million sets of eyeballs tuned to the season four opener for Dexter and 821,000 stayed to watch the opener for Californication. That's 3 million single eyeballs for Dexter and more than 1.6 million for Californication.

The ratings also represented huge increases for both shows. Dexter's viewership rose by almost 25 percent from last season, and Californication rose a whopping 57 percent. Of course, that's impressive for a pay cable network and even though it is nowhere near what the free channels can score, it is inching ever closer to mainstream TV's territory.

Last Sunday's Dexter also set two records. It was the highest viewed episode in the show's history and the highest viewed episode for a series in Showtime's history. That groaning sound you just heard was every person on a primetime network sitcom or dramatic series dying a little inside.

[via AOL Television]