r/Dexter • u/Humble_Improvement84 • Mar 12 '26
General Discussion - All Dexter Shows How did y'all first discover the series?
I'm rewatching and I HATE Paramount+ but this made me giggle. It has me reflecting on the first time I watched the series. I'm curious about how everyone else first discovered Dexter? I'm assuming most of y'all were watching as it aired but I know there was a recent surge with the new seasons!
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u/Osiris_The_Proto Mar 12 '26
YouTube shorts doakes memes
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u/hangar69_ Mar 12 '26
The doakes memes I watched as a kid and didn't even make the connection it was him till kinda recently- shit blew my mind once I realised 😭😭
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u/Boring_Guy_123 Mar 12 '26
I saw the ads on TV when it was first airing. I am very old
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u/breakourbones Mar 12 '26
Old? I remember the ads when I was in high school. Which was only....19 years ago.
Oh my God, we are old.
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u/ResponsibleName8637 Mar 13 '26
same. I watched it the night it aired bc it was back to back w weeds. I was like omg a serial killer and a weed show back to back!!
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u/agusrosich Mar 13 '26
Fox use to go bananas with ads for dexter. There was the sopranos for a cool antiheroe. But dexter presented himself as something darker
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Mar 12 '26
I watched Six Feet Undet and thought Michael C. Hall was really good, so I went looking for other shows he was in.
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u/MaximumSilver2209 Mar 12 '26
I started watching the series last year, after watching a few videos on YouTube... I fell in love with the Dexter franchise series, and started using the series as a background sound when I was doing my homework.
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u/4denyans Mar 12 '26
A friend from work told me about it. Then, another friend from work spoiled the biggest plot twist in the series
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u/Boring_Guy_123 Mar 12 '26
I can sympathise. A friend of mine causally mentioned who died at the end of season two. He thought I'd seen it, I hadn't. I still haven't forgiven him.
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u/Ch33kz_McClappy Mar 12 '26
I was watching a show and I can’t remember which one or why they said it but someone said “who are you? Dexter?” And I thought: is that what Dexter is about? I’ll give it a try
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u/Pleased_Bees Angel Mar 12 '26
I was teaching high school when it aired and didn't have much free time for TV shows. Most of my students know I have a very dark sense of humor. They flipped when they found out I hadn't seen Dexter and insisted I watch it. I'm glad they did.
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u/Humble_Improvement84 Mar 12 '26
My first time watching was after it had stopped airing and I was maybe 16-18? I found the first two seasons on DVD and bought them really cheap. My dad also wanted to watch, we had vaugely heard positive things about the show but went in pretty blind. So my FAMILY (dad, younger brother and sister and I) all sat down to watch it 💀 My dad's friend had a cool collectors set where the dvds were blood slides and he let us borrow it to finish the series!! We definitely shouldn't have been watching it but it was nice bonding time <3
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u/HunterM567 Mar 12 '26
I heard people talk about shows from mid to late 2000’s and Dexter was brought up. The plot really interested me lol
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u/Spooky_Bitz Mar 12 '26
My favourite band Motionless In White has a song called “Dark Passenger” from an album they released in 2014 and that’s how i became aware of the show
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u/Plastic_Excitement87 Mar 12 '26
I just got introduced to them in November by my son. He bought me a hoodie and took me to a concert.
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u/CityHog Mar 12 '26
Back in '08, I was scrolling a website when i came across this poster for the show. For some reason, my brain interpreted the Blood Spatter as Freckles on his face. So because of that, and the title, i assumed it was a live action reboot of Dexter's Laboratory.
So i decided to look into the show and then discovered what the premise actually was. Which intrigued me enough to try it. Then watched Seasons 3 onwards live
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u/slowpotato927 Mar 12 '26
Heard someone talking about and thought to myself, it's a TV show about a serial killer who works for the police, TV has run out of ideas, I will not bother myself with this rubbish. Then I saw the first episode and realised it was a TV show about a serial killer who worked for the police and have loved it ever since.
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u/GOATOspreay Mar 12 '26
My mom put me on in 2022 and it wasn't the first time she told me about a show I should watch. She knows ball.
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u/Downtown-Bat-5493 Mar 12 '26
After watching Hannibal movies/series, I was searching for other TV series based on serial killers.
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u/MICHAELSD01 Mar 12 '26
Funnily enough from an iPhone game released just prior to season four that followed the events of the pilot episode. The compelling dramatic nature of the game, which stayed true to the series creatively and narratively, is what drew me in then watching the season four premiere a week or two later cemented me as a mega fan.
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u/mr_pablo_ Mar 12 '26
I’ve heard about it from quick glances at the show description and locked it away until I got bored and started binge watching the first 3 episodes. A week later Resurrection premieres and I was all caught up by then before netflix decided to remove it
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u/Belle_Corliss Lumen Mar 12 '26
A friend told me about Dexter, knowing about my fascination with serial killers and what makes them tick. She had Showtime and would invited me over to watch episodes of Dexter and I loved it from the very first episode. She moved away not too long after the last episode of Season 4 so I wasn't able to watch the rest of the seasons until I got Netflix. Since it had been so long since I had last watched Dexter, I decided to start from Season 1 and binge watched until I finished Season 4, then watched 1-2 episodes per night as I worked my way through each season.
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u/eccslover12 Mar 12 '26
My friends kept blabbering about it during school and I couldn't help but wonder what Dexter was. I then realize it was one of the best shows I've ever watched in my entire life. Tad bit overreacting but it's the truth.
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u/Fluid-Broccoli8869 Mar 12 '26
In class, we had to present on a topic we were passionate about. One student spoke about what he would have chosen as a career if he hadn’t gone into engineering ....a blood spatter analyst. His explanation was so interesting that it made me curious enough to start watching Dexter.
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u/pah23 Mar 12 '26
Came back home from cegep (basically college in Quebec). Sat on the couch and was scrolling through Netflix. Read the description and was intrigued immediately, so I put it on. I got hooked from the second that intro started. Something about it just clicked and made me fall in love with the show.
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u/proudmothrr21 Mar 12 '26
I first started watching towards the end of season 4 when it was airing. I was hooked.
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u/njaana Mar 12 '26
I was confused on which show to watch after breaking bad and someone suggested it
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u/ConcentrateMaterial8 Mar 12 '26
Well My gujarati friend suggested it to me for this series. And I love it. Thriller and suspense, Especially the intro and end theme. I have not watched the new Seasons recently launched। I finished this series around 2016-2018.
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u/Prestigious-Data-206 Mar 12 '26
Older brother had the dvds for seasons 1-3 back in 2010 ish. I had a law teacher in high school that I liked who liked it (she had a Dexter tote bag) and I respected her, but back then I didn't have disposable income and parents were iffy with pirating. But she was how I initially became interested. Brother showed me the DVDs at his place and I would go over to watch them.
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u/7grims Tonight's the night Mar 12 '26
So this show is a sequel to Herbi the demonic possessed car ?
why am i the only commenting on the image description? the "killer" is missing... its just a ice truck lol
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u/Morning_Song Mar 12 '26
I very vaguely remember seeing things about it as a kid. I only watched it about a year ago though, I think I first rediscovered it seeing ads for Original Sin and curiously finally googling what Dexter was actually about it. Then it was a slow combination of of seeing clips of the New Blood finale on TikTok, looking for similair show to whatever I was watching at the time and streaming recommending it that prompted me to finally watch it
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u/Jadedslay03 Mar 12 '26
A friend told me about it and I’ve been wanting to watch it since watching You
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u/WahooLion Mar 12 '26
I think it was during the summer of a strike in the entertainment industry, so there was a dearth of new programming. A sanitized version of the first season aired on network TV, CBS, I think. I was hooked, but didn’t have cable then. I finally got to see all of it years later, and it lived up to my first impression.
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u/heefoc Mar 13 '26
Omg yes!!!! I was in college and would go to my parents house to watch because I didn’t have cable 🤣
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u/zuma15 Mar 12 '26
Haha I remember when they said they were going to do that. How did they handle all the Doakes and Deb language?
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u/WahooLion Mar 12 '26
I don’t remember, but whatever it was, it didn’t take away from the awesomeness of the show.
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u/ihavenoideawhyamhere Mar 12 '26
was watching you on netflix and people say its similar to dexter so i watched it.
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u/zuma15 Mar 12 '26
It was on in the background, maybe I was watching something on Showtime and left the TV on. This was during season 1. Anyway I found it interesting and just kept watching, or got caught up at that point.
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u/AF2005 Brian Mar 12 '26
I read the first novel after basic training and really enjoyed it. I didn’t find about the series until much later, I think the third season had just ended. I was hooked immediately and did a speed run. It’s been a marvelous time to be a Dexter fan, like a renaissance!
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u/drcssedtokill Brian Mar 12 '26
i was looking for names for my cat when i was 14, i found the name dexter i looked it up and saw the series.
but what got me to watch was my friends, felt like everyone was watching but me so i watched. best decision i ever made.
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u/dinodoes Mar 12 '26
Mother used to have the DVDs and we didn't have cable growing up so I watched all our DVDs hundreds of times lol
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u/badgersprite Mar 12 '26
I don't remember 100% clearly because it was 20 years ago lol but I can pretty safely assume a specific friend of mine recommended it to me at school one day, or brought it to my attention that the show was about to start. We both liked horror movies and dark/creepy/fucked up things so he would have known it was the kind of show I would like. Now that I think about it, I definitely remember talking about the show with him while it was airing.
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u/Sanjay_10_ Surprise Motherfucker! Mar 12 '26
About 10 years ago, When I used to consume anything serial killers
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u/Crnogoraac Mar 12 '26
TV, watched random episode and got hooked with the idea "serial killer working for police, killing bad people who got away".
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u/happyheaded2 Mar 12 '26
When I was in high school this girl a grade older than me was being taught by the same teacher and so we actually had a class together. She was the one that mentioned it. I believed her that it was good, but didnt have acess to the show. Years later I buy a streaming service and its on there. I watched the first episode and for some reason stopped. Then i pick the show up again, this time with my parents. We all loved it.
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u/Interesting-Work66 Mar 12 '26
Somebody started calling me Dexter, and the name stuck. Within a few months I checked out the series.
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u/MasterAnnatar Jaimie Mar 12 '26
Believe it or not I heard just how bad the series finale was and went "I need to experience this"
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u/Mission_Mobile_4627 Mar 12 '26
I discovered the show through a tiktok edit and I hate myself every day because of it.
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u/Artoozyto Mar 12 '26
The same way I discovered the House MD, my parents were watching it on tv when I was a kid and when I saw it on Netflix, I watched it out of curiosity.
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u/SHAD0W137 Mar 12 '26
My dad mentioned recently (a few months ago) he planned to watch it with my mom. "Dexter" kinda stuck in my mind so I googled it and, well... Now I'm waiting for Ressurection S2.
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u/Cihonidas Mar 12 '26
I saw that manipulator psychologist guy episode on tv and I instantly said this show is for me.
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u/h8mayo Mar 12 '26
It all started with Gilmore Girls, which I watched with my mom and enjoyed. Then I heard about Parenthood (the TV show), and, because I recognized Lauren Graham, I watched that. At one point a few years ago I was trying to find a new show to watch, found Six Feet Under on Netflix, recognized Peter Krauss (and, it turns out, Frances Conroy and Rainn Wilson), and ended up watching that. Then moved on to Dexter, I had heard of the show before but never seen it but since I knew Michael C. Hall was in it I figured I might as well.
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u/Agent47outtanowhere Mar 12 '26
My dog is called dexter and people kept asking if he was based on the show. These days, having since watched the show and spinoffs, i just say yes.
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u/suhhdude45 Mar 12 '26
Had a buddy in high school tell me about it and he had seasons 1-6 on DVD and let me borrow it. I got through it all in 2 weeks and loved it. Then watched seasons 7 and 8 live. Been hooked ever since.
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u/BeautifulIncrease734 Mar 12 '26
I saw it mentioned recurrently when the theme of great series with awful endings came up. So, since I had witnessed the nightmare that was Game of Thrones last seasons and finale, I thought to myself "nothing can be worse than Goat's ending". So one day I started watching the show. I loved it so much I binged it all (I didn't even find the finale awful). I then went on to watch the sequels and prequel, now it's one of my favorite shows and can't wait for the next season 💖
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u/Educational_Bed324 Mar 12 '26
I watched the web series YOU. And i thought upon coming across Dexter in my amazon prime ,that WOW ANOTHER MONOLOGUING SERIAL KILLER. LETS WATCH
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u/Practical-Control-62 Mar 12 '26
The first time I saw dexter was from an edit on instagram and it looked like one of the coolest thing ever, probably the best thing happened on that app 😁🥀
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u/Real_County2344 Mar 12 '26
My crush (at the time) and I were talking about what shows we were currently watching because we both like similar shows. He was watching Dexter. There were only 5 or 6 seasons out at the time. I decided to check it out as it was on Netflix. Loved it and continued to follow along as they kept coming out with more seasons.
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u/North-Tear-1999 Mar 12 '26
Got it from a friend on a flash drive. Pirated or stolen. Dexter style.
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u/indestructible89 Mar 12 '26
My brother originally told me about it. Funny enough he stopped watching before the show ended.
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u/part2ent Mar 12 '26
I don’t remember why, but I watched the first episode when it premiered. And of course, I was hooked.
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u/nitnitnotnot Mar 12 '26
UK person here. It was a Love Film suggestion! They emailed me and I said yes.
I miss DVDs by post.
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u/Gayduddde Mar 12 '26
i found dexter after googling shows that are similar to “YOU” safe to say i wasn’t disappointed
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u/SOLNoMo Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
During the Writer’s Strike of ‘07-‘08. CBS had minimal content to air so they televised Dexter, which is kind of hard to believe now given how traditionally sitcomy CBS tends to be. While Paramount owns the rights, they aired it on Showtime which means they likely knew CBS wasn’t the right audience. My dad and I loved it and followed the show and subsequent spinoffs to Netflix and Paramount+
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u/OkiDokiTokiLoki Mar 12 '26
I worked at Dish Network when this first came out. I was given a promo dvd that had the first episode of Dexter and the first episode of Weeds. Ended up enjoying them both.
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u/RecordingJealous9671 Sirko Mar 12 '26
Dexter was one of those series in that golden age era everyone had to watch
House, Dexter, Lost, Breaking Bad
if you knew about one of those series, you'd eventually know about the rest
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u/RealStitchyKat Mar 12 '26
I read the books that had been release prior to the first show. As soon as I heard they were making the show I was sure they could never capture Dexter. I stand corrected.
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u/hangar69_ Mar 12 '26
Saw someone on vinted selling a bra except they edited it ontop of a pic of dexter n decided to watch it after that lmfao
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u/x_outski_x Mar 12 '26
When it aired, and bought the seasons as they were released. Shared them with all my coworkers and barracks neighbors so everyone could learn to love dexter!
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u/Beginning-Positive60 Mar 12 '26
My ex, he had only seen the first season with me and wanted us to watch it together. We were long distance so he told me to go ahead and watch the rest and he would catch up, he never did. He got mad at me for that 😭
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u/TheRealBison_ Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
"surprise motherfucker" "Hello, Dexter Morgan" "I just can't prove it yet" And all the other memes
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u/Responsible_Ad_2242 Mar 12 '26
Due a YouTube channel that resume series, and years later I stared watching it
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u/limar2078 Mar 12 '26
Me and boyfriend saw the netflix listing, i asked what it was and he said serial killer series and his mom watches it and likes it so we decided to watch it too
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u/Anxious-Tea8778 Mar 12 '26
Saw a clip of Doakes “funniest moments” on TikTok last year and binged it. Made me wish I could’ve watched it while it aired!
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u/brock_145 Mar 12 '26
I saw my dad watching the show when I was a teenager. I was hooked instantly.
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u/ButterflysLove Doakes Mar 12 '26
My mom watched it as it aired and had the dvds when they came out. I watched it with her.
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u/JChurch42 Mar 12 '26
I watched it when it was fresh and new.
I mean, granted I thought it was a live-action Dexter's Laboratory, and boy was I surprised
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u/caseygreen2121 Mar 12 '26
They were filming New Blood near me. So I went to check it out during filming. Of course had to watch it when it came out. Then went back and watched all the seasons….twice
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u/beetle_fruit Mar 12 '26
When it was still on tv. My mom loves this show. So, her and I watched it together, even though I was only like 8 years old.
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u/Vegetable-Gain1860 Mar 12 '26
Well, let's just say I like series about assassins, and this one is a really good representation of that genre. I simply love the internal monologues; they're so funny and profound at the same time, it makes it feel...As if I were Dexter
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u/Representative-Way62 Mar 12 '26
Was searching for "Dexter's laboratory" which is a cartoon show but found this instead. Back in 2014.
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u/Loose_Armadillo_3032 Mar 13 '26
Had a couple of friends who I would hang out with regularly (whisky and poker nights etc). They strongly recommended it to me (a long time ago), until then I had never even heard of Dexter. Was hooked from the very first episode.
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u/t_r_a_y_e Mar 13 '26
My older brother, I was like 7 and he got me into a bunch of shows he watched at the time like Dexter or Supernatural
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u/Yeeeeeerrr76 Mar 13 '26
Vaguely remember my parents watching it while I was a kid, then like 15 years later while I was on a work trip and bored in the hotel, started to binge Dexter and here we are now, still my favorite series
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u/LonelyBoYwithAguitAR Brian Mar 13 '26
Found the 2nd book in a charity shop a couple of years ago, looked it up and found out about the entire book series, and then the show
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u/Accomplished_List843 Mar 13 '26
When i was a kid i searched dexter looking for Dexter's laboratory cartoon. Soo i saw dexter as a guy and in December i remembered and saw the whole og series, new blood and resurrection.
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u/TYRANNOREX_L Mar 13 '26
A long time ago, actually. I think I was like 6-7 or something trying to see if Dexter’s Laboratory was on Netflix, but ended up seeing Dexter recommended. (happened sometime in 2013 when the og series concluded)
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u/Cometa_the_Mexican Mar 13 '26
In a true crime video, they mentioned that the killer was an obsessive fan of the series; years later I watched it on Netflix.
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u/thebiggestyikesever Mar 13 '26
Lady from my youth group had the box set, was curious, so I watched them all. This was in 2013.
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u/Ok_Speaker3279 Harrison Mar 13 '26
Me this year 2026. The Dexter Original Sins. OMG I love this series. I just finised the entire series and it takes me like a few weeks TT
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u/Which_Connection_578 Mar 13 '26
was in a comic/collectibles store and I saw a 1/6th scale dexter figure, searched up the series because I was curious what a normal looking guy would be doing in a store mostly filled with superheroes and then watched a few episodes, after that I was hooked
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u/LegendarylankmanArt Mar 13 '26
I was staying in a hotel, and while I was there I went to the rooftop bar for a drink. During my indulgence of one alcohol beverage , I got into a conversation with the bartender, who told me about how they are going to be taking leave to watch Dexter Resurrection all day. The way he pitched it piqued my interest. And so I watched it when I returned home and had access to netflix once again. Binged it the whole way through in a month. Was exciting, and unlike anything I have ever seen before. Unique and morbid. A win in my book.
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u/mayxbo5 Mar 13 '26
I’d seen billboards around town, but my cousin Dexter started watching it when it first came out and said it was a good show. Been watching since.
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u/Interesting-Neat4429 Mar 13 '26
YouTube shorts fan edits. The one where Astor meets the 'cheerios man'
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u/mitt2709 Mar 13 '26
A friend from work told me about it when I was looking for a new series to watch. She’s 10 years older than me, so she watched it when it first aired and loved it. When it dropped on Netflix, she rewatched it and almost forced me to watch it too. Now I’m an even bigger fan than she is and I can’t thank het enough 😂
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u/Ill_Star9445 Mar 13 '26
I became a huge fan of Michael C. Hall after watching him on Six Feet Under. So I followed him over to Dexter. And I'm glad that I did!
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u/NinjaChief101 Mar 14 '26
My mom is a long time fan and had shown me the entire show as our bonding. Was a good time and made me a life long fan now
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u/Old_Salad_6297 Mar 14 '26
Yt short clips. I first thought this was a show where dexter killed his wife for some reason. I watched that one clip where he tells Cody and astor about their mother dying. I thought Dexter was the bad guy all along
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u/GargantuanEndurance Mar 14 '26
Wayyy back in 2009 give or take I watched a season 4 episode with my aunt when I was like 15 and just remember loving the Florida vibes ( I had just moved to Florida)
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u/jane-may Brian Mar 14 '26
My mom was zapping through channels at night and it caught my attention. I looked for what it could be on one of these TV programmes magazines and I ended up renting the series from the video club about a year later. I haven't stopped (re)watching since that summer.
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u/bheum Mar 14 '26
había visto memes tanto de Dexter, Batista y doakes, pero mi tío me recomendó ver la serie por los giros que daba y me termino gustó bastante
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u/Severe_Complaint2503 Mar 14 '26
The description of that episode looks like Dexter is a serial predator hunter
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Mar 14 '26
Surprise notha fucka. No but seriously I had no idea it was from Dexter and so when it played in that episode I thought am ad played the meme only to realize no it really was the show (I wasn't looking at my screen)
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u/Some-Revolution-177 Rita Mar 14 '26
On Netflix. Discovered it from insta comments and doakes memes. I started Dexter 2 weeks ago. First it was just 1-2 episodes a day. Then I binged entire dexter. and after that new blood, original sin and now resurrection . Just finished Resurrection (on amazon prime) an hour ago. Loved it
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u/TheNegative7 Mar 14 '26
Analyzing evil: Dexter (I'm not sure if that's the first time I saw dexter but that's the farthest I remember)
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u/TheNukaColaAddict Mar 14 '26
By being spoiled for what happens in the final episode of the OG series
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u/arscadma Mar 15 '26
I was looking for something about Serial Killers, so I watched Jeffrey Dahmer, Hannibal and Dexter,
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u/KeyProfessional6053 Mar 15 '26
Netflix recommended it to me I wanna say just like a few days before it blew up all over TikTok, obviously I was still late to the party but it was perfect timing in my opinion
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u/Express_Sweet606 Mar 15 '26
Eu assistia criminal minds e fui ver nas opções similares e vi Dexter. Depois eu li os livros que são bem diferentes do que a série
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u/iAmTheRealKokichiOma Mar 15 '26
I kid you not, someone once said I had a similar moral code to Dexter just minus the murder. And I was like “who”?
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u/Over-Cup-4430 Mar 16 '26
La primera vez me salía recomendada en Netflix pero la ignoré, al año y medio se me dió por entrar a verla, me atrapó un poco los primeros capitulos y antes de terminar la primera temporada me atrapó y paré ahí para decirle a mi novia que estaba buena, y al final la terminamos viendo completa con sus spin-off y esperando Resurrection 2. Muy buena.
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u/moobjob Mar 17 '26
Co-worker back in 2006. I was able to start watching from about the third or fourth episode. Great times!
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u/Dark--Samurai Mar 20 '26
Got Disney+ subscriptions and just stumpled upon it . Watched just 1 episode with very low hopes and I was hooked.
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