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A test I am using to fix an extension that crashes on a few wikipedia pages... (infinite loop)

Dexter is an American television series broadcast on the premium cable channel Showtime in the United States. The series is based on characters created by Jeff Lindsay for his "Dexter" series of novels. It was first broadcast on October 1, 2006. The series follows the life of protagonist Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a Miami Metro Police Department blood pattern analyst with a double life. While investigating murders in the homicide division, Dexter hunts and kills murderers and criminals who have escaped the justice system. Although the first season is based on the events of Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the series' subsequent seasons do not follow the novels in the series. Departing from the narrative of Lindsay's second Dexter novel Dearly Devoted Dexter, the show's writer Daniel Cerone said that the writers "didn't see the opportunity in the second book" to adapt it.

The series has received generally favorable reviews from critics. The pilot episode, which aired on October 1, 2006, attracted more than a million viewers, giving Showtime its highest series ratings in nearly two years. Encouraged by its critical success and high ratings, CBS began broadcasting Dexter for free-to-air on February 17, 2008, thus making Dexter the first program in two decades to air on a national broadcast network after being shown on a premium cable channel. Four seasons comprising twelve episodes have been broadcast in the United States, and the fifth season has been confirmed for broadcast. The first three seasons have been released on DVD and on Blu-ray, in regions 1, 2 and 3, respectively in region A (except for the third season in region 2). Box sets containing all the three seasons were released on August 18, 2009, on both DVD and Blu-ray.

The show received multiple nominations for various awards, winning 19—including two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, seven Satellite Awards,  four Saturn Awards, and one TCA Award —and was twice selected by the American Film Institute as one of the ten best television programs of the year: in 2006 and 2007. Screen Actors Guild Awards, Other nominations include PGA Awards, WGA Awards, and Peabody Awards. As of March 2009, Dexter has been nominated for over 100 awards, 19 of them for Michael C. Hall for his portrayal of the title character.

Episodes
In the following tables, the number in the first "#" column refers to the episode's number within the overall series. The number in the second "#" column indicates the number of the episode within that particular season.

Season 1 (2006)
The first season of Dexter was an adaptation of Jeff Lindsay's first novel in the "Dexter" series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Subsequent seasons have featured original storylines. This season aired from October 1, 2006 to December 17, 2006, and follows Dexter's investigation of "The Ice Truck Killer". Introduced in the first episode, "Dexter", this serial killer targets prostitutes and leaves their bodies severed and bloodless. At the same time, Dexter's foster sister, Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter), a vice squad officer, aspires to work in the homicide department, and Dexter's girlfriend, Rita Bennett (Julie Benz), wants their relationship to be more intimate. Christian Camargo appears as Dr. Rudy Cooper and is a recurring character until the end of the season.

The show's first season received generally favorable reviews from critics; it was praised as "bold, different and exciting, with a central character and performance that take your breath away" by the New York Daily News. The Wall Street Journal saw "the grotesqueries of Dexter" as "not something that can easily be dismissed with the old "you don't have to watch" line", and concluded that "We do have to live among the viewers who will be desensitized, or aroused, by this show". The aggregate site Metacritic scored the show's first season at 77 out of 100 based on 27 critics reviews.

The season received high ratings for Showtime; the pilot episode attracted more than a million viewers, giving the channel its highest ratings in nearly two years, while the finale "Born Free" drew an audience of 1.1 million viewers in the US. On average, the season was watched by two million viewers per episode during its original run. Due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild strike and encouraged by the show's critical success and high ratings on Showtime, CBS, a national terrestrial broadcast network, announced in December 2007 that it was considering airing an edited version of the first season of Dexter for free-to-air broadcast. It began to broadcast it on February 17, 2008, and thus, Dexter became the first program in 20 years to air on a broadcast network after being shown on a premium cable channel. During the show's rerun on the CBS network in 2008, the ratings were much higher, reaching 8.2 million viewers during its premiere February, giving the network its best rating in the 10 p.m. timeslot since December the previous year. During its 12-week run, it dropped to 7.1 million in early April, and to 6.6 million during the season's finale on May 6.

Season 2 (2007)
The second season of Dexter premiered on September 30, 2007, and ended on December 16, 2007. "It's Alive", the season premiere, attracted 1.09 million viewers in the United States, making Dexter the first Showtime series to attract more than a million viewers with a season premiere. The season finale, "The British Invasion", attracted 1.4 million viewers, making it the program's most-watched episode until the airing of the season three finale, "Do You Take Dexter Morgan?". Including digital video recorder (DVR) usage, season two was watched by an average of 2.4 million viewers a week, outperforming season one by 21%. The season received universal acclaim from critics, and was praised as "one of the best shows on TV this decade" by the Chicago Sun-Times, while Variety considers Hall's portrayal of the title character as a "towering achievement, one that eclipses the show's other shortcomings and rough patches"; the aggregate site Metacritic scored the season at 85 out of 100 based on 11 reviews.

In the season, the bodies of Dexter's victims are uncovered and an investigation is launched in Dexter's own department to find the killer, dubbed the "Bay Harbor Butcher". During this time, Debra struggles to recover after surviving Ice Truck Killer's attempts to murder her, and Rita sends Dexter to Narcotics Anonymous meetings when she suspects that he has an addiction. Sergeant James Doakes (Erik King), follows Dexter, suspecting that he is connected with the "Ice Truck Killer" killings. Two new characters are introduced: Keith Carradine appears as Special Agent Frank Lundy, an FBI agent who heads the "Bay Harbor Butcher" investigation, and Jaime Murray guest-stars as Lila Tournay, Dexter's psychotically unbalanced Narcotics Anonymous sponsor.

Season 3 (2008)
The third season of Dexter premiered on September 28, 2008, and ended on December 14, 2008. "Our Father", the season premiere, attracted 1.22 million viewers in the United States, making it Showtime's highest-rated drama season premiere since Nielsen Media Research began compiling ratings in 2004. The season's finale, "Do You Take Dexter Morgan?" attracted 1.5 million viewers. Season three was watched by an average of 1.1 million viewers a week. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, which ranged from being praised as "truly and incredibly exciting television" in the San Francisco Chronicle, to "lack[ing] the crackling tension the drama had supplied in previous years" by the Chicago Tribune; the aggregate site Metacritic scored the season at 78 out of 100 based on 13 reviews.

In this season, Dexter kills a man in self defense and initiates a friendship with the man's brother, Assistant District Attorney Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits). In the meantime, Rita discovers that she is pregnant, and Debra investigates the murders of a new serial killer, called "The Skinner", hoping to gain a promotion to detective. In addition to Smits, Dexter's third season introduces two recurring characters: Desmond Harrington as Det. Joey Quinn, who becomes Debra's partner when he is transferred from the narcotics department to homicide, and Anne Ramsay as Ellen Wolf, a defense attorney whom Miguel detests.

Season 4 (2009)
On October 21, 2008, Showtime commissioned the fourth and fifth seasons of Dexter, each consisting of 12 episodes. The show's writers convened during February and March 2009 to brainstorm ideas for the fourth season, and filming was scheduled to begin in June 2009. On May 27, 2009, Showtime announced that John Lithgow would guest star in all 12 episodes as Miami's latest and deadliest serial killer, and Carradine would return as Lundy. The fourth season premiered on September 27, 2009, and focused on Dexter trying to find a way to balance his family life, now that his son is born, and his "extra-curricular" activities. The season received positive reviews before airing, including one from Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly, who saw the fourth season as being "bloody promising". The season opener was leaked to the Internet ahead of schedule in late August 2009.

Season 4 of Dexter premiered in the UK on the FX channel on August 20, 2010.

Season 5 (2010)
Dexter Season 5 premiered on September 26, 2010, and will consist of 12 episodes. Although her character died at the end of Season 4, Julie Benz appeared in the season 5 premiere in a flashback to when she and Dexter first met.

Julia Stiles will guest star in 10 episodes as Lumen, a new woman in Dexter's life. Shawn Hatosy will appear in a multiple episode arc as a "bad guy". Maria Doyle Kennedy will also join the cast of Dexter in Season 5 as an Irish nanny. April Lee Hernandez has been called for a recurring role as a police officer. Jonny Lee Miller has been added to the cast as “a mysterious man who is 'intricately involved' in a storyline with Julia Stiles." Peter Weller will also join the cast, playing "a troubled Miami Metro police officer who gets caught up in an internal affairs investigation." The actor will appear in eight of the twelve episodes. Chris Vance will play a character named Cole, a meticulous, well-spoken personal aide to a famous businessman, in at least three episodes. The first episode of Season 5, which premiered on 26 September focuses primarily on how Dexter deals with his recent loss, coming to terms with the death of his spouse and allowing some human emotions to be expressed.

Dexter: Early Cuts
In October 2009, Showtime started releasing an animated webseries split into twelve parts. The series was written by series writer and producer Lauren Gussis and is split into three stories, each told in four, two minute chapters, which premiered on October 25, 2009. The three stories are "Alex Timmons, October 2003", "Gene Marshall, June 1993", and "Cindy Landon, March 2004".