10 TV Shows That Peaked In Their First Season
4. Dexter
Dexter’s decline in quality was steady, then steep, then it utterly crashed and burned with the finale. While some viewers might have Season 2, 3 or possibly 4 as their favourite, many fans would agree that Season 1 was the peak.
To say it was all downhill from there seems very unfair, but when you factor in the shock and intrigue of Dexter’s fascinating premise, Season 1 is where it’s all at. Similar in a way to True Blood, it slowly but surely moved away from its roots, and by the end was a different sort of show entirely.
Unlike True Blood, the core concept of Dexter’s murders remained a centrepiece of the show. However, its execution of these, well, executions, became more convoluted as it went on, the shock value diminished and it just became harder to care about whatever was going on.
Dexter also shed its dark, nihilistic tone of Season 1 to try and paint Dexter as a more sympathetic character, and the magic was lost.
John Lithgow’s Trinity Killer in Season 4 was probably Dexter’s greatest nemesis, but the consistency of the first season, tied together by the Ice Truck Killer, makes the opening effort the series’ best.