'Penny Dreadful' ratings best 'Homeland' series premiere

Penny Dreadful‘s ratings are off to a pretty delightful start.

The Showtime drama debuted last night to 1.44 million total viewers, topping the series premieres of Homeland and Masters of Sex, the network said. That figure does not include the 900,000 who watched the premiere early via Showtime On Demand and the network’s app, where the episode was made available two weeks prior to its debut.

The horror drama also attracted the youngest audience since Dexter‘s series premiere in 2006, with 62 percent of viewers falling into the coveted 18-49 demographic. (Dexter‘s series premiere audience was 65 percent 18-49.)

You can read EW’s largely favorable review of the series — starring Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, and Josh Hartnett — here.