Showtime is hoping to knock audiences dead with its upcoming season.
The cable network is streaming the first episodes of two of its hit shows free online: slasher drama Dexter and Californication, a dark comedy starring X-Files alum David Duchovny as a sex-obsessed novelist.
Both shows are slated to premiere Sept. 28 on Showtime, but viewers can use the appropriately chosen password "Lady Killer" to watch either premiere until then.
Showtime joins a slew of networks beginning to realize a viable way to viewers' hearts is through their computer screens. Earlier this year, Spike TV streamed a pilot of blue collar comedy The Factory and Fox streamed the first episodes of Fringe and *The Sarah Connor Chronicles *for college campuses.
Showtime has come up with innovative marketing techniques for *Dexter, *a show about an idealistic but emotionally devoid serial killer, since it launched in 2006.
In addition to similar sneak-peek promotions, the network green-lit creepily brilliant viral marketing tactics like planting fake body parts and blood-flushing urinals in cities to drum up buzz for the show. Most recently, Showtime released a series of mock magazine covers, including Rolling Stone and Wired (pictured), featuring Dexter star Michael C. Hall as a cover boy.
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