Trueblood on HBO

Who knew a show about an ethically-minded serial killer could draw in audiences in such droves? Surprisingly enough, not Showtime. Hurting from the amount of viewers who abandoned ship to watch the critically-acclaimed series over at HBO, they might have thought Dexter would provide a bit of healthy competition and perhaps boost their ratings a little bit, but they had no idea what a smash hit they had on their hands.

Dexter, based on a series of books with the same name, chronicles the life of one Miami-based blood-splatter analyst named Dexter Morgan, who moonlights as a serial killer who only kills other serial killers. After his appearance on HBO playing sweet, organized, and perpetually put-upon David Fisher, Michael C. Hall's choice to play such a brooding and masculine character surprised many fans of Six Feet Under, but his superior acting talents have netted him another critically acclaimed smash hit. The show centers on Dexter's life balancing a normal day job and his unrelenting urge to kill. The victim of a stressful experience as a very young child, young Dexter is adopted by a police officer, who recognizes his homicidal urges and creates a sort of code that, if he is to kill, he should only kill a killer who has been proven guilty. Now as an adult, Dexter continues on this path while working for the Miami police department, only keeping up appearances as a normal human being is starting to wear thin.

Despite the show's dark subject matter and unflinching look at death and violence, Dexter has managed to become a hit with both male and female satellite TV viewers, who tuned in to the show during record numbers. Even though he's supposed to be a cold-blooded killer, his kind relationship with the two children of his early girlfriend, as well as his subsequent marriage to another women, show sides that only a skilled actor like Hall could manage to draw out of such a scary character. Through the show's subsequent seasons, Dexter has narrowly escaped being caught and identified numerous times, managed to father a child, and still continues to rid the streets of undisputed bad guys--though a few good guys have managed to make their way into the body count, too. The twists and turns are scheduled to continue on the new season, when John Lithgow is slated to join the cast as one of the world's most elusive serial killers.

With the upcoming fourth season ready to go in September and a season five already in the works, there's no slowing down the momentum that Dexter has built up. Even some of the critics who originally panned the show recanted after seeing the end of season one, with a famous writer from the creme de la creme of the Hollywood press, Vanity, going as far as to publish a retraction. With so many violent shows on regular television as well as on cable and satellite TV, Dexter manages to stand apart. It's a show that doesn't focus on violence for violence's sake, nor does it glorify killing, even though it centers on the life of on particular killer. The show's clever writing and wry look at morals might have won over a legion of fans, but one of them was decidedly not CBS, who were initially going to pick the show up in edited form, only to be bombarded with requests from family and moral watchdog groups who lambasted the show's content and threatened to boycott the station.

All of the controversy can only help Showtime, though, who are ready to roll out their next season to just as much acclaim as the ones before it. The network is expecting a record-number of viewers glued to their high-definition television screens, waiting to see what Dexter's next move is. Thanks to Michael C. Hall's superior acting and a strong script, the network is still riding one killer wave of success.