The premise for Dexter is very interesting as a one time show - I'm not sure how it'll work as a series (I've dubbed this the 'Tru Calling effect'). Still, I'll catch it though.

[ edited by gossi on 2006-04-05 13:08 ]

gossi | April 05, 15:07 CET

I dunno, I can actually see the arc working better than stand-alone episodes. I mean how many ways can you kill someone before it gets old (especially if you have to portray the killer as not taking too much joy in the experience, in order to keep him sympathetic) ?

Whereas the whole will they/won't they catch him thing could work quite well if (big if) you care about Dexter himself. If they want to get more complex they could examine how he decides who to kill (a natural episode idea would be to have him kill someone who later turns out to be innocent, or at least seems to be innocent for part of the show if they haven't got the bottle to go the whole hog).

Saje | April 05, 15:26 CET

The novel sucked. I loved the concept when I read the cover but the dialouge was way to rough with no flow. I hope they write the series better. Also the premiss they have is a little misleading. The lead character is a serial killer first who became a cop because his adopted parents. His father was a cop and recongnized early on that the boy was going to be a serial killer. So he taught the boy to focus on using his curse to do good this way he could pass in main society. He is facinated by blood, and that is what he does for the CSI team. However, as his need to kill grows stronger he knows what he has to do, so he starts stalking other serial killers and dispatches them the way they dispatch their victims. He even has a girlfriend he really doesn't care about but he needs her to make his disguise work. She has been severely emotionally scarred by past relationship so being with him works for her as well. She has 2 children that for some reason unknown to him he has warm feelings protective toward. His sister is a vice cop trying to get into homicide but no one takes her seriously because of her looks, she doesn't know what he really is but she does understand that he knows how to figure things out before her fellows officers do. So if she gets involved in a case, she will enlist his help to help her improve her chances of getting out of vice. He knows his sister is a good cop and might one day figure him out, so he helps her as much as he can without giving away his secret. Like I said the premiss was there but the actually dialouge was rather clunky and didn't keep me interested after a few chapters. I hope the series is far better than the book, cause it could work on cable.

RavenU | April 05, 15:40 CET

This all sounds very familiar. My memory is saying that this premise came up in connection to some other BtVS alum before, but maybe it has always been Drew GR.

(Boy, this was a post full of insight. Can I go back to sleep now?)

newcj | April 05, 15:55 CET

I heard about this some time ago...and it's got Michael C. Hall! If I had Showtime, I would watch it for him.

UnpluggedCrazy | April 05, 15:57 CET

newcj you're absolutely right. Julie Benz is in the cast.

Simon | April 05, 15:59 CET

This is just to say that I love reading Jane's blog. She makes me want to be a TV writer, even though I know I'd bet terrible at it--good thing I have some perspective. Go, Jane, go!

Maeve | April 05, 16:12 CET

Didn't David Fury work on Lost too? Is he longer with Lost?

war_machine | April 05, 17:03 CET

He left Lost last April.

Simon | April 05, 17:05 CET

Simon's right. He left at the end of Lost first season, and joined 24 staff right after. I recall reading something about him helping them break some of the last episodes for 24's previous season, also the planning of the current one, which is the one he started writing to.

Numfar PTB | April 05, 17:23 CET

Huh, I actually loved the book, which I read last month. I thought the dialogue and the first-person narration was very clever and witty and painted an extremely three-dimensional picture of Dexter, who was funny, charming, and very disturbing. I couldn't put it down...I finished the whole book in about 4 hours. I'm not claiming that this is great literature or anything, but I thought the character was fascinating, the mystery was fun, and the writing was even better, because you really get into dark demented Dexter's brain.* You learn how he sees the world, and how he views the thing that makes him kill as a separate entity living inside him, the Dark Passenger, which must be fed. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to reading the second in the series, and since I am a huge, huge fan of Michael C. Hall, I cannot wait to see what he does with the character.


*That's a reference to the book, btw, because Dexter refers to himself throughout using two alliterative words before his name, which is why the titles of the two novels are Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Dearly Devoted Dexter.

Rob | April 05, 18:01 CET

Gaah. The premise sounds good. The fact that Julie Benz is in it rocks because she is one amazingly talented actress.

I guess I'm getting Showtime again.

Emma Frost | April 05, 19:14 CET

The premise does sound fascinating but it sounds as though it will depend very heavily on who they get to play Dexter.

Lioness | April 05, 20:24 CET

It's Michael C. Hall who's playing Dexter, Lioness! He of Six Feet Under greatness. He's a brilliant actor, and hopefully this series will live up to his (rather formidable) talents.

[ edited by UnpluggedCrazy on 2006-04-06 02:21 ]

UnpluggedCrazy | April 05, 22:59 CET

Jane's blog is awesome. I'm not a writer, but I love her blog.

Also, I love Prison Break. Perhaps Ms. Noxon is part of the reason? I'm suprised none of the Joss-ers are on Grey's Anatomy. Something about it reminds me of his stuff. Best dialog on TV right now. (Veronica Mars has been less witty lately, but I hope it's picking back up.)

totally0random | April 05, 23:22 CET