Delightfully Disturbing Dexter?

Acclaimed American TV series Dexter hits our screens on Wednesday night. In case you don't know the series is about Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall, of Six Feet Under fame), a forensics expert for the Miami police and he is a serial killer who kills the bad guys that the police can't catch.

Such a programme is bound to cause some controversy and it probably will attract complaints as some people like to complain about anything to OFCOM (take Holly Willoughby's dress for example). Still looking at "Dexter" it does contain elements of very dark humour, and I'm sure it will be argued that murder is not something which should be joked about.

In America, there have been requests by parents associations to boycott "Dexter". The complaints are because it is screened on CBS in the last hour of primetime, 10pm and many children do see it. Surely it is the parents' responsibility to ensure that their children do not see these kinds of programmes? ITV, who will be showing "Dexter" in Britain have taken this into account and it is going to be screened at 10:30pm, a time when it is obvious that adult content is likely to be included. Then again, that raises another issue of whether black comedy about a serial killer is even adult content and whether it should be exposed to anybody? Fred A. Miller from The Ithaca Journal is definitely against "Dexter":

"Nothing justifies using the publicly owned broadcast airwaves to expose potentially hundreds of thousands of children to a series that glorifies a ruthless, bloodthirsty killer."

And he goes on to say:

"The biggest problem with this series is something they can't get around with any amount of editing: i.e. the series compels viewers to feel empathy for a serial killer, to root for him to prevail, to hope he doesn't get discovered."

I, personally have seen the first series and have read the first two books ("Darkly Dreaming Dexter" and "Dearly Devoted Dexter") and in a sense I can agree with what Mr Miller says, because whilst watching/reading, I was rooting for Dexter to get his hands on his victims and "bring them to justice" as it were.

The show was originally shown on FX, but now for the first time will reach mainstream British television audiences and I think the ITV advertising campaign does a good job of letting the viewer know what they are getting themselves into. The show has been accused of glorifying serial killers but what must be remembered is that it is not real.

In defence of "Dexter", it is one of my favourite TV series and the books are also good. Within the story Dexter stresses that he is not human and does not possess any of the characteristics of an average human being and he does not feel emotion. He calls himself a monster. If anybody is affected by this programme and feels an urge to reenact the scenes in "Dexter" then surely they possess similar characteristics and can also be called a monster.

I enjoyed the programme greatly and have recommended it to many but does that make me a bad person for enjoying a programme about a murderer? It isn't for me to say but the success of the show in America, and to a lesser extent in the UK, prove that I am not the only person of this opinion.