Dexter

Dexter is coming to CBS.  It's official.  Beginning Sunday, February 17, the first season of Showtime's Dexter will air weekly at 10pm, edited to fit the standards of network TV.  Dexter stars Michael C. Hall as a Miami based forensics expert who, it turns out, is also a serial killer.  This will be the first time a pay cable series has ever received a full season run on network television.  As cool an idea as this might sound, it is indicative of the dearth of scripted programming left for networks amid the writers' strike.  Although CBS will do their best to not make this move look like a last resort, one can rightly view it as desperate. 

NBC recently reclaimed Law and Order: Criminal Intent from the USA Network, and both Monk and Psych will soon follow.  For CBS, Weeds may be next in line for a network run after Dexter.  ABC doesn't have as deep a well of original programming to take from, unless they want to re-appropriate a series from ABC Family (Kyle XY) or Disney Channel (is that where Hannah Montana is?).  FOX can grab shows from FX, like The Shield or Rescue Me, though FOX is probably the best equipped network for an extended strike, with its plethora of popular reality shows. 

This is what you can expect from CBS in the coming Winter/Spring: Survivor, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, Power of 10, Dexter/Showtime series and boat load of CSI reruns.  And that's about it. Jericho will show up for its short second season, though I don't see that loyal fan base expanding much.  Dexter moving to network TV poses a number of obvious problems, mostly to do with editing.  How much violence will make it to the air?  It definitely helps that Dexter will air at 10pm, but still, the nudity and extreme violence will have to be cut. 


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: TVGuide
(Image Courtesy of Showtime)