All in all, the once creepy show looks much more palatable. By that, I mean at least they’ve scaled back on the bronzer from last season.

Anyway, Dexter, Deb, etc.

This is rumored to be the final season, but seeing as how last season was the first one in a while that wasn’t terrible, I wouldn’t rule out a season 9 or later.

Let’s not have William H. Macy‘s starpower go to waste, people.

everyone must like this free episode from Showtime.

Hank Moody gets into lots of trouble, and he hilariously tries to bang his way out of it EVERY TIME. Which just makes for good television. I’mma watch it now.

The news comes after Sunday’s most-watched-ever episode, which garnered 1.75 million viewers, which fell just short of Dexter‘s 1.9 million that night.

The news of this renewal, while not surprising, comes as great news for fans of great television, and also Claire Danes‘ agent, who probably has been long overdue for a payday.

At long last, the new season is here and you can watch as Dexter‘s world changes forever.

Foster will also serve to executive produce the series, which, why not, considering that title is so nebulous that I think I’m currently executive producing the new Bill and Ted movie just by sitting here and writing this article.

While Showtime series have always resided in a slightly goofier space than its big brother HBO, the addition of Foster to this fun-sounding concept raises hopes a little bit.

The best part? We‘ll finally get an answer to the question “Who is the female Silvio Dante?*”

(SCROLL DOWN FOR ANSWER)

*Mischa Barton

Well, rather than live with that internal conflict gnawing at the core of their being, executive producer Sara Colleton has gone on record as saying season 8 will “absolutely” be Dexter‘s last.

Given last season’s cliffhanger, in which (SPOILER, YO!) sister Deb finds Dexter slamming his knife into the Doomsday Killer, there’s probably only a finite amount of time left for Dexter to go around killing people all the time before she feels compelled to raise her hand.

Colleton has also said that the producers wanted to end the series after this coming season, but Showtime “convinced” (read: threw big fistfuls of cash at)the team to stick around for one more season. Always the hallmark of a creative swan song.

Are you really gone now? Okay. Actual SPOILERS. Season six of Dexter ended with Deb discovering her brother murdering the Doomsday Killer in his macabre ritual. This season, we’ll see how both Dexter and Deb deal with his secret being in the open. This teaser plays up that angle rather than focusing on Batista’s midlife crisis and his purchase of a vintage muscle car. I think they made the right move.

Dexter returns September 30th with Ray Stevenson and Yvonne Strahovski joining the cast.

Of course, you’ll have to watch the remainder of the season on television, and you’ll also have to pay for Showtime to do it, so perhaps I was a bit hasty with that “neanderthal” comment. I apologize. I tend to get carried away.

Shameless – Season 2, Episode 1

Californication – Season 5, Episode 2

Oh Dexter, you fickle bitch.

You spent almost the entirety of season six laboring over painfully obvious twists, trotting out magical negroes who leave as fast as they arrive, introducing the worst villain since, I dunno, last season, and keeping Dexter from interacting with the killer or doing any killing of his own. You made it so easy to give up and not care.

Then you return to your core competencies in the season finale. You by no means redeemed the previous 11 hours of television, but you reminded me why the show, even when it’s not good, can still be fun. The show was lying dead on the table, bloody cheek and all, about to be plunged in the heart with a knife, when it was given something of a reprieve.

Dexter has been, despite (or due to) growing ratings, losing favor with its early fan base as well as critics over the past couple seasons. While season five was considered a low-water mark for the show, season six proved that it could be taken to new depths. Addressing all of this season’s myriad shortcomings in detail would turn this article into an opus, but the few high points of this season were completely eclipsed by the following:

The Supporting Cast

LaGuerta and her wig, Angel BatEEEEEEsta, Quinn, Masuka, videogame guy/forensics intern, and nanny girl. This season relegated all of them to “featured player” status, in which they were essentially milling about in the background over the course of 12 episodes. They were never terribly compelling to begin with, but I was hoping at least Quinn would be killed. Actually, I hoped they would all be killed and we’d get a fresh team coming in for what are probably the final two seasons.

Miami Metro’s Incompetency in the Face of Dexter’s Recklessness

In earlier seasons, much of the show’s tension and efficacy stems from Dexter’s precarious double-life. When Deb unwittingly allowed Dexter to flee last season, that tension took a major hit. This season, it seemed that Miami Metro couldn’t detect their way out of a paper bag, allowing Dexter to break from his normally staid and secret rituals to drown a man on a public beach, send video messages to the Doomsday Killer, and enabling him to manipulate the PD at his every whim. Harry’s code, the central tenet of Dexter’s existence, became a non-factor, upending the premise of the show.

Bear in mind that the crux of the season hinged upon Dexter’s ability to take an unconscious body and a toddler down from the roof of a skyscraper in daylight, then to his car blocks away with no one noticing. Very odd. Also, the fact that Miami Metro doesn’t even enter a crime scene until the blood spatter analysis guy gets there was pretty convenient, considering the killer had painted Dexter’s face on the wall. Lots of lucky breaks for Dex this season. Thousands, it seems.

Dexter Didn’t Kill No One!

That’s not true, but he didn’t kill regularly. He also didn’t interact with the big bad this season, save for the last two or three episodes. One could argue that the writers were instead devoting that screen time and energy to exploring further who Dexter is, but one would be wrong. We examine who Dexter is through the dichotomy of his life. The writers of this show have never been capable enough to examine a dichotomy (or anything else) in a subtle fashion, so a glaring juxtaposition between his killing ritual and his daily rituals (much like we see in the opening credits) suffices. And while it might not demonstrate the deft, subtle hand of a Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, watching Dexter kill people has usually been fun enough to allow us to forgive the show’s sins.

The Twist Sucked

First, finding out that Hanks’ villain and Olmos’ were the same person was painfully predictable, so laboring over the reveal for nine episodes was cringeworthy. This season (the highest-rated season thus far) felt like it was playing to a broader, duller audience, with everything from the Saw-type contracptions, to the giant leaps forward that can only be made in police procedurals, to the squandering of Mos Def in the meaty role of Brother Sam. The twist was predictable, but even if it had been a grand revelation, the fact remains that nobody cared enough about “either” villain to give a damn. The struggle between Colin Hanks and Edward James Olmos was boring, and I’m comfortable splitting that blame equally between uninspired writing and a Hanks performance so uninspired that it they easily could have replaced him with a bowl of lukewarm oatmeal.

The season was a total debacle with sophomoric, incompetent writing (which relied on Dexter’s painfully obvious voiceover in lieu of any exposition or credit due the audience), bad acting, and a general sense that the producers could reverse engineer logic to fit their painfully tedious story arcs.

Deb

Julie Benz was the sole bright spot during the entirety of the season, having Deb rival Dexter as the reason for continuing to watch the show, in spite of everything listed above. Her acting sold her struggles with lost love, trauma, stress, office politics, and finally, unresolved feelings for her brother. Fortunately, the cliffhanger in the final scene means that she and Dexter will have to contend with his secret going forward, which allows the viewer to witness the show’s two best assets (as characters and actors) in concert.

Yay, Deb.

The Dangling Plotlines

Initially, these felt incidental and, as the season ambled on, destined to be wrapped up neatly by episode 12. However, the fact that these stories are left with seasons to play themselves out might mean that a little more effort and attention is paid to them, rather than just the struggle between Dexter and the big bads. One can hope for a writing shake-up (desperately needed). Deputy Chief Mathews and the hookers appeared to resolve itself with a whimper over a dinner meeting, when it’s pretty clear that Dexter isn’t written well enough to resolve ANYTHING over a meal.

Quinn’s downward spiral made him a very easy character to say goodbye to, with the expectation that he would perform a redeeming act that would cost him his life. I completely expected his rescue of Batista to be that moment. Then I expected him to jump off the roof of the building in at the end of the finale.

Finally, we have the most shoehorned storyline of the season; the millionaire video game programmer who spent most of the season just lingering around as a lab intern in a fashion so obvious that he might as well have had a cardboard sign around his neck that said “stay tuned.”

I can’t guarantee that these plotlines will get any more interesting in the next season, but at least they weren’t subject to sloppy resolutions in this season.

Dexter Gets Back To Killing

Dexter moved with purpose in the finale, a purpose and urgency that the show hadn’t demonstrated in more than two seasons. The final kill table and nonchalant killing of the Cuban gunman reminded me that even when this show drags ass and treats me like an idiot, much can be forgiven simply by watching a thinly-veiled serial killer doing his thing.

I have never found Dexter to be a particularly good show. It doesn’t handle subtlety well, and the actions of the characters generally don’t mesh well with what we know about them. Convention has ruled, especially this season. But while many fawned over Dexter’s wife’s death at the end of season four, the “outing” of Dexter to Deb has the potential to actually change the trajectory of this show, which is a blessing, because it was wallowing in some shit-infested waters up until that point.

Yeah, I guess I’ll watch next season.

While this season did serve up some awesome gore, it certainly has some tough competition in the murder department. Over the years, some of the gnarliest deaths on television have happened on Dexter. Here’s a rundown of the killer of killers‘ best kills. Hopefully, it will hold you over until next season.

Nathan Marten – “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” Season Three

The code that Dexter lives by only allows him to kill fellow killers, but if his kids are involved, it’s personal. When a convicted sex offender takes an interest in his girlfriend’s daughter, Dexter pays him a visit. That visit ends with Dexter strangling him. While disposing of the body, he remembers he was supposed to pick up milk, so he retrieves it from the sex offender’s fridge. Ever the provider.

Cole Harmon – “Take It” Season Five

Cole Harmon was serving as the muscle in a ring of rapists and murderers, so Dexter needed to take him out before he could get to the crew’s ringleader, Jordan Chase. This was no small task, as Cole was as high-profile as he was twisted and evil. He was even able to smash through doors like Michael Myers. Dexter needed a little help with this one and recruited Lumen, Harmon’s only victim to have ever escaped. Putting a knife into the heart of her torturer proved to be a turn-on as it lead her directly into Dexter’s arms. That’s definitely a chapter that Neil Strauss didn’t cover in The Game.

Mike Donovan – “Dexter” Season One

Dexter’s first on-screen kill introduced us to his hobby with one small exception. His normal M.O. is to subdue and drug his victims. Then they wake to find they have been strapped to a table in a kill room tailored to their particular crimes. Dexter then makes them face photos of their victims, before he shames them and takes a drop of blood from their cheek. He then plunges a knife into their chest.

I guess his printer was broken this time around because in the case of the child-murderer choir master, he actually dug up the remains of the victims to hold before him, stating, “It took me a long time to get these little boys clean.”

Ummm… welcome to television. Let me just set a TiVo alert.

This news comes after season six has garnered the show’s highest ratings yet, so it’s hardly a surprise. However, the critical acclaim that Dexter enjoyed early on has waned, with detractors claiming that the later seasons lack purpose.

While staying relevant and compelling in later seasons is a struggle most shows must content with, Showtime series seem to have a particularly difficult time with it. Weeds, Dexter, and Californication have all dropped in quality as they went on, causing audiences to wonder if the shows were ever more than an interesting premise.

Well Dexter will have two more seasons to give us an answer on that. Let’s just hope they dispatch this season’s villains in short order, cause they kinda suck.

And then there’s Aimee Garcia, who plays Batista’s hot sister and new nanny to Harrison. More importantly, she can be seen in a scene with Deb saying, “I came in here to give you a kiss goodnight. Not to look at pictures of dead bodies.” A) Fire that nanny. B) Is Deb in a same-sex relationship this season? Or perhaps a polyamorous couple?? I can so see Quinn being into that.

The new season of Dexter premieres October 2nd on Showtime.

Today we have a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming season in advance of the October 2nd premiere. Looks like business as usual at Miami Metro – a dead body ends up on the beach and that somehow lead Dexter to a coalition of killers. But this time they’re murdering in the name of God, not in the name of “Hey, this will feel cool.”

The cast and crew are promising this will be the biggest and weirdest season yet, with the previously established rules poked right in the eye. Does that mean that the Batista and LaGuerta storyline will suddenly make sense and be interesting? I’m not ready for that.

“It’s just a body, it isn’t anything,” Rossum snapped in reply to a question about nude scenes. “It doesn’t say who you are inside. I think I revealed way more on this show in scenes were I got to be unattractive and lonely than I ever did in a scene where I was having sex with my boyfriend.”

Given the fact that Rossum believes she looks unattractive in certain scenes, I think it’s safe to say she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Even so, if she feels that showing off her cans is no big deal, then who am I to disagree?

In the end, the moderator smoothed things over by claiming he was actually referring to William H. Macy‘s ass, at which point Rossum laughed and agreed that it was a problem. What a hypocrite.

'Dexter's' Dark Passenger Has An Announcement

Season 6 of Dexter premieres this fall.

Showtime is bringing “http://www.screenjunkies.com/?p=217497 We won’t have to wait much longer to see Dexter Morgan thin down Miami’s overwhelmingly large serial killer population. The new season of”Dexter“ is set to premiere this Fall on Showtime and today Entertainment Weekly have details about where the anti-hero’s head is at and which guest stars he will be taking for a night cruise.

Newly-appointed guy in charge of making this season not suck, Scott Buck had this to say,

“[It's] a very strong, sure-of-himself Dexter, which would be the difference from the Dexter of last year, where Dexter was questioning himself about everything. A year has passed since the end of last season, so Dexter has put his life in order. Things are good for him. He’s very centered, strong and focused, much the same way he was in season 1, but now he knows so much more. He’s a much more self-assured person. A more evolved serial killer.”

He also shares some info about the killer Edward James Olmos will play. As well as his disciples played by Colin Hanks and Mos (formerly Def).

“Professor Gellar is someone that all of Miami is seeking out. He becomes a big person of interest in some crimes that are being committed in Miami. They are probably the biggest crimes we’ve ever seen on this show. We’re going toward a different kind of serial killer than what we usually see. This is someone more in line with the Zodiac Killer…. He kills people with great conviction. This is probably the first serial killer we’ve had who thinks he’s in the right.”

“Professor Gellar definitely feels like he’s killing for a reason, and Dexter is very, very curious to know what exactly that reason is, and to try to understand it in some way. It’s very intriguing and baffling, and it doesn’t make sense to Dexter.”

“[Colin Hanks's] Travis Marshall is a close acquaintance of Professor Gellar. The two of them work together. Professor Gellar is a character with tremendous charisma, and Travis has very much fallen under his power…. Travis has absolutely no interest or inclination to hurt anyone, yet he’s also someone who’s strongly driven by a belief system that compels him to do things he doesn’t necessarily want to do. ”

“[Mos's] He’s a former street thug who found God while in prison, and now we call him Brother Sam rather than Father Sam, because he’s not so much a preacher or a minister — he’s someone who is trying to live what he believes is a righteous life by helping others. He runs an auto-body shop and he hires ex-cons, trying to help them get their lives straight. One of them becomes a suspect in a crime and that leads [Brother Sam] to cross paths with Dexter.”

Another great question that EW posed, Why did last season suck so bad and what are you going to do about it, fucko? I’m paraphrasing.

“Just the fact that it was Dexter on a very dark path. It became so heavy and brooding at times that we really wanted to brighten up Dexter’s world a bit…. You couldn’t kill Rita and not have Dexter go to that place, but we spent a season there and now we’ve turned him around. Life is good now.”

I wasn’t the biggest fan of season five but the show has been pretty good in past seasons and that’s enough to get me to watch again. As long as it keeps throwing crazy twists our way, it should be able to get its groove back.

I love the show and am ready for a return to form, but it bodes poorly that the new promo is essentially a direct rip-off of the “Teen Wolf” promo that has been airing everywhere these past few months.

6 photosElizabeth Mathis

DiGilio also sold a sci-fi show pitch to Showtime called “Last H.O.P.E..” The post-apocalyptic series is described as “Mad Max meets ‘M.A.S.H.’,” and the titular acronym stands for “Last Hospital On Planet Earth.” Not much to go on, but sounds like it could be fun. The emergency room, with people on fire and barbed-wire baseball bats stuck in their backs, would hopefully be worth the price of admission. (Hollywood Reporter)

“no spoilers but i’m pretty sure you’ll be seeing me in a white lab coat.”

Ooooh, a white lab coat! I wonder if this means she’ll be playing a sexy owner of a white lab coat store. I guess I’ll have to wait until the new season of “Dexter” premieres on Showtime in the fall. (BreaGrant.com)

‘Dexter’ Season 6 Promo Reminds Us Of Fonder Times

Yeah, I bet he bangs Deb. (THR)

On the drama he will play a charming professor of religious studies who doesn’t realize he’s actually an android tasked with the unenviable job of keeping a tight leash on Crockett and Tubbs. I’m sorry. I’ve mixed up my Olmos history again. He’ll only play a charming professor of religious studies it turns out. This fits nicely with the recent news that Mos Def has joined the cast to play an ex-con who has found religion. Seems like he’s found it with the help of Edward James Olmos. Also, it sounds like they’re killing people. Keep it up, guys and Jesus will definitely revoke your homeboyship. (Deadline)

The teaser has everything you’d expect: torture, surveillance, gnarly beards, politicians, and of course, secret meet-ups on park benches. The CIA should really get around to putting microphones in park benches.