Who would think a series, centered on a forensic blood splatter expert working for the Miami Dade police, would end up being so unique and involving of its own accord? Dexter, an incredibly brilliant drama series, answers the previous question without a single clouding doubt.

The show rightfully can be described as CSI with a killer twist. The forensic involvements of the show do seem somewhat similar in areas, but the show also has its own original contribution which helps it stand out above other drama series in the genre.

Imagine, a young man, Morgan Dexter, who is born into the world perfectly normal but later develops into a sociopath after witnessing his mother murdered brutally. He works, as stated earlier, for the Miami Dade Police Department as a forensics blood splatter expert. At the same time, he harbors a very dark secret, hidden inside Morgan is a bloodthirsty murderer who craves almost neurotically the need to kill. He follows a set of codes and laws which were set forth by his foster father, designed to protect him from being caught and alternatively keeping him from doing harm to the wrong people. One of the outlying rules in the code is that Morgan must kill only those who have been almost imperceptibly linked to another set of murders.

Last season (Season 2) Dexter was almost caught when his oceanic body dump site was found, and an FBI special agent, named Lundy, was called in to help Miami Dade catch the culprit. Morgan’s own sister (also working for the same department as a police detective), is included in agent Lundy’s task force, which is assigned, unknowingly to her, with the mission of capturing her own brother.

The anonymous killer (Dexter), who took over thirty lives, was revealed to the public as the “Bay Harbor Butcher”. A small cult gathering also started to appear, honoring the mysterious murderer who only pursued victims proven responsible for multiple murders. The task force soon feels the need to work harder and capture the “Butcher” as a few copycat crimes begin appearing.

Dexter later learns that his foster father actually was to blame for his birth mother’s death and chose to stop following the codes and laws which were taught to him.

By the conclusion of the season, Dexter successfully eluded those assigned to catch the “Bay Harbor Butcher” and saved himself from persecution for the time being.

With season 3 returning on Sunday September 28^th at 9 pm (on Showtime), excited Dexter fans can’t wait to see what new irrational habits he picks up and what new set of codes he creates for himself to follow.

There are so many teen dramas on the boob tube nowadays. There’s One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, The Secret Life Of The American Teenager, Beverly Hills 90210. And before that, there was The OC, Dawson’s Creek, Beverly Hills 90210 (the original), Gilmore Girls and more.

Admittedly, there are a lot of teenagers watching TV, so it only follows that most or a lot of the TV shows being shown should be able to relate to them and teenagers can also relate. But are these shows really accurate in their depiction of the teenagers?

I know when I was growing up as a teenager, I was never able to relate to the characters on the show. But I still looked forward to watching it because I wanted to know about their experience without having to go through the same things.

Did you watch the shows for your generation when you were still a teenager? Were you able to relate to the characters and their stories?

I grew up watching Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson’s Creek when I was a teenager. I never could relate to what the characters were going through, but it was always nice to have a venue to turn to when these problems did occur in my own life. They rarely happen, but it’s always comforting to know that they’re there for you.

But you know what? I haven’t been a teenager for almost ten years, and I still like to watch these shows. They’re comforting and less problematic than the adult drama shows for my generation. I mean, adult drama shows can be tedious and depressing to watch. Watching shows for the younger generation is easier because I already have an idea of the teenage issues. That way, I can focus on the stories, the characters and the shows and step out of the show after watching it.

Are you still a teenager or have those years ended already? Do you still find yourself watching these teenage drama shows? Why do you still watch them?

During the writer’s strike last year, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) occupied himself by creating a story that he later developed as a musical webisode. News of this story first came out around the start of the summer season. Joss Whedon and his team sought the help of the networking abilities of blogs to spread the word about a musical fiction he and his team produced: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Filion and Felicia Day, Dr. Horrible is the story of a guy in love with a girl and will do anything to get her to notice him. Neil Patrick Harris plays Billy, the guy in love with the girl from the Laundromat, Penny, played by Felicia Day. To get him to notice her, Billy re-creates himself as a villain, Dr. Horrible. But with every villain comes a nemesis: the superhero.

Yes, the girl fell for the superhero.

Dr. Horrible could not believe what had happened. His supposedly fool-proof plan had gone haywire and took a turn in the wrong direction. He needed to come up with a way to eliminate his nemesis, Captain Hammer.

It’s a simple story that became doubly interesting when Whedon turned it into a musical and split it into three acts to be shown on different days and made people wait in anticipation for it. That was a good move on Whedon’s part because it gave people something to look forward to. If you weren’t able to catch its limited release, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is available on iTunes and MSN.

Were you able to catch the limited release of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog? What did you think about it?

The last six-eight weeks of the summer hiatus can be hell. The new season hasn’t started rolling out its schedule yet, so you can’t decide which shows look the most promising. The old season is long over and hasn’t yet been released on DVD to give you a chance to re-live it all before the season premieres. Even with some channels (like TNT) offering fresh programming, you still can’t fill up your evening “tube time.” It’s very frustrating!

So why not do, what I do? I have a few standard shows that I fall back on when I know that I have a while to wait before my next Netflix DVDs will show up and even longer before my favorite series start back up. When I reach this period of limbo, I have a few shows that I bought on DVD that I can watch over and over again, no matter what mood I’m in.

One of these shows is The West Wing. Even for those who are not political, this show is a fantastic character study and will inspire you to…okay, well it inspires me to learn more about my country and its political system—and to explore the careers of the actors involved in the show. Shake your head if you must, but I can put in just about any of the discs in any of the seven seasons of this show and know that I will be entertained.

Another of these shows, when I want to laugh, is Scrubs. Scrubs is still running, but there are enough seasons of it that there are plenty of hours of television to keep me occupied before the fall season starts. Dr. Cox never gets old and is always funny. This show is moving to ABC for what is most likely its final season, and I can’t wait to see how it all ends!

A lot of shows left us hanging during their season finales last May, and I’m looking forward to having some of my personal questions answered.

Gossip Girl

OMG! What will happen to Blair and Chuck? Will they still get together? Personally, as much as I want them to be a couple, because they look so good together, I don’t think I’d want that. Not yet. If they got together, what will happen to them? Will they change? Will they suddenly become one of those lovesick couples who constantly spend time making eyes at each other? I don’t know about you, but one thing I love about the show is Chuck Bass’ flirtatious ways and Blair Waldorf’s sneaky ways, and I am not ready not to see that on the show.

Heroes

At this year’s ComicCon, Tim Kring and the whole team behind Heroes unveiled the first episode of the third season, which was reported to be amazing. The second season was too short and too full and really set itself up for a forgettable season. Yahoo! TV reports that it’s more focused and doesn’t introduce a billion new heroes.

Grey’s Anatomy

This is my guilty pleasure. It started off great but slowly developed into an underdeveloped soap opera. But I still want to know what’ll happen to Derek and Meredith and if they’re finally going to end up together.

CSI

Now that William Petersen is leaving the show as CSI Supervisor Gil Grissom (but staying on as Executive Producer), I wonder what will happen to the show. There are still the other characters, but I mostly watched the show because of Grissom. I wonder which actor they’ll get and character they’ll develop to add to the show.

Ugly Betty

Did Betty pick Gio or Henry? Did she pick anyone at all? Did she go to Italy? Or did she go somewhere else? What will happen to Daniel? Will he go back to Meade Publications?

I can’t wait for the new Fall TV season!

What about you? What show are you looking forward to this new fall season?

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Last Monday marked the season premiers of The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT. Many people shrug off stations like TBS and TNT because more often than not, they show reruns of other stations’ popular shows. In the last few years, however, stations like these (and A&E, Bravo, etc.) have become very popular in terms of original programming. They help bridge the summer sinkhole of low budget reality television (How many “do you want to be famous” shows do we really need anyway?) and give us fantastic characters and storylines to focus on.

I started watching The Closer via my Netflix subscription and, honestly, was surprised by how much I liked it! Brenda Lee Johnson, the show’s main character, is funny and hardcore all at the same time and can switch between the two on a dime. Kyra Sedgwick plays her to perfection and her surrounding cast of characters is all top notch. You might recognize her boss, JK Simmons, from his turn as the newspaper editor in the Spiderman movies! This season is the fourth season of the Closer and new episodes can be watched on Monday nights at 9PM.

Following The Closer on Monday nights is Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter. I watched my very first episode of Saving Grace last Monday and was immediately impressed. The story follows Grace, a tougher than nails cop in Oklahoma City and her angel, Earl. I absolutely was surprised by the performances in this show and cannot wait to get the first season on DVD so that I can catch up.

Summertime is often a quagmire in terms of television programming, but these are just two of the shows offered up by the “not so popular” networks. Imagine if the “major” networks put this much effort into their regular programming!

Jeff Goldblum is coming back to television (if the Screen Actors Guild doesn’t go on strike)!

Chris Noth, most widely known for his turn as Mr. Big on Sex and the City, is leaving Law & Order: Criminal Intent after a three season run, and Goldblum is stepping in to fill the void. The show has been picked up for an eighth season of sixteen episodes (again, if the Screen Actors Guild doesn’t go on strike).

According to an article released by MSN’s TV News division a couple of weeks ago, the Law & Order creator, Dick Wolf, looks forward to Jeff Goldblum adding a new dimension to his already very successful show. Law & Order has been on television roughly since television began broadcasting in color (or it feels that way) and has a couple of very successful spin-offs: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the already mentioned Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Chris Noth was a part of the original series from 1990-1995 and then joined the cast of Law & Order: Criminal Intent in 2005. The special spin-off airs on USA on Sundays.

While most know Jeff Goldblum because of his film career, he isn’t new to the television medium. In fact, he had a show on NBC called Raines, but that show was very short lived. In addition to appearing in Jurassic Park, The Fly, Independence Day and Igby Goes Down, Jeff Goldblum was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 for Little Surprises, a short, live-action film.

Criminal Intent is on USA because NBC felt that three incarnations of one show would be overkill but thought that the spin-off could find a home on its cousin company, USA. I wonder if the brains behind CSI and all of its spin-offs will ever share the same feeling!

Are you a fan of the original series, Beverly Hills 90210? I was and still am.  You probably know that the CW is bring the cult show back as 90210: The New Generation. And several 90210 alumnae already have signed up either as guest or recurring stars, including Kelly Taylor (played by Jennie Garth, as a guidance counselor at Beverly Hills High) and Brenda Walsh (played by Shannen Doherty, whose character is not yet known).

But probably the most familiar and welcome return is the comeback of Peach Pit owner, Nat Bussichio (played by Joe E. Tata), whom the kids often ran to for advice or comfort. He will be reprising his role once again as the owner of the Peach Pit, the kids’ regular hang-out at 90210. There’s no word yet if his character will be a regular or recurring one. That all depends, he says, “If they still remember me”.

Are you excited about the return of our favorite zip code? Some people are not looking forward to it because they either: a) did not like the original 90210 or b) they think it’ll be a cheap spin-off of the original series. I’m curious though and probably will watch the first episode. I have to remember, though, to keep an open mind while watching the show, or I’ll end comparing the two and holding a torch for one of them.

This weekend, NBC show Saturday Night Live reran its debut episode as a tribute to George Carlin, who passed away earlier this week. The airing of this episode has sparked many debates among television fans and one of the most common questions to be asked is: remember when we knew what funny was?

It seems that these days, television’s humor is more of a wink and an arched eyebrow than it is an all out guffaw. Long gone are the days of the obvious jokes of the Carol Burnett Show, sitcoms and even Saturday Night Live. Now comedy seems to serve as a “if you didn’t get that, then you are not smart enough to watch this show” dividing line in audiences and shows that do source their material in obvious comedy are deemed “stupid” or, worse “not smart.” (Does anybody else remember when those two things used to be synonymous?)

To be sure, shows like Saturday Night Live seem to be struggling to find a balance between obvious and physical humor and the arched “aren’t we clever” eyebrow. Sitcoms are few and far between in primetime. Why?

The fact is this: people like to laugh and people are more likely to laugh if they don’t feel like they have to laugh to prove themselves worthy of the joke. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have a lot more fun watching comedies that make me roll around guffawing than I do watching comedies that are meant to make me feels superior to others.

What is comedy anymore? Is there still a place for the obvious, physical prat falling comedy that we used to know and love, or has it truly devolved into dramedy and snark? When did “not getting the joke” become the thing that made one person better than another?

I would be lying if I tried to say that Isaiah Washington’s real world actions didn’t affect the way I felt about his Grey’s Anatomy character, Preston Burke. After reading about Isaiah Washington running around bad mouthing the Grey’s Anatomy producers, it made it very hard for me to feel any sort of warm feelings for Preston Burke at all.

The same is not holding true for Katherine Heigl. Everybody is up in arms about her saying that the material she was given this last season wasn’t Emmy worthy.

People, there was a writer’s strike. Was anything that got produced worthy of an Emmy?

For most of this last season of television, shows got pushed through to production without having to undergo the usual scrutiny that goes into producing a television script. Scripts got pushed through in the interest of having as much original programming as possible, in the hopes of covering the strike that ended up happening. Of course the material was going to lack its usual panache!

Here is the truth: Izzie Stevens didn’t have a lot to do this season until the last couple of episodes when the character seemed to regain her footing. Whether this was to accommodate film schedules or because of the writer’s strike we’ll never really know.  But who really cares if she withdrew her name for an Emmy?

The fact of the matter is this: of the shows I watched this past season, there weren’t many strong plot lines. Characters were left filling space because television producers wanted something, anything, to take up space during prime-time. Maybe before we all get worked into a lather over whether or not Heigl has grown a super-ego, we should wait to see what happens next season, when the writers have more time to flesh out their stories and characters.