Watched the first three episodes of the new Showtime series "Dexter" last night. Good stuff. Based on Jeff Lindsay's novel "Darkly Dreaming Dexter," it stars Michael C. Hall (David from "Six Feet Under") as a sort of vigilante serial killer who only kills other murderers, mostly ones who have escaped justice for one reason or another. By day he works as a crimescene blood splatter analyst and attempts to hide his sociopathic behavior by creating a friendly, likeable persona that convinces most of the people in his life.

The writing is strong and it's not nearly as dark as it sounds, mostly because of Dexter's quirky sense of humor and the fact that most of the audience has been desensitized to the horror of serial killers over the last twenty years of film and television.