Dexter makes me physically uncomfortable.

I did get the shudders at the end of the pilot.

I *love* Dexter, maybe even the character -- which, yes, does worry me. Many of the characters in that are lovable in their own way. Personally, the only thing which really creeps me out about it is the title sequence. Which isn't graphic at all. But it still creeps me the fuck out.

To me, many of the qualities of The Inside -- the fact it was different to what people expect from shows of that nature, the characters are different, more layered and explored, the fact the characters were often front and center of the story instead of being purely exposition chess pieces (CSI! CSI!) most of the time -- those are the things which, in my mind, may have effected ratings. I may be wrong about that. I also think that applies to Firefly.

In a way, my world view is sad. I don't want to think many viewers are thick and fed the same shit on TV everyday, lapping it up -- but in some respects, I do.

I just have a higher tolerance for dark. Things like Saw, for example? Over the bar, for me.

Me too, Zenkitty.

I've been told I'd love Dexter.

I just ran across this Tim quote:

There's something nice about being able to go from a hard drinking space western to a hard drinking whimsical comedy to a hard drinking abyss peering noir.

So drive will be a hard drinking fill-in-the-blank?

Drunk driver?

I find The Inside darker than Dexter. Dexter's funny. And somehow because of his disorder, he's impossible to laugh at properly. Rebecca wasn't remotely funny. I was asked to soberly believe in her and her damage and how it was being exploited the whole time she was onscreen. Dexter does a distracting dance. I felt bad for the character at times, but never uncomfortable.

Hell, if it comes down to wish-fulfilment, somehow Dexter wins as my role model.

Mel Gibson should get a guest spot on Drive.

Hell, if it comes down to wish-fulfilment, somehow Dexter wins as my role model.

Haaaaa.

Dexter is definitely funnier than Rebecca. And I think The Inside tried to be much darker and more grim, whereas Dexter has a lot more humanity to it to balance things out.

Dexter's funny.

This. It's not weighty, either; people aren't as fucked up as on The Inside. Dexter's a misanthrope with an outlet. Plus the Miami location is incredibly sunny.

Maybe because of Becky's background, and Web's ambiguity, and the fact that they were getting inside the criminals heads.

This is the key. On Law & Order: Dear God, Belzer's Going to Live Forever, Isn't He? or whatever, the victims are largely cyphers—as are the regulars below the surface—and the meat of the show is concerned with the hows of the crime-solving. The Inside had much more of a Thomas Harris crawl-into-the-killer's-brain tone to it.

Which I loved, but then again I was rooting for Angel to officially add the two letters from the Season 4 midyear promos and focus on the slow, gleefully lethal stalking of the supporting characters by the lead. I gather that's not representative of the mainstream audience.

It's not weighty, either; people aren't as fucked up as on The Inside.

Yeah, while Dexter is complex, it's not like he's got layers and layers of complicated trauma pounding in his brain. And the people he kills aren't generally that fucked-up, either. They're just sort of bad people with fucked-up motives.

Plus the Miami location is incredibly sunny.

Yep. It's less visually dark.