Dexter Morgan

When a living writer turns his work over to Hollywood, a lot can go wrong with the story and with the characters — and that includes their gender, race and the story's setting. Eventually, what emerges onscreen is only distantly related to what the author originally wrote or what he or she intended. So when I heard that Jeff Lindsay's uniquely evil and paradoxically well-intentioned character, Dexter Morgan, was going to turn up as a series on Showtime, I was prepared to be underwhelmed.

Jennifer Carpenter knows what it's like to be put through the wringer. Her ordeals in the past few years include being possessed by the devil and battling virus-infected zombies. Much of her present schedule involves playing a driven but hypersensitive homicide detective on the hit Showtime drama "Dexter," who has no clue that her beloved half-brother moonlights as a serial killer. But the actress is hoping for some daylight. Inside Carpenter's gallery of intense, troubled characters is a clown just busting to break loose.

Update: Jennifer Carpenter, who stars on the Showtime series "Dexter" with her husband, Michael C. Hall, has sold her Hollywood Hills home for its asking price of $695,000, the Multiple Listing Service shows. The California bungalow, with two bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms, was built as a hunting lodge in 1937. Surrounded by mature trees and landscaping on a flat lawn, the cottage has vaulted ceilings, skylights and decks off the dining room and master bedroom. Carpenter, 29, plays Dexter Morgan's sister, Debra.

"I thought I could change what I am. Keep my family safe. But it doesn't matter what I do, what I choose. I'm what's wrong. This is fate. " Those were Dexter Morgan's last words to the viewer in the jaw-dropping fourth season finale of "Dexter. " Poor Dexter had danced with his biggest foe and allowed himself the possibility of becoming a better man. Instead, the truth revealed itself in his wife's pool of blood: Dexter Morgan can't be anyone but who he is. The shocking twist — Rita's death and what it means for Dexter — places Showtime's highest-rated series at a compelling crossroads for its fifth season premiere on Sunday.

LYNN SMITH's article was superb. The crime show "Dexter" has shown us that serial killers often make good police officers. What is it about that killer instinct that makes good cops? I think if you can channel it -- and it took Dexter Morgan a long time to channel it, as we well know -- and mature with it, then I think it's an attribute. You have to get past self-glory (that "it's all me" and "it's my gratification") and make the transition to "a cause greater than yourself." Evan Dale Santos Adelanto -- HAVE we, as a viewing nation, sunk to such depths of depravity as to make a serial murderer the protagonist of a weekly TV drama?

It seems impossible to believe, but starting tonight CBS, scrambling for something new amid the writers strike fallout, is going to air Showtime's critical hit "Dexter" -- and network television may never be the same again. Following the exploits of Dexter Morgan (Michael C.

"I thought I could change what I am. Keep my family safe. But it doesn't matter what I do, what I choose. I'm what's wrong. This is fate. " Those were Dexter Morgan's last words to the viewer in the jaw-dropping fourth season finale of "Dexter. " Poor Dexter had danced with his biggest foe and allowed himself the possibility of becoming a better man. Instead, the truth revealed itself in his wife's pool of blood: Dexter Morgan can't be anyone but who he is. The shocking twist — Rita's death and what it means for Dexter — places Showtime's highest-rated series at a compelling crossroads for its fifth season premiere on Sunday.

It has been nearly impossible for anyone traveling L.A. streets or reading this newspaper to avoid seeing ads for this Sunday's season premiere of Showtime's "Dexter." Many of the ads show Michael C. Hall, the actor who plays Dexter Morgan, sporting his trademark demonic grin, while holding a cherubic baby. Both baby and serial killer are spattered with red liquid, the "joke" being that it isn't clear whether the liquid is juice or blood. For fans of such "humor," Jeff Lindsay's new novel "Dexter by Design" will surely be an enjoyable cup of congealed and gory tea. For others, this book is about pleasant as a sewer swim, and just about as socially rewarding.

Jennifer Carpenter knows what it's like to be put through the wringer. Her ordeals in the past few years include being possessed by the devil and battling virus-infected zombies. Much of her present schedule involves playing a driven but hypersensitive homicide detective on the hit Showtime drama "Dexter," who has no clue that her beloved half-brother moonlights as a serial killer. But the actress is hoping for some daylight. Inside Carpenter's gallery of intense, troubled characters is a clown just busting to break loose.

SOMETIMES having a dirty mouth is all a lady needs. Jennifer Carpenter, the young actress who contorted herself acrobatically in "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," had never worked in television, but she really wanted to play the overly gung-ho cop sister of a serial killer who kills serial killers on Showtime's most-watched series, "Dexter." The night before her audition, Carpenter started feeling nervous when she was given 15 script pages to learn.

When a living writer turns his work over to Hollywood, a lot can go wrong with the story and with the characters — and that includes their gender, race and the story's setting. Eventually, what emerges onscreen is only distantly related to what the author originally wrote or what he or she intended. So when I heard that Jeff Lindsay's uniquely evil and paradoxically well-intentioned character, Dexter Morgan, was going to turn up as a series on Showtime, I was prepared to be underwhelmed.

Update: Jennifer Carpenter, who stars on the Showtime series "Dexter" with her husband, Michael C. Hall, has sold her Hollywood Hills home for its asking price of $695,000, the Multiple Listing Service shows. The California bungalow, with two bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms, was built as a hunting lodge in 1937. Surrounded by mature trees and landscaping on a flat lawn, the cottage has vaulted ceilings, skylights and decks off the dining room and master bedroom. Carpenter, 29, plays Dexter Morgan's sister, Debra.

Actress Jennifer Carpenter , who stars on Showtime's murder-centric "Dexter" with her husband, Michael C. Hall , has listed her Hollywood Hills bachelorette pad for $695,000. The 1937 California bungalow, with two bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms, was built as a hunting lodge. Surrounded by mature trees and landscaping, the cottage has vaulted ceilings, skylights and decks off the dining room and master bedroom. There is a flat lawn and canyon views. Carpenter, 29, has played Dexter Morgan's sister, Debra, since 2006.

It has been nearly impossible for anyone traveling L.A. streets or reading this newspaper to avoid seeing ads for this Sunday's season premiere of Showtime's "Dexter." Many of the ads show Michael C. Hall, the actor who plays Dexter Morgan, sporting his trademark demonic grin, while holding a cherubic baby. Both baby and serial killer are spattered with red liquid, the "joke" being that it isn't clear whether the liquid is juice or blood. For fans of such "humor," Jeff Lindsay's new novel "Dexter by Design" will surely be an enjoyable cup of congealed and gory tea. For others, this book is about pleasant as a sewer swim, and just about as socially rewarding.

Three seasons in, do any of us really know Dexter Morgan? Showtime viewers have watched America's favorite serial killer earn acceptance from his long-lost homicidal brother and promptly end that relationship by slicing his neck with a knife. Then, Dexter allowed a woman, Lila, to get close to him, close enough for her to see who he really is, only to plunge a knife into her heart.

LYNN SMITH's article was superb. The crime show "Dexter" has shown us that serial killers often make good police officers. What is it about that killer instinct that makes good cops? I think if you can channel it -- and it took Dexter Morgan a long time to channel it, as we well know -- and mature with it, then I think it's an attribute. You have to get past self-glory (that "it's all me" and "it's my gratification") and make the transition to "a cause greater than yourself." Evan Dale Santos Adelanto -- HAVE we, as a viewing nation, sunk to such depths of depravity as to make a serial murderer the protagonist of a weekly TV drama?

"Dexter," the grisly dark comedy series premiering Sunday on Showtime, employs some of the same surgical instruments and hues as FX's "Nip/Tuck" but covers an entirely different metier. Lipo, serial killing -- I suppose I quibble. Dexter is Dexter Morgan ("Six Feet Under's" Michael C. Hall), a predisposed-from-childhood predator who, under the tutelage of his late father (James Remar), a Miami detective, has blossomed into a serial killer for good, as opposed to evil.

AS the lead in the new Showtime series "Dexter," Michael C. Hall has devoted many hours trying to understand his character, Dexter Morgan, a self-acknowledged sociopath who by day works as a forensic pathologist and by night sets out to vivisect and eventually kill those who have it coming. "He claims to be without certain fundamental human traits," Hall said recently during a shooting break on an interior set of a police station at the Sunset Gower Studios.

It seems impossible to believe, but starting tonight CBS, scrambling for something new amid the writers strike fallout, is going to air Showtime's critical hit "Dexter" -- and network television may never be the same again. Following the exploits of Dexter Morgan (Michael C.

When viewers last saw Dexter Morgan, the charming vigilante serial killer had a few problems. He had been forced to murder his long-lost brother. His nice, normal girlfriend was starting to wonder what had happened to her ex-husband. A colleague at the Miami Police Department was stalking him to expose what he suspected was Dexter's secret double life. Dexter had learned that his foster father's code that allowed him to kill might have been a lie. And he had begun to experience something like. .