Editing Dexter: F-Words and Sex Before Gore

This is the greatest irony about the FCC's trumped-up crusade to police indecency on television: viewers are more likely to see severed limbs on TV than a naked woman's backside.

That's the clear lesson I've drawn after watching the first two episodes of Showtime's serial killer drama Dexter, edited down for broadcast on CBS starting Sunday. There's lots of changed language -- the potty-mouthed dialogue of some characters (particularly, Dexter’s bawdy sister Deb and hard-edged nemesis Sgt. Doakes) gets a significant scrubbing, as the f-word becomes “fricking” and the m-f-word becomes “motherloving” or “mothersucker.”

But a scene in which killer Dexter Morgan -- a forensic technician for the Miami police who kills killers on the side -- holds up a bloody, severed foot and plops it in a garbage bag, remains intact. And though they won't show Dexter actually cutting his victims' cheeks -- he does that to take a drop of blood he keeps as a trophy -- they do show the dismembered bodies of victims of another murderer, the Ice Truck Killer.

“One of the early CSI: Miami’s showed (a moment) when they opened up a shark and half a torso fell out,” said Nina Tassler, president of entertainment for CBS told me Monday, noting similarly gory scenes in flagship hit CSI and suspense drama Criminal Minds. “The truth is, if you look at that show and look at our schedule…we have lots of shows which fit that mold on our air already.”

Tassler and her colleagues know their history. Her network is still fighting a $550,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission for pop star Janet Jackson’s exposed breast during Super bowl halftime in 2004. Rival ABC last month drew a $1.4-million fine for an NYPD Blue scene showing co-star Charlotte Ross’ naked behind as she disrobed for a shower.

But showing the death rattle of a guy who just jumped off a highway overpass, the dissected corpse of a murder victim or the clipped off fingertips of a different body? That, it seems, is no problem at all.

Except for the Parents Television Council, a conservative advocacy group which has implored CBS to keep Dexter on cable. “The biggest problem with the series is something that no amount of editing can get around: the series compels viewers to empathize with a serial killer, to root for him to prevail, to hope he doesn’t get discovered,” said PTC president Tim Winter.

Apparently, Winter has never heard of Hannibal Lechter. Or Darth Vader. America loves a bad boy, and Dexter may be one of the most compelling miscreants to hit TV since Tony Soprano.

I have a story on this whole issue running in tomorrow's Floridian. In the meantime, check out this scene and ask yourself: What would YOU cut out?   

Comments

[Chuck Welch]

As a child I read a book that included murders, incest, adultery, and other sins. Without those acts I wouldn't have learned of redemption, peace, and faith.

We can not let our children grow up in false edens. To do so would be cruel when we cast them out to the real world.

That said, Dexter is not for children. It's not for most teenagers. The beauty of being a parent is we can say "no."

Turn the channel. Tune to something age appropriate. Drop the philistinism.

[Eric Deggans]

well, part of TV's job is to reflect our culture back to us. So the argument becomes -- are TV shows causing the spread of this attitude or just beaming it back to us?

The glorification of Dexter as an anti-hero doesn't bother me much. It does bother me that we are so puritanical about sexual issues and so lenient about violence. Seems there should be a better middle ground there...

[Betty]

This is what makes the killings and rampant murders "a sign of the times" parents let kids watch this c..p, teenagers watch c..p, and they become desensitized, so what can you expect? whatever idiot(s) thought this is good television should lose their jobs, because they've lost their souls. a pack of lemmings probably have more brains than anyone that watchs shows like this. Americans want instant gratification and most can longer think for themselves. So sad...it's a sign of the times.