I always watch anything 'based on' Agatha Christie's stuff, particularly David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. It's not just the brilliant little stories, it's Suchet's exquisite development of the 'fussy little Belgian', the perfect 1930s sets, and the correct dialogue for the time. It's a series where there's nary a jarring note of any sort - research and production values at their highest.
I loved Dexter when I had my bigger cable package, but I've had to cut costs so he's gone for now. Lots of very, very funny moments of the blackest of dark humour, witticisms and wonderful dialogue. In spite of the gory theme, Dexter manages to neither glorify the anti-hero's often heroic undertakings, or make them seem trivial to him. Every person he bumps off has been a horror of one sort or the other, yet it doesn't have me baying for lynch-mob 'justice'. It's the nice logic he displays which I can agree with, even though I wouldn't have the guts to take on his work. I also like that he's always aware that any mistake he makes could be the end of him, and that adds a huge frisson to the enjoyment of the work: the realisation when he's made a tiny error, and the eye-popping efforts to put things right before the cavalry arrives. Will it always work? Will he ever pay the price?
