I keep a close eye on my site statistics, and this article is definitely on target. I get many visitors from India, and in fact, many international visitors in general. I believe the morality issue of the show (good bad guy, as noted below) is what makes Dexter popular worldwide.
The Dark Knight
It is the good-bad guys that are ruling television channels these days with Indian viewers ready to embrace them.
THERE is a certain method to Dexter Morgan’s madness that makes him one of the most popular characters on television. He is a serial killer, but with his own set of ethics. He is always there for his family and friends, has a respectable job as a blood-sample analyst and yet kills people by night. His schizophrenic existence has made Dexter — both the show and the character — probably one of the most intriguing ones on television in recent years. After its success in the US, India is lapping up this serial killer’s moves on Star World in a marathon run of five seasons.
Dexter, however, isn’t the only good-bad guy who is making television viewing pleasurable these days. Dr Gregory House from the series House on AXN and Patrick Jane from the drama The Mentalist on Zee Cafe are two other examples. House is a doctor and Jane is an amateur detective, and these professions have always had a certain thrill attached to them. And while House, Jane and Dexter might save the day or give justice at the end of each episode, there is no denying that all three of them are not your friendly, neighbourhood heroes. There’s none of Superman’s big-heartedness in them, but there is definitely a lot of Batman’s cynicism.
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