“Arrested Development” was all the buzz for Showtime at the just-concluded midseason press tour: Will the network pick up Fox’s ratings-challenged, cult-beloved comedy? But later this year, conversation is likely to be dominated by a quirky drama called “Dexter.”
Michael C. Hall, who played the uptight gay brother in “Six Feet Under,” switches gears big time as an amiable Miami police forensics specialist with a stunning hobby: He’s a serial killer who specializes in visiting justice on those who “deserve it.”
While channeling his own blood lust in a constructive way (“I have standards”), he also feeds a devilish desire to “hone my craft.” Clips shown to TV critics hinted at sly flashes of humor and irony in this late-2006 arrival, written by Emmy winner James Manos Jr. (“The Sopranos”) and directed by Michael Cuesta (“Six Feet Under”).
An equally droll tone permeates an upcoming video version of “This American Life,” the hit Public Radio International series with host Ira Glass spinning stories weekly around anecdotes from a particular theme of everyday life.
The radio show’s witty yet sentimental view of human behavior came through in snatches of Glass’ video pilot shown here, maintaining the mix of first-person recollections by story subjects and wry commentary in Glass’ narration. Six episodes have been ordered.
But Showtime’s ambitious series development turns first to “Brotherhood,” a tangled Providence family saga coming this summer. Two Irish brothers – a take-charge neighborhood politico and a prodigal hood – battle for turf and respect in the corruption-stained Rhode Island city under the watchful eye of Fionnula Flanagan’s matriarch.
Location filming makes the city a central character in a richly layered portrait of both an individual family and an industrial area walloped by changing times. Its vivid characters and resonant topicality match Showtime’s much-acclaimed December terrorism miniseries, “Sleeper Cell.”
Returning to Showtime’s schedule are such dramas as “The L Word” (airing now) and “Huff” (starting its second season April 2), along with new half-hour seasons of the suburban satire “Weeds” and the debunking comedy of “Penn and Teller.”
Last year’s smart series adaptation of the movie smash “Barbershop” remains on the fence for renewal. Showtime program chief Bob Greenblatt said, “A lot of it hinges on ‘Arrested Development’ to some degree.”
Greenblatt told critics he’d be happy to pick up the Fox comedy so beloved by critics and Emmy voters, but “the show is only worth continuing if Mitch Hurwitz was at the helm,” a decision the series creator hadn’t made.
Showtime remains challenged in attracting viewers, despite a marked increase in series quality since the 2003 arrival of Greenblatt, a former Fox executive whose independent production company subsequently hatched such gems as “Six Feet Under” and “American Family.” That’s why Greenblatt wouldn’t shy away from picking up “Arrested,” he said.
“If only a fraction of the audience on Fox came to Showtime, it would be one of our highest-rated shows.” And he isn’t afraid to “look somehow creatively bankrupt,” he said, because he helped develop “The Sopranos” for Fox before it ended up on HBO, and his company produced “The Hughleys” first for ABC, then for UPN. “I think you embrace the show if it works for you.”
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