Showtime's underrated “Dexter” gets its due, along with “Friday Night Lights, “30 Rock,” “Mad Men” and six other titles, in this year’s American Film Institute Awards for television.
Also announced yesterday as AFI picks for TV excellence in 2007: “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Ugly Betty,” and an HBO trifecta of “The Sopranos,” “Tell Me You Love Me” and the TV movie “Longford.”
The awards jury included TV producers, academics and critics, including such astute colleagues as TV Guide’s Matt Roush and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan. (I’ve served on the jury twice in past years.)
And if you missed last night’s socko season finale of “Dexter” (just when Michael C. Hall’s serial killer thinks he’s out, the dark side sucks him back in), Showtime is repeating the must-see hour tonight at 10. Also Tuesday (Dec. 18) at 9, Wednesday and Thursday (Dec. 19-20) at 10, and Friday (Dec. 21) at 11 p.m. Showtime on-demand subscribers can grab it there, where all 12 second-season episodes are available for anytime viewing. (You can even enter a contest to play one of Dexter’s Season 3 victims.)
[Showtime photo above: Michael C. Hall in "Dexter" Season 2 finale.]