10 TV Shows That Improved Upon The Source Material

10. Dexter

Jeff Lindsay's Dexter book series laid firm foundations for Showtime's Michael C. Hall-starring TV show, and while the adaptation ultimately went off the rails in its original run, on the law of averages it still eclipses Lindsay's oft-unwieldy source material.

For starters, Michael C. Hall brings a humanity to Dexter that's not nearly as pronounced in the more detached novels, and the expanded canvas allows us to become better acquainted with the stacked deck of supporting characters - several of whom die much earlier in the books.

The novels also massively shot themselves in the foot when the third book, Dexter in the Dark, revealed that Dexter's "Dark Passenger" was a metaphysical entity, most likely the offspring of an ancient god called Moloch.

The twist was near-universally despised by critics and fans, enough that Lindsay himself even admitted it was a mistake and abandoned it for future novels. For many, though, the damage had been done.

For as poorly as Dexter's original TV run ended, and as silly as it got leading up to that infamous finale, it had the sense to never even consider introducing unambiguously supernatural elements.