The pitch: A serial killer targets only other murderers as victims. Dexter aired on Showtime for eight seasons until its conclusion in 2013, and was based on Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, the first in a series of novels featuring the character. While the show strayed from the novel, there's no question that it was high concept: what if a serial killer acted as a sort of vigilante, killing only other killers as a way of balancing the scales? The finishing touch was that Dexter worked in a law enforcement related field, as a blood splatter analyst. This wasn't entirely an original concept - the killing part anyway. If you go back to Anne Rice's first few novels in the Vampire Chronicles series, once you're into The Vampire Lestat (the second), you find that Lestat feeds off the scum of society. That said, Dexter was an original pitch based on a hot new novel and was revolutionary when it hit the air. It had an anti-hero you could root for, sort of. It was nominated for Best Dramatic Series at the Emmy's four times in its first four seasons, and was a huge hit for Showtime. While it may have flagged a little towards the end, it's the perfect example of a successful high concept show.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
