RATINGS: Score one for 'Dexter'

Bianculli may be a Mad Men fan, but I'm one of the few critics who just can't get into its detached '60s chill. My Sunday night passion is Dexter, and I'm not alone. The industry buzz site The Live Feed reports that Dexter has more Sunday night viewers than Mad Men -- despite premium channel Showtime being available in just one-fourth as many homes as basic cable AMC.

And that's impressive, because lots of Showtime viewers like me watch the show later, via cable on-demand (in HD!) or in subsequent weekly airings (each episode repeats about a dozen times that week).

John Lithgow has brought new juice to Dexter this fourth season, providing Michael C. Hall's vigilante serial killer a super-sly mirror-image adversary, whose "upstanding" life forces Dexter to question his. The writers have doubly upped the intimate ante, alongside the logistic complications of Dexter's new marriage and fatherhood. While some of the supporting cop characters remain dramatic dead weight, Dexter's disaster-magnet sister Debra seems poised after her near-death experience to finally broaden into a more motivated and even cunning character.

Dexter's ratings are higher now than ever.

And they said the premise could never sustain . . .