I only watched the first three episodes of this season (since TW took away ShowTime for most of the season) but have not gone back to watch the rest of the season and don't really care to. This show should have ended a few seasons ago with the worst being the Doomsday Killer season. Everything about that season was garbage but when Dexter swam away from a boat that blew up while he was in it, I threw my hands up and pretty much gave up on the show ever returning to what it once was. The only thing that could have made that show "jump the shark" more was if there were actual sharks in the water after the boat got blown to smithereens. Dexter should have died right then and there and the show could have ended. From what I have been told about the way the series ended I am glad I don't have to watch it to see more of a once good thing gone to complete bull shit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Har6boZU7_M

After reading the above posts, guess I count myself lucky to have stopped watching two seasons in.
No reason to sit through 5 seasons of crap for a shitty ending.

Season 5???

Dexter should have ended on Season 4. 5 was terrible.

Great thread!! I thought I was the only person who felt this way about the decline in quality.
I also found myself doing the same things Bansheebot has been doing because the smell of "suck" just got stronger and stronger toward the end. I'm actually still pretty stunned. If I faced palmed myself one more time during the final episode alone I'd have a concussion. Awful, just awful.

Deb's boss and federal marshall guy were both annoying as hell. Not sure if bad acting or bad characters or just both

"Meanwhile, instead of watching Dexter, your time could have been better spent testing how much different objects hurt when you dropped them on your dick!"

Ugh. After finally wrapping up Breaking Bad, I decided to revisit ol' Dexter, which I had not watched since finishing Season 4 years ago.
Knowing damn well what I was getting into, I picked up where I left off and decided to finish the series.
Watched the final episode last night and the quote that toothaction referenced above could not be more true...

***SPOILERS BELOW***

On a positive note: I am glad that Showtime killed the possibility of a new fresh-faced hipster serial killer spinoff via the protégé Zach Hamilton... (is it just me or does it seem like the final episodes were all written on the fly?)

After Deb's "I'm in love with my brother" bit, I lost a lot of respect for the writing. But man, the finale was just plain SHIT...
The basic story arc of the series was to make us believe Dexter is an "exception to the rule" of serial killers, in that he can feel empathy and love. 8 whole seasons were spent on his character development, just to have it all thrown out the window in the end. That's the real slap in the face...

Showtime will always be the Pepsi to HBO's Coca Cola. Their shows are watchable and characters are likable, but the writing just doesn't have that certain "je ne sais quoi" that HBO's originals do. I honestly don't know if I'll go back and finish Weeds now after watching the trainwreck that was Dexter

Thanks for letting me rant!

I did EXACTLY the same after finishing BB and although it wasn't anywhere near as bad as LOST!, other than the final scene, I agree about it being pretty convoluted and weak!

Best for maintaining longevity to date for me is Mad Men and The Wire. Both seemed initially slow but increased pace and character development/replacement over the duration without feeling too forced.

Most of the imported HBO type crap we get seems to veer off tangent or get overly diluted by the third season when writers block seems to hit.

Never bothered with LOST, and after hearing the world's disappointment with its ending, I probably never will...

The Wire's final season was a little shaky, but David Simon and Co. still managed to pull it together for a (somewhat) plausible conclusion.

Considering how AMC handled BB's finale and the acclaim Mad Men has received, that will probably be my next undertaking. Although their current treatment of Walking Dead could be argued against that...

I've enjoyed both BB and Mad Men greatly, they're definitely different types of dramas but both worth a watch. Walking dead and Mad Men aren't even on the same level (still miles above low winter sun though!)