Chew is nothing like Dexter...at all.
See, that's where you're wrong. I have little doubt that the comic book Chew has very little in common with the Dexter books. In fact, it probably ends with "cops."
But you have to look at it from a television perspective. There, I'd say Chew is a lot like Dexter. It's an adaptation. It's for Showtime. It'll be an hourlong procedural. The main character is a cop. I'll go out on a limb here and assume that there will be other cops on the show too. The main character cop has a "crazy to-the-mainstream-this-is-disgusting" character trait that helps him solve every case of the week because no one else has said trait. Dexter is a serial killer cop trying to do right, he cuts up people. This guy is a cop who cuts people up, cooks them and eats them.. trying to do right. I'd guess that if this goes to series, it will be without a half faced robot, because effects and **** are expensive. If it maintains the bird flu future is effed aspect at all, it will probably be in a vague, Children of Men like fashion. As in, the world will look the same, but some tv station tells us "Oh snap bird flu!" so everyone acts worried. My point is, it might take place in an alternate or near future or whatever, but right now that doesn't mean it will make the show too different. Even if the comic is full of robots and Blade Runner cars, this seems like exactly the kind of "detail" that would be cut out for a potentially long running cop show.
Imagine trying to sell it to someone. "It's a show about a cop."
"We've got a billion of those."
"But he's a psychic."
"Hey.. alright.. we only have a few of those..."
"And he EATS PEOPLE!"
"Awesome! When can you-"
"And it's in the future and there's robots with no faces and bird flu has ravaged the Earth just like I knew it always would and did I MENTION ROBOTS-"
"Stop. I don't care. We film all these cop shows in the same police station anyway, so throw all that pidgeon crap and robots talk right out."
I'm not saying it won't be successful.. there's 50 billlion cop shows on the major networks and even the cable channels now.
But they've been unique to themselves thus far. HBO doesn't have multiple cop shows. FX after 10 years got themselves a second cop show and it's the exact opposite of the first. Showtime is relatively new to the tv series thing.. Starz is just starting out too. I'm used to the normal networks recycling the same exact shows with a different handful of actors, but up until now the pay channels have been doing a great job of mixing things up.
I want "Reefer Madness" Showtime back. "Dexter" became a huge hit for them, and now their crapping their pants because it's winding down and they don't have a replacement. Okay, fair enough. But swapping out "Dexter" for "Derek" and "Serial Killer" to " Psychic Cannibal" is not the way to do it, but that's clearly what they are thinking about trying.
Man am I bored.
