A lot of stories are popping up about the scene in the most recent episode of South Park that shows the Queen of England putting a pistol in her mouth and blowing skull fragments and brain matter all over the wall behind her. These stories, mostly coming from the UK, tell of the "controversial" scene and how it "shocked viewers."

And yet, not a single one of these stories, from what I can tell, gives any real evidence that the scene in question stirred up any controversy whatsoever. The stories merely suggest that, given the series' knack for courting controversy, people were probably bothered by the Queen's suicide, as well.

I'm not from the UK, but I am a South Park fan, and as I said in my review of the episode, the Queen's suicide was so quintessentially South Park I hardly batted an eye. If anything, the whole sequence seemed a little too easy, especially by South Park standards. I'll admit I'm not easily offended, but South Park hasn't shocked or surprised me in several years. That's not a slag against the show, it just means I'm tuned into its sensibility.

(S01E12) What an absolutely spectacular show. It's going to be a shame if Michael C. Hall doesn't get the Golden Globe because he certainly deserves it. It's funny because at the beginning of the season I said I was going to have a hard time picturing him as anything other than part of the Six Feet Under ensemble. Now that season one of Dexter has come and gone, I can't imagine how Hall ever played the role of David Fisher for five seasons because this is the show I associate him with. He owns this role.

Christmas isn't just about hanging stockings, decorating the tree, buying presents, burning the Yule log and cleaning the vomit off your roof from airsick reindeer. Sometimes it's about shooting your wife and son in the face and sawing through your son's skull, or so animator David Firth imagines in this graphic animated Christmas card (extreme cartoon violence, so be warned). This was supposed to appear on the BBC Four program Charlie Brooker's Screen Wipe, but Brooker rejected it. Firth has apparently made animated shorts for the series before, but this one wasn't family-friendly enough according to Brooker. Like Firth says, more people will probably see it on the Web, anyway. I figured I'd help that along and mention it here, because it really is quite funny if you have a twisted sense of humor.

[via Cold, Hard Flash]

(S01E11) Oh. My. God. This may very well have been a perfect hour of television. Could this show possibly be any better? Frankly, I have no idea how I'm going to spend my Sunday nights after next week's season finale. Maybe I'll take up crocheting? Or try watching Brothers and Sisters? Nah... Sally Field freaks me out. Doesn't matter really. Nothing else will compare to Dexter. For those that have doubted Showtime and this show still hasn't sold you on the quality of the network? Man, maybe you should be the one taking up crocheting.

(S01E10) Wow... I am just so in awe of this show. It does everything that good TV is supposed to do. I'm not quite sure how to talk through all of this, but let's get one thing out there: Malcolm-Jamal Warner gained a ton of weight. As much as I enjoyed seeing him guest star as Dexter's lawyer buddy, every time he was in a scene I couldn't stop picturing him tap-dancing in the opening sequence of The Cosby Show. That guy is forever Theo Huxtable.

Moving on, let's talk about blood.

(S01E02) This show is just too cool. Everything about it is just so smooth and flashy and slick. Very slick. Just look at the opening title sequence. This is new since it wasn't attached to last week's pilot. It looked great. The way it incorporated blood into every aspect of Dexter's life? He wakes up being bitten by a mosquito. He cuts himself shaving. For breakfast, he even juices a very ripe blood orange. See? Slick.

I think I'm reading too much into this, but it's still fun. Pictured above is some desktop wallpaper from Showtime's new original series Dexter. I was looking at it and wondered if there were any hidden clues about the upcoming premiere season. I know CSI did something like that to pump last year's season finale but that was an actual promo poster and this is just plain ol' wallpaper. Regardless, there's still a lot going on in the picture. There's a guy in the second floor window, the three women gathered around something (someone?), police lines blocking off the sidewalk, and what appears to be a couple of shirtless men to the far right. You can see the full size image here. Anyone else think there might be something more to this? It just looks like one of those pictures that has some kind of hidden message...

(S04E04) After a pre-credit opening where the male deputies try to conduct a "panty raid" and end up face to face with a completely naked and pregnant Wiegel, we cut to the first real scene of the episode where a motivational speaker Dangle found on the internet gives the deputies some rather confounding advice, including this diatribe:

"I ask you, does the belt not go through all the loops? You all see yourselves as brilliant little pebbles just waiting for your code word. Well, what if your code word doesn't come, huh? Are you gonna sit around in your cruiser and wind up ejected from somebody's crazy physics package?"

More profound advice I've never heard. Let's move on.

(S01E01) The new Adult Swim series from SpongeBob SquarePants writer and storyboard artist Aaron Springer, Korgoth of Barbaria, which also features the talents of Bill Wray (Ren and Stimpy, Mad Magazine) and Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack) does not officially debut until September, but last night a sneak peek was shown. Actually, I don't think this is the first time the pilot has been shown, but it was the first time I saw it, and I have to say I thought it was pretty good, especially if you like creative violence.