Here's some shameful information about your girl Cristin: I have 14 monthly magazine subscriptions, many of which are to exciting publications like Glamour and Marie Claire. This means I'm quite familiar with seeing full page spreads dotted with seemingly normal-looking women accompanied by the question "Which one of these women {insert differentiating feature here: makes over 100k a year, is a Virgin, has HPV, etc etc}?" entreating you to turn the page and, you know, learn something about appearances and how they may or may not be deceiving.

So last night I'm watching Studio 60 and finally understanding why Maggie wants to sit outside their production offices with a pellet gun (I really like this show, but is it getting increasingly sanctimonious? Like, I won't mention my military brother to earn favor with the law/ I'll help this old timer who's seriously suffering from dementia/ I'll save the city of New Orleans/ I'll pull every ghetto dweller up out of trouble that I can?), and NBC gives me an early Christmas present: they've invented a "game show" where you have to pick which one of a set of strangers is a Vegas showgirl/ Kidney donor/ Fireman/ Vampire etc. Match all of them correctly, and you get $500,000.

And, though you can't see him in , it stars Penn of Penn & Teller fame. You know, the one who actual talks in the pair of magicians that didn't get eaten by tigers.

It's basically "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 12, guess which one!" only with stereotypes. Also, I bet Hasbro is pissed:

Dexter's getting good.

That's not to say it wasn't good before.  It was, but it was a little uneven.  The characters weren't quite as defined and the show seemed a bit formulaic episode-to-episode (Dexter stalks an evildoer, Dexter deals with work/girlfriend issues, then there's a sprinkling of ice truck killer shennanigans for continuity's sake).

One of the show's best assets is Jennifer Carpenter, a consistent scene-stealer who plays Dexter's sister Deb.  Carpenter exudes a good mix of vulnerability and brashness.  She seems to be written a little differently since the show started — less nervous and, frankly, less stupid than she was at the outset.  I'm glad they've given her some talent to back up her sass.

Things have been getting more menacing and provocative ever since Deb started dating the guy who happens to be the ice truck killer.  The teasers for the last two episodes promise that Dexter will be hot on his trail and hopefully this will quicken the pace of the ice truck killer storyline.

The show's not perfect, it still contains a few unintentionally hilarious moments per episode (then again, it does have some awesome black humor — i.e. Dexter's accidental outburst of hitting Paul in the face with a pan and dragging him out into the trunk of his car) and some of the supporting characters are a little useless, but the series has really hit its stride in the second half of the season.