The Parents Television Council wants KDKA to dump "Dexter," the Showtime drama about a Miami police forensics expert who moonlights as a serial killer, targeting murderers who avoid the justice system. A sanitized version of the Showtime series (minus the profanity and some of the blood) makes its CBS premiere at 10 p.m. Sunday on KDKA.

Deb Dell, a Bethel Park mother of two and director of the PTC Pittsburgh chapter that launched last year, wrote to ask KDKA-TV to not air the program.

"Programs that center around 'anti-heroes' or 'criminal protagonists' and that serve as a virtual serial killer how-to are not welcome in this community," she wrote. "Send this program back to Showtime where it is available only to those who make an affirmative choice to bring it into their home."

On the face of it, without any of the necessary context, Dell's request seems reasonable. Parents today do not have an easy task. There are many TV shows whose content, while smart and intriguing for adults, is not appropriate for children. It is incumbent upon parents to become media literate, to know what their children are watching and to limit the amount of time their kids spend in front of the TV. On that, Dell and I agree. But PTC's objections to "Dexter" are overblown.

In a phone conversation this week, Dell said 10 p.m. here is 9 p.m. in the Central time zone. Fine, go ask the Chicago CBS affiliate not to carry "Dexter," but by 10 p.m. in Pittsburgh, most children are in bed or their activities should be supervised by a parent. If PTC hadn't labeled "Dexter" as off-limits, thereby making it more tantalizing, I can't imagine a child choosing to watch "Dexter." They'd quickly grow bored; it's more talky than stalky.

The show was never all that gory on Showtime, but profanity was profuse. In the edited-for-CBS "Dexter," most of the profanity has been replaced (lots of "frickin' " instead of the f-word, one laughable use of "mother lover"), and some bloody scenes have been trimmed. The show is no more a how-to guide to murder than "CSI" or PBS's "Mystery." And, as Diane Werts of Newsday noted this week, portraying something does not equal glorifying it.

Judging a book by its cover, Dell, who's seen neither version of "Dexter," said the program shows no consequences for anti-social behavior.

"What that teaches our children if they're watching it on broadcast television is that they can do whatever they want, and there won't be any consequences," she said.

Although Dexter has not yet been apprehended, his killing is far from consequence-free. Dexter suffers relationship problems and mental anguish, and he lives in constant fear of being caught. As the series is not yet finished, Dexter may very well end up in jail.

Dell cites myriad studies that TV can be harmful to children. But isn't it the parents' job to keep their children from watching material they deem inappropriate, especially at 10 p.m.? Shouldn't the instruction and guidance parents give their children hold more weight than the influence of a TV show?

Even on Showtime, the unedited "Dexter" doesn't rise to the level of obscenity as defined by The Supreme Court. Unlike obscene material that "lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value," "Dexter" is a probing psychological exploration of the nature of good and evil and enjoys almost universal critical acclaim.

Dell contends that objectionable content like "Dexter" should not air on broadcast channels because they are public airwaves.

"The public airwaves are as public as my street is," she said. "I don't want to go out at 1 in the morning and see people having sex on a car in the street. I could call the police, but I can't do that for what's on my television."

But no one is forcing Dell to watch "Dexter." Heck, no one is forcing her to turn on her TV or flip channels away from the safety net of PBS.

Another problem: How do you define "objectionable" if a program isn't patently obscene? It's subjective. At what point are you sliding down a slippery slope toward censorship?

"Certainly folks have the right to watch that stuff, but in my opinion it needs to be done on a pay channel on a medium that's not publicly owned," Dell said. "I don't believe their right [to see it] is a right that should interfere with my right to not see it when flipping channels on public television."

This week, two women called to complain that there's too much "garbage" on TV. Both were also upset that their favorite show, CBS' "Cane," is likely to be canceled after airing last fall at 10 p.m. Tuesdays. In their view, "Cane" is a great series. In the "Cane" pilot, the lead character had a man killed, a man who years earlier killed one of Cane's family members. Like Dexter, Cane (Jimmy Smits) hasn't gotten caught for murder. Should PTC have asked KDKA to drop "Cane" since its themes of vigilante justice are pretty similar to those on "Dexter"?

I'm not suggesting networks should violate decency laws, push the envelope at 8 p.m. or get off scot-free when they do go a step too far. But the edited "Dexter" doesn't violate obscenity standards, so it seems like Dell wants to see "Dexter" pulled just because of the ideas it espouses. In a free society, that's dangerous.

While individual PTC members may be sincere and well-intentioned, the organization that gives them marching orders is overzealous in its efforts to play "gotcha" with television networks. See something you don't like? Hear a profanity? Just go to ParentsTV.org, fill out a complaint form and PTC will whisk it away to the Federal Communications Commission. (Broadcasting & Cable reported that in July 2005, of the 23,547 complaints the FCC received that month, all but five originated from PTC.)

And the group's newsletters sometimes contain misleading information. In a newsletter last year, PTC claimed, "The broadcast networks are demanding the right to use the public airwaves to broadcast profane and indecent content regardless of the time of day ...." This was in response to a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that tossed out an indecency finding against so-called "fleeting obscenities" (e.g. an unanticipated profanity uttered during a live awards show). There's a contextual difference between reality and the PTC exaggeration. I don't think the networks want to spew profanity, they just don't want to be unduly punished when it happens on live TV. In its castigation, PTC didn't use the conservative code term "activist judges," but it came perilously close for an organization that Dell said is bipartisan. (PTC is a spin-off from the conservative Media Research Center.)

Last year, a PTC newsletter also reported on its own study, "The Alarming Family Hour: No Place for Children," but the study is based on a false premise: The "family hour" hasn't existed since it was struck down by courts in the 1970s (by the parents of today's "activist judges," perhaps?).

The first hour of prime time, 8-9 p.m., should be programmed with more family-friendly fare, but PTC's school-marmish, tsk-tsk tone and use of loaded language and context-free descriptions only marginalizes the organization. (PTC offered this reductive description of Spike TV's "The Kill Point": "The story of corrupt, psychotic Iraq War veterans taking hostages ....")

"We don't boycott any show," Dell said. But the PTC newsletters often include advertiser addresses for members to write letters of complaint. The group's goals are clearly more about punishment than praise.

Supporting quality, wholesome programming would be a better use of time and energy. PTC could follow in the footsteps of the now-defunct Viewers for Quality Television, which advocated on behalf of the good stuff. As it is, PTC is more interested in, ironically, recounting profane dialogue and descriptions in its newsletters. Some might consider it homophobic, too: One newsletter clucked over a comedic kiss between Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell at the MTV Awards with this description: "Cohen slaps Will Ferrell. The two kiss passionately as they roll on the floor together."

As for KDKA and "Dexter," the station has no plans to pre-empt its CBS programming. In a letter responding to Dell, KDKA general manager Chris Pike said "Dexter" would be edited to conform to TV standards the same way feature films have long been edited for TV.

Odds are, "Dexter" will fail on broadcast television (anti-hero shows don't perform well on CBS) and will be sent back to Showtime within a few weeks. The free market will decide, as it should.

For more information on the local PTC chapter, which currently has about 60 members, contact Dell at 1-800-278-7084 or at pittsburghchapter@parentstv.org.

This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "Dirty Sexy Money," "Greek" and Wendy Bell. Read it online at post-gazette.com/tv.