Here is the second part of the list of great TV shows I wrote about earlier.

Rome is a dirty history lesson. Even with enough sex and violence to satisfy the most debauched mind, the show convincingly recreates the lost civilization with all its glorious battles and senate debates. This is a unique way of looking at history – through the eyes of a handful of richly created complex characters rather than a series of events between great battles. It’s very down to earth, like an episode of The Sopranos and is also full of human drama, an element normally missing from most history textbooks. There can be no more entertaining a way to learn history. The show’s production is singularly impressive, as can be expected from any HBO production. The detailed and intricate costumes and the exceptional acting free of the usual costume-drama pompousness is simply wonderful. Rome is smart, bold and stunning. History lessons have never been more sexy.

Carnivale is a story told with great relish. Notice the ‘e’ at the end of the name. It adds a certain style to the whole proceeding. It also stands for eerie, edgy and enchanting which appropriately describes the show. Carnivale is a horror drama set in the dustbowl during the great depression. The show easily has the finest cinematography on television. This spooky masterpiece is populated with some of the most bizarre characters you will ever see on tv – a blind psychic, a woman with a beard and other freaks, strippers, a dwarf and the Antichrist himself. The show revels in Lynchian macabre and even employs some Lynch favorites for its cast, most notably the little man from Twin Peaks. Carnivale mixes horror and grotesque with Christian theology, gnosticism and masonic cults such as the Templar Knights. At it’s heart Carnivale explores the ideas of free will and destiny in a battle between good and evil. Carnivale is like nothing else on TV. It’s too bad that HBO won’t give us a third season.

Dexter is the coolest show on TV that I have seen lately. Dexter’s premise is pure wickedness. The show’s protagonist, the eponymous Dexter is a serial killer! Yes, a psychopath who keeps a stash of microscope slides of all his victim’s blood. Dexter feels no human emotion and kills without remorse. He lives by a strict code that helps him fit in with human society. You would ask why watch this show when there is nothing endearing about Dexter, nothing you and I can empathize with or relate to? The answer is simple – it’s Dexter’s code. He has trained himself to only kill the people who deserve it. What a brilliant idea for a show! He works for the Miami Police as a blood splatter expert. Who would know more about blood than him? The show is surprisingly breezy with plenty of humor that is usually ironic or morbid. Dexter’s reflection on human society as an outsider looking in is usually profound and will occasionally bring a smirk to your face. Rarely has TV been so daringly bold or original.