It's not HBO— It's Showtime

HBO was the network that was going to transcend television—and it did. But if you canceled your HBO subscription after the "Sopranos' " annoyingly ambiguous conclusion, Esquire has a suggestion to full the gap in your premium cable lineup. Showtime has been pushing the envelope with shows like "Weeds"  and "Dexter."

The two shows take the concept of sympathetic anti-hero to its logical conclusion. Who needs villains when your leads are a widowed mother turned suburban pot-dealer and a neurotic serial killer?  "Weeds"  lays waste to traditional family values by pushing its characters deeper into vice and "Dexter" dares its viewers not only to enjoy its homicidal acts but to think that some people may actually deserve such a fate. (More Showtime stories.)