Jim Profit vs. Dexter Morgan (from 'Dexter') - Profit (1996) Discussion

[–] beeryusa 16 years ago

I have seen both shows (I stopped watching Dexter after the first season because I felt the show really had nowhere to go). In my opinion Dexter was far less effective than Profit, in that Dexter is really just a crime drama with a twist. Profit was far more effective because it was an iconoclastic show in many ways and couldn't be easily defined - which may have had something to do with Fox dumping it after only showing four episodes.

The other problem I found with Dexter is that I just didn't think the main character was very convincing. In my opinion the actor portraying him simply can't act the part anywhere near as well as Adrian Pasdar's Profit. Adrian Pasdar is chillingly effective as Profit and I think it would be hard to match the performances he gave in that show.

Needless to say, I think Jim Profit would kick Dexter's arse, and I can't see Jim Profit even breaking a sweat doing it.

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[–] ktfest 16 years ago

the most onesided response ever?

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[–] beeryusa 16 years ago

What, mine or yours? LOL.

This is, after all, a forum. There's no rule saying that opinions have to be evenhanded. To me, Profit is by far the better show, the character of Jim Profit is much more clever, charismatic and effective. When we're asked to compare Profit with Dexter, well there's just no contest - it's like comparing the songwriting skills of John Lennon and Michael Bolton. In my view anyone who prefers Bolton is just plain wrong. The same applies to Dexter. Anyone who prefers Dexter to Profit either hasn't seen Profit or they're just plain wrong.

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[–] ktfest 16 years ago

mate, Clearly the original poster is alluding to Season 2 of Dexter when Dexter himself is the individual the cops are after and thus as you choose to stop watching you are not even in a position to judge on the topic posed

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[–] beeryusa 16 years ago

Mate, the OP is talking about who would win in a fight between Dexter and Profit. The show's season has nothing to do with it. Also, the thread is directed at those of us who have seen BOTH shows - Dexter AND Profit (NOT both seasons of Dexter). I'm betting you've never seen Profit. If you had seen Profit you'd know that he'd wipe the floor with that pussy/poseur Dexter.

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[–] ktfest 16 years ago

1. Actually i have seen profit
2. Accusing me of not having seen Profit when you yourself havent seen all of Dexter??
3. Actually the Season is a particular issue, as comparing Season 1 of Dexter to Profit would be a stupid and pointless comparison as there is no comparison. We are talking about how they are similar in forcing situations to go in their favour, manipulating people etc, which only occurs in Season 2 when the investigation is surrounding Dexter himself, just like Profit is about Profit.
4. You assume i prefer Dexter, no where have i even stated my opinion.
5. So basically any of your arguments just end with "PROFIT IS TEH *beep* HAHAHA", good argument!

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[–] thomas998 11 years ago

That's funny... Comparing Lennon to Bolton... Frankly I would rather listen to Bolton sing than Lennon... Not a big fan of either one of their songs from a writing perspective.

The reality is that Profit would be trying to plan the perfect plan all the while Dexter would have simply jabbed him in the neck and wrapped him in plastic... Profit was clever but clever doesn't necessarily mean success when up against a serial killer.

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[–] Doom 11 years ago

Just wanted to chime in with another vote for Michael Bolton (and John Lennon - sorry, like 'em both)

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[–] silverr8c 16 years ago

I have seen both shows (I stopped watching Dexter after the first season because I felt the show really had nowhere to go). In my opinion Dexter was far less effective than Profit, in that Dexter is really just a crime drama with a twist. Profit was far more effective because it was an iconoclastic show in many ways and couldn't be easily defined - which may have had something to do with Fox dumping it after only showing four episodes.

The other problem I found with Dexter is that I just didn't think the main character was very convincing. In my opinion the actor portraying him simply can't act the part anywhere near as well as Adrian Pasdar's Profit. Adrian Pasdar is chillingly effective as Profit and I think it would be hard to match the performances he gave in that show.

Needless to say, I think Jim Profit would kick Dexter's arse, and I can't see Jim Profit even breaking a sweat doing it.

You were way off on that. I was waiting to see what would follow in Dedx season two. And the show exceeded my expectations. Dex is one of the best shows on TV and it leeps getting better. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on season two. I haven't started on Profit yet. I watched a few minutes then turned it off because I was worried that would leave a lot of story lines unfinished. Be I was told that won't be the case so I will watch it and program the DVR to record all episodes.

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[–] p_rinehart 16 years ago

So you stopped watching, so you have no idea what happened after that. Dexter takes its time to do character development, so I suggest you give it another chance. As for the comparison with Profit, I can see it, but I think Profit is far more evil.

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[–] MorbidKittyProductions 11 years ago

I'm in season 6 of Dexter and have watched the DVD's of Profit (so I've seen it recently and all of the episodes, AND rewatched them with the commentaries on).. and I have to tell you that honest, Dexter has come a LONG LONG way.. a lot has happened, and he's really come into his own. He's truly messed up - I don't want to give a way a lot, but seriously -- wow!
IMHO Dexter and Profit would probably try to beat each other at the game, and then Profit would probably say "But you and I are fighting for the same team. What do you say to a compromise and a possible teaming? I'll watch your back... and you watch mine." But of course, there'd be a catch. As soon as Dexter started to waver in his ability to cover his own tracks (which he slips up on in the show sooner or later even as I'm WATCHING CURRENTLY), Profit would have to have him put down like a sick dog.
In the end, I think Profit would premeditate and over think far ahead for ways the situation could go in multiple ways. He does mess up now and again, but he makes a very quick and smart recovery every time. Profit's slick. He'd probably take a lickin and keep on tickin', and then bite back with a vengeance. I have to say I'd hate to get in Profit's way... or Dexter's really.
but between those two, Profit would win. Dexter's had a crutch by season 5 or so --- he has a family, and a kid of his own he cares about.. much less his sister Deb. Profit has no one -- even his step mom he doesn't REALLY care about (even though the last episode they have on the disc shows that even he realizes that he only person who REALLY knows him is Bobbi his step mom but... does he REALLY care about her? MMmmm my guess is - NO)
The less you feel, the better.

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[–] vicky_lc2001-1 9 years ago

I've seen all of Dexter and I'm surprised the other posters think the show got better as it wore on. IMO, the first season was the best and it got progressively worst as it went on, similar to Heroes except the latter had a better first season.

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[–] rune2001 16 years ago

Jim Profit would frame Dexter Morgan pretty easy I think.
But if he does, he would only get axed in return...

They would make a perfect team though! :P

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[–] Bluenymph21 16 years ago

'They would make a perfect team though!'

HELL YESSS.

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[–] AZINDN 16 years ago

Jim Profit is a sociopath whose mission is never altruistic. Dexter is a serial killer who wants to be a good guy but can't overcome his penchant for murdering and picks the evil in society. Profit is the evil and has no excuses for wanting it all. I'd give Profit the upper hand. Dexter is like a gay man trying to convince himself that he's straight, whereas Profit is amoral and hiding his intention to harm just below the surface. Profit is the all-time calculating machine, no second thoughts, no qualms, no concern for anything but his ultimate goal. Go Profit! Dexter's sister would make the ultimate mark for Profit, that would be the best way to get rid of her.

-- If Ewan McGregor were a lollipop I'd be a diabetic strumpet --

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[–] NeronBurningRome 16 years ago

Those two guys are have more in common then you'd think. I mean - has Profit hurt anybody innocent? He manipulates all kinds of people, even those with clear conscious, but so is Dexter. They both manipulate and they both hurt only people who did something wrong.
I mean that Profit doesn't have to be an evil person. The viewer doesn't actualy know why Profit is acting this way, he never cleared this out.

My opinion about battle "Dex vs Profit": The winner is Profit. It's becouse Profit anticipates problems and have a ready solution before the problem occurs. When Dex just reacts when in trouble.

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[–] Dietcoke218 16 years ago

Excellent question! I really had to think about this. Dexter would spot Profit for who he really is but Profit would do the same with Dexter. Profit would then kill some bad guy in a very Dexter way, and then frame Dexter. Dexter, knowing who was behind it, would attempt to expose Profit for who he really is. In the end, they would find an agreed upon bad guy that needed to go down and frame the whole thing on him. They would let each other go, but they would be watching each other.

Am I a bad person for like both of these shows and characters so much? ;-)

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[–] Metamorphines 16 years ago

It would be Dexter, he's a hands on kind of guy while Profit may be cunning but he's only physcially accomplished at racketball. Sorry. After all, Dexter did smoke Doakes fairly easily and as Dexter said, his demon was dancing with Doakes devil demonstrates he's come up against a sociopath himself. Also Dexter pretty easily handled his brother an extremely potent and accomplished murdering sociopath. Dexter has all the physical experience, he'd win with ease.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] pynkpanther 16 years ago

dexter gets off on being on the edge of getting caught.
profit doesn't.
but i agree, they would make a great team.

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[–] kissedbythebunny 16 years ago

Profit would DESTROY Dexter in the first half hour. He'd be dancing circles around him, using his own family and secrets to tear him asunder.
Seriously Dexter has no chance whatsoever. To say that he'd win in a physical brawl is just plain ignorant. Why? Because it would NEVER come to that. Seriously it's like you think they're going to have a duel on some skyscraper somewhere. (COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC) FFS Dexter can't even handle his women, how in the hell is he going to have any chance against Profit.
The truth is, he wouldn't.

Dexter is seriously Outclassed here. As mentioned previously, this would be the most one-sided fight in history.

Profit Trumps Dexter Morgan Every single time.

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[–] Doom 16 years ago

Not sure I agree, as I love both shows, but I have to say I really enjoy your love and admiration for Jim Profit.

Too bad more people don't know about him.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] NeronBurningRome 16 years ago

If the lenght of the series indicates the quality of the show You should LOVE 'The Bold and the Beaty'. Profit had only 8 episodes becouse society wasn't prepared for such a brutal main hero. Of course now it's ease to make series with a serial killer as a main character - the MTV generation is more tollerant for these kind of deviations. But 20 years ago it was different: society was more conservative.

As a guy before me (TexasPsycho26) wrote:
1. "Profit was groundbraking". It was first attempt to make such a badass a hero of a TV series.
2. They made Dex sweet and loving like a f*uckin' Matt Damon. Society was more able to accept a hero which shows some 'human' weakness and is able to care about others.

Besides, as far as I'm concerned, Profit was emited very late and episodes were cut becouse of some kind of superbowl or other mass - cultural crap. Anyway the TV station, which was showing Profit totaly blew it up. These series had no chance to gain popularity.

Maybe Adrian Pasdar is not the best actor in the universe, but Michel C. Hall isn't Marlon Brando either. It's hard to find reliable criterions to rate an actors job. It's too subjective to argue about it.

Dexter is more complex? In which way? If You want to compare their psychotic minds here we go:
Dexter was trapped in a container full of blood with his dead mother around for couple days. Profit was living in a cartoon box full of sheet for all his childhood. Can you compare these traumas? Which one of those would you prefere?
From psychological point of view the lenght of bad stimulus has a critical significance for effect it conducts on a person. (Maybe that's why you think longer is better:). Dex had a very traumatic experience for couple days. Profit had a little less traumatic experience for many years. I think that Profit's trauma is "bigger, longer and uncut" compared to Dexter's.
We can see Dexter how he becomes a man, how he learns to have feelings. On the beginning he just pretends to have feelings, but in time he becomes more and more a 'normal' person. And Profit...is he trying to become a 'normal' person? No. Is he trying to find love and understanding? No. Has he ever shown any true emotion? Well...maybe once or twice. Has he got anyone close to him? No, and I don't think that we may count his step mom as a 'close' person.

So if You think that Dexter's character is more complex You may find affirmation in fact that Dex is ambivalent: I mean in a sense that he is able to love, to care for others and to kill. Profit seems more simple in a sense that he is not trying to balance between the good and the bad. He accepts his deviation and in a simple manner is trying to reach his target (whatever it is).

Besides we don't know many about Profit's character. He's more mystyrious. That is why in my opinion Profit is more complex. He didn't reveal his final goal even to the viewers. And the fact that Profit has some secret target, which he's trying to achieve makes him more complex. Dex has no target, he just runs after his need for killing. Profit has a strategy, Dexter has impulses.

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[–] Doom 16 years ago

As much as I like pretty much everything about Dexter (and I really, really do), I have no problem saying Profit is a FAR more 'brilliant' show in terms of writing, acting... the whole package really.

But it's like comparing an A+ to an A++ really...

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[–] Cloudburst2000 14 years ago

Profit has also shown he's a hands on guy when need be. Don't forget that he tied his father to a bed and set fire to him, and when he later learned this didn't kill him, he finished the job. Profit would have no qualms about killing Dexter if it came to that.

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[–] ronishorny 16 years ago

What makes Jim Profit more formidable is the fact that he goes toe-to-toe with people that are incredibly smart and almost as cunning as he is. Joanne and Sykes alone could outsmart anyone except Profit himself (because as he says...improvise!).

Dexter for the most part is surrounded by simpler people who are too involved with themselves and their own problems (except for Doakes). Almost everyone in Profit is extremely intelligent and runs their own game on him only to have it turned against them by Profit.

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[–] bamboopandacat 15 years ago

Well, Jim Profit wouldn't even know Dexter was on his trail.

One day Jim Profit wakes up in some garage and a mysterious guy with a mask on is hacking off his limbs!

Then Dexter laughs every time a Jim Profit story is brought to light.

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[–] bapman_2099 15 years ago

Profit is a buisiness man like the guy in American Psycho who is cruel ofcourse but cannot detect a person whom he's not paying attention to and DEXTER wouldn't be a guy he'd pay attention to or infact even know is trailing him.

DEXTER, oh the other hand, specialises in KILLING... been bred for KILLING since he was a kid by a cop no less. Knows all the different methods of evading and oh ya... KILLING!!!
Seeing a trend here !?

Lastly, Jim Profit is dead... his show is gone... and there are no books about him.
Dexter is still going strong... sooo Dexter is already a winner.
Oh ya... DEXTER HUNTS guys like Jim Profit... seeing any pattern here !?

It's the whole Crocodile and Buffalo question here... A buffalo can kill you but a Crocodile specialises in chomping down the buffalo.

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[–] chrisofblair 15 years ago

Yeah, I like both shows but I'd have to say if they had an encounter I believe Dexter would end up killing Profit. He'd walk into his house and catch a needle to the neck and we know where it goes from there plastic, saran wrap, duct tape, and a scalpel to the cheek after Dexter wakes him....
and on to the water we go. Nothing like fresh hair gel on a severed head.
Profit manipulates people he thinks he can gain from. He's going to see Dexter's nice guy persona, a blood spatter analyst at that, as no one he can get gain from. If anything Profit may try to manipulate Deb for some police matter but I can't imagine anything past that. Even if Profit sees through Dexter's facade he would have no reason to think he was a pyschopath, he may recognize him as a fellow sociopath but that's probably it.

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[–] Doom 15 years ago

HERE'S a question for you.

As far as Dexter killing Profit goes... would Profit fit Dexter's "code"?

I say no.

Anyone else?

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[–] bapman_2099 15 years ago

Actually PROFIT would fit into DEXTER's code.

Remember Profit does resort to killing to get his way.

Infact... season 3 of DEXTER just answered that question... Miguel was pretty 'Profit' type guy.
DEXTER pretty much 'owned' him.

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[–] Doom 15 years ago

How do you figure?

And I'm really asking. Who did Profit actually 'kill', other than his father? I'm a little foggy trying to remember the 8 eps. Did he actually kill someone else?

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[–] mickeykost 15 years ago

Well, if you believe the producers, Joanne would have been killed off at the beginning of season 2, and someone from the IRA would have called Jim Profit, so Profit orchestrated her death.

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[–] Doom 15 years ago

Ahhhhhh, that's true. Forgot about that. I still need to check out that commentary.

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[–] Mystt 15 years ago

At first, I was going to say "No" that Profit wouldn't have fit Dexter's code but he did arrange for people to die. He just wasn't the hands on type.

Here is the "Gracen & Gracen" homepage with "press releases" summing up what would have happened next according to the original writers:
http://www.gracenandgracen.com/GGPress_Releases.html

I tend to think that they probably would have been little more than a distant blip on each others radar, as long as Dexter didn't interfere with the Gracen's or their family in any way. Jim was fixated on helping them and becoming part of their family and company.

If they had tangled, I believe Profit would have won out. I am a big Dexter fan, but Profit is far more manipulative, calculating and worldly. They would have made a terrific team though in a brainy manipulative sociopath & murdering psychopath kind of way.

I just finished running through the Profit series again. What an absolutely wonderful and somewhat disturbing show.

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[–] Doom 15 years ago

I agree - one of the greatest shows I've ever seen.

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[–] orac2 15 years ago

Hi All,

As the owner of Gracenandgracen.com, I recently spent many hours going through all the Profit DVD commentaries again and have recently updated the G&G "Press Releases" at www.gracenandgracen.com in regards to what was going to happen in Profit season 2. This might help clarify whether Profit would meet Dexter's "code".

Would Profit meet Dexter's code? Perhaps, but I think the trick for Dexter would be PROVING it. Yes there are quite a few people dropping dead in and around the G&G acquisitions division but could Dexter link these CONCLUSIVELY to Profit and act on it? Sounds like a great idea for a short story...have to think about writing something like that and maybe posting it up at www.gracenandgracen.com...

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] jazzzy-1 15 years ago

I wanted to watch Dexter but after seeing a few episodes I gave up.
Seeing Profit takes you to a higher league so Dexter is somehow lame.
I undertand, if you don't know Jim then Dexter might appear like a great show but in fact Dexter is smarter than his colleagues but can be owned by Profit without a doubt. What is more I bet Mr.Chapel would own him as much.

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[–] Bree_33 14 years ago

"Stephen J. Cannell reportedly was "shopping" a revival of Profit around July 1996, and said that the cable network Showtime had "shown some interest". A Showtime original series with some similarity to Profit called Dexter premiered 10 years later in 2006; since then Dexter has received numerous awards and widespread critical acclaim. Lisa Darr, who portrayed Jim Profit's assistant Gail Koner, had a small role as a defense attorney in the Dexter season 4 premiere episode called Living the Dream. In the episode she is cross-examining Dexter Morgan and completely destroys Dexter's credibility on the stand; this could be construed as a slight nod to Profit as Gail Koner was constantly manipulated by psychopath Jim Profit and in this episode she takes "revenge" on another psychopath (Dexter) by destroying his credibility."

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