"NIP/TUCK” ON FX is no longer the creepiest show on cable. “Dexter” on Showtime is way more creepy.

The series premieres at 10 Sunday night with Raleigh, N.C., native Michael C. Hall playing an avenging angel who looks as harmless as Winnie the Pooh, but when the urge to be judge, jury and executioner strikes, watch out! He turns into the Jack the Ripper of Miami. “I can kill a man, dismember his body and be home in time for Letterman,” Hall as Dexter says in one of the many conversations with himself you’ll hear as the 12-part series unfolds. It’s based on Jeff Lindsay’s novel, “Darkly Dreaming Dexter.” Dexter is a forensics specialist in blood spatter with the Miami Police Department – the perfect spot for a vigilante because he works near the courts and lockups through which the dregs of society pass.

 “In my position it’s easy to find those who think they’ve beaten the system. It’s not hard for me to rid the streets of another piece of trash,” Dexter says.

That trash includes a child molester who, in Dexter’s opinion, has served too little time in prison and a nurse who kills off her elderly patients when she decides it’s time for them to go.

Dexter stalks and ambushes his prey, renders them unconscious with an injection to the neck, lays them out on a table in a secret location and cuts them to pieces while they are still alive. Then he jokes about it.

“Today’s weather forecast for Miami is mutilated corpses with a chance of showers.”

How could you not be repelled by such a sadistic creature?

Easy. Dexter’s too nice to hate. Sweet guy. He’s frat-boy handsome, generous enough to buy doughnuts for the cops in the precinct, polite and with perfect manners, good with his girlfriend’s kids and he loves his sister, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), so much that he’s willing to kill to help advance her career as a homicide detective.

“I expect viewers to come away from the show with a sense of slashing binge by The Carver).

“I didn’t see me doing another television series until the script for ‘Dexter’ came along,” Hall said in Hollywood recently when “Dexter” was screened for the TV press.

“It was a challenge to create a person, a serial killer who, despite the terrible things that he does, remains above suspicion while working in a police environment.”

As if the producers didn’t think “Dexter” had enough chilling moments with serial killer Dexter Morgan prowling the colorful neighborhoods of South Beach, they added another jolt to the first three episodes. There’s a second serial killer who is murdering prostitutes and slicing up their bodies into neat little bundles without leaving a drop of blood.

That stymies and intrigues Dexter, the blood-spatter expert. “Blood is my life. … ”

Killer pursues killer.

Said producer Clyde Phillips: “We expect our show to generate a significant buzz. We expect it will be the next hot water-cooler show. We want people to say, ‘Did you see that “Dexter” show on Showtime last night?’”

“Dexter” has the buzz potential of “Nip/Tuck” and “The Sopranos.”