I've been assured by the good folks at CBS that I'll get a look at their edited version of Showtime's serial killer drama Dexter before it debuts at 10 p.m. Feb. 17 on CBS.

And I'm going to go out on a limb with a wild guess. The CBS editors will have bigger problems with language while getting a version of their explicit show ready for commercial television than any gore or nudity.

Fans of Dexter know that it can be brutal stuff; Six Feet Under alum Michael C. Hall shines as a serial killer who works for the Miami Police Department as a forensic technician, killing murderers who escape traditional justice in his free time. When CBS announced plans to air Dexter's first season on the broadcast network -- likely a reaction to the writer's strike, since CBS Corp. also owns Showtime -- some people assumed the show's sweaty love scenes or gory depictions of killing would be a problem.

But based on the work preparing explicit HBO shows such as Sex and the City and The Sopranos for he world of syndicated reruns, I'm thinking cutting down the cursing will be the hardest part. Especially on the Sopranos, watching mobsters substitute "freakin' " and "friggin" for the four-letter f-word has been painful -- if they clip similar dialogue on Dexter, his sister Deb and nemesis Sgt. Doakes will literally have nothing to say.

See what I mean in this clip here: