BY ROB LOWMAN >STAFF WRITER

House vs. Dexter>

What a perfectly delectable (or hideous) situation - being locked in a room with Dr. Gregory House or Dexter Morgan.

One is the misanthropic, pill-popping medical genius at a prestigious hospital; the other is a serial killer who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood-spatter analyst.

Both have their bad points. House is manipulative, vindictive and treats everyone like crap. Dexter, well, he kills and tortures people.

Both have their good points: House brilliantly solves medical problems that save people's lives. Dexter channels his aggression and predilections for slicing and dicing into taking out the garbage (killing bad guys).

Both are among the most fascinating characters created for television, and both are played brilliantly - Hugh Laurie as House and Michael C. Hall as Dexter.

And season four of Fox's "House" and season two of "Dexter" offer some truly memorable episodes.

Last season, the writers on "House" tried to shake things up. At the end of season three, the good doctor fired two of his longtime assistants while the other quit. This allowed House to torture (mentally, not like Dexter does) a slew of new doctors of all shapes, sizes and ages as they vied for the chance to work with him.

At first, it seemed gimmicky, albeit fun, but as the season progressed, more and more of House's complex personality seeps through. The medical mysteries of the plot are always secondary to the mystery of House's complex personality. Solving the puzzle (a patient is too nice; a magician can't be totally explained as a scam artist) addresses questions of faith and human nature. While entertainingly done, "House" is interesting because - unlike "CSI" types - it isn't the medical equivalent of Col. Mustard in the drawing room with the candlestick. In House, a man who is addicted as much to pain as he is to painkillers, there is a lot of love-hate, something familiar to most of us.

Dexter, on the other hand, is a guy most people like, the last guy in the world who'd do anything like that! His gruesome handiwork, however, has the police searching for a serial killer dubbed "The Butcher." Still, Dex is such a nice guy that when people in season two, including his girlfriend (Julie Benz), get suspicious about his behavior, they think he must be on drugs. To allay their worries and explain things, Dexter goes into a rehab program, where he meets a new woman, Lila (Jaime Murray), a pyromaniac and nearly as depraved.

If you've only seen the CBS version of "Dexter" rather than the original Showtime episodes, you're missing something.

House and Dexter are kind of like Alien and Predator but they are a lot smarter (get better lines) and are more fun to watch.

"House" returns Sept. 16. The season-four DVD includes an inside look at "House's Head" (that refers to the one of the wilder episodes) and commentary by creator David Shore. The "Dexter" set includes an interview with Hall. Season three begins Sept. 28 on Showtime.

Street Kings>

Good noirish mysteries, - whether the writings of Raymond Chandler or a film like "L.A. Confidential" - work because of subtle connections. Oh, they can be filled with action and gunplay, but it's the small things that create the memorable moments and characters.

"Street Kings," based on a short story by James Ellroy, has fire and firepower, but tries to shortcut its way to its violent end. Keanu Reeves is Detective Tom Ludlow, a bulldog of a man used as an enforcer by Capt. Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker). Tom will do whatever it takes - even if it's less than legal - to get the bad guys off the street, and in the process make Jack and his crew look good.

Like "L.A. Confidential," which was based on an Ellroy novel, "Street Kings" is about LAPD corruption, just set some 50 years apart. And Tom bears striking similarities to Russell Crowe's Bud White in "LAC" - a loner prone to violence, blind to what is going on around him but with a sense of righteousness.

If director David Ayer had taken time to develop his characters like Curtis Hanson did in the 1997 film, "Street Kings" might have been really good. Actually, Ayer's actors "get" who they are playing a lot better than the director, who is more comfortable and better at delivering the wham-bam effects and action scenes.

Reeves' natural stiffness and uneasiness work well for him as Tom, who escapes his pain by inflicting it. But Ayer drops plot points in when convenient - Tom mourns a dead wife, a girlfriend pops up, then disappears, then pops up, etc. Still, there is pathos in Reeves' Tom. And solid performances from Whitaker and Hugh Laurie, as internal affairs cops, also make you overlook the fact that you know where you're heading for most of the film.

Also out>

There are probably few fans who will be looking forward to both the first seasons of "Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and "Gossip Girl," but for what they are (and you know what they are) both shows offer their own pleasures. "Terminator" returns to the air Sept. 8, "Gossip Girl" on Sept. 1.

"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" - a slight comedy set in pre-wartime England of the late 1930s - has its pleasures, too, mostly the presence of Amy Adams and Francis McDormand. As a prim "governess of last resort," McDormand's Miss Pettigrew finds herself the social secretary to a flighty American cabaret singer named Delysia Lafosse (Adams). The pairing transforms them both, and Adams and especially McDormand make the most of the lightweight script.

And you can't overlook those Disney musical franchise heavyweights the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. Both have new releases - "Camp Rock: Extended Rock Star Edition" from the bros and "Best of Both Worlds Concert: The 3-D Movie" from Hannah Montana's alter-ego.

Rob Lowman (818) 713-3687 robert.lowman@dailynews.com

out tuesday>

NEW FILMS

"Street Kings" $29.98/ $34.98 for two-disc set/ $39.98 Blu-Ray

"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" $29.98

"The Life Before Her Eyes" $26.98/ $34.98 Blu-ray

"Deal" $27.98

"The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior" $29.98/ $39.98 Blu-ray

"Prom Night" $28.96/ $38.96 Blu-Ray

"Constantine's Sword" $24.95

"The Wizard of Gore" $19.97

TELEVISION

"House, M.D. - Season Four" $59.98

"Dexter - The Complete Second Season" $39.98

"Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season" $29.98/ $39.99 for Blu-ray

"Gossip Girl - The Complete First Season" $59.98

"Perry Mason: Season 3, Vol. 1" $49.99

"Married ... with Children: The Complete Ninth Season" $39.95

"Recount" $19.98

"Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Collection 3" $24.98

"Chasing Churchill" $24.99

"An American Crime" $24.98

"The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd" $14.98

"Affinity" $29.98

"Dana Carvey: Squatting Monkeys Tell No Lies" $19.98

"John Oliver: Terrifying Times" $19.99

DISNEY MUSICAL POWERHOUSES

"Camp Rock: Extended Rock Star Edition" $29.99/ $34.99 Blu-ray

"Best of Both Worlds Concert: The 3-D Movie" $29.99/ $34.99 Blu-ray

OLDER FILMS

"Disney / Pixar Ultimate 8-Movie Collection" $239.92

"Twenty-Four Eyes - Criterion Collection" $29.95

"The Small Back Room" $39.95

"Nixon" $29.99/ $34.99 Blu-ray

"Don Quixote" $24.98

SPORTS

"Wimbledon - The 2008 Finals: Nadal vs. Federer" $24.99

MUSIC

"Legendary Performances - Tammy Wynette" $14.98

"Legendary Performances - Marty Robbins" $14.98

ANIMATED/ANIME

"Bleach Uncut Season 2 Box Set" $69.98

"Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, Vol. 1" $39.98

"Transformers Animated: Season One" $26.98

"Justice League: Season One" $59.98 Blu-ray

-Rob Lowman