Homeland (showtime)

[Morris Schæffer]

I wasn't sure about this show when I saw the trailer. At least not sure enough to commit to yet another new show, but glowing reviews are through the roof!

http://www.metacritic.com/tv/homelan...critic-reviews

I'm gonna give it a chance. I should too because it's from the producer of 24, Howard Gordon which translates to "up my alley." It starts tomorrow, after Dexter.

[[ETM]]

The pilot has been available online for weeks now, for free. I've been raving about it everywhere I go. It's superb.

[Morris Schæffer]

The pilot has been available online for weeks now, for free. I've been raving about it everywhere I go. It's superb.

I must have missed that

[[ETM]]

Yeah, on the 14th, in the TV Discussion thread: http://match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=...postcount=7815

Barty liked it too.

[Barty]

When me and ETM agree you know it's good.

[Winston*]

Liked the pilot, though Morena Baccarin as the mother of two teenagers stretches credibility a bit too much.

[[ETM]]

Baccarin is 32. She could have two teenagers if she got married at, say, 18. She can play 3-5 years older, which would make it okay. We still don't know how they met and got married.

[Mara]

Your praises convinced me to check it out. Very interesting. Sometimes it felt like it was getting a little too self-congratulatory, like it was already counting its Emmys, but for the most part felt pretty genuine. The cast is really solid, including Morena Baccarin, when I thought her acting was kind of weak in Firefly. Mandy Patinkin, whom I love, could not have looked any more like Steven Spielberg.

I'm really curious if they're willing to show an honest portrayal of a functional person with mental illness, or if they'll just use it for melodrama. Obviously, I'm hoping the former.

For whatever reason, the copy I watched was edited. I'm kind of glad, given what I saw of some of the images.

[Mara]

And I like the location they're using for filming. It's in North Carolina, but with some shots in DC. They're doing a good job of preserving the atmosphere of the area, and don't want it to look like it's coming from a studio backlot.

[Lucky]

Well, this show is on my radar now. If you guys continue having high praise for it I'll pick it up in-between seasons.

[[ETM]]

For whatever reason, the copy I watched was edited. I'm kind of glad, given what I saw of some of the images.

You saw the copy that was shown online by Showtime, heavily edited.

[Mara]

You saw the copy that was shown online by Showtime, heavily edited.

Did they cut out entire scenes, or just blank the bad words and blur the images? Because if it's the latter, I'm fine with that, but if it's the former I feel like I should track another one down.

[[ETM]]

It's the latter. Morena Baccarin has nice breasts.

[EyesWideOpen]

They did the same thing with the new episode of Dexter.

[Mara]

It's the latter. Morena Baccarin has nice breasts.

I'll live.

[Winston*]

Baccarin is 32. She could have two teenagers if she got married at, say, 18. She can play 3-5 years older, which would make it okay. We still don't know how they met and got married.

Sure age wise it works out. But a woman who has given birth twice and had to deal with the stress of her husband's disappearance in Iraq while raising two children alone would not look like Bacarrin does in this show.

I thought that sex scene was gratuitous.

[Winston*]

I wonder how this show is going to keep up the tension. I liked the pilot but ostensibly it doesn't seem like a premise that can sustain itself indefinitely.

[[ETM]]

I thought that sex scene was gratuitous.

I'll live.

[Irish]

But a woman who has given birth twice and had to deal with the stress of her husband's disappearance in Iraq while raising two children alone would not look like Bacarrin does in this show.

Welcome to Hollywood?

I thought that sex scene was gratuitous.

She was topless ... And you're complaining?

I agree with you about the long term viability of the premise. I'm expecting they're going for season long arcs, with Damian Lewis as the big bad. Something similar to 24, Dexter, etc. Lots of ways to play it. I can't imagine they'd settle for the same cat and mouse game season after season.

[Winston*]

She was topless ... And you're complaining?

You're so gaaay.

[Mara]

Welcome to Hollywood?

But in other ways it was trying hard to seem realistic. You can't have it both ways-- can't hit the really gritty, contemporary buttons if every character is impossibly young and pretty.

[Winston*]

Nice to see Damian Lewis in a decent role btw. Such a good actor.

[Irish]

But in other ways it was trying hard to seem realistic. You can't have it both ways-- can't hit the really gritty, contemporary buttons if every character is impossibly young and pretty.

Sure you can. Virtually every thriller and cop show does this. Singling out Homeland for it makes no sense if youve ever seen any othe US tv show. (There's some exceptions, but mostly you get actors that look like they just stepped out of a Marlboro ad and actresses would could easily double as runway models.)

Or do you think Ozark hillbillies look like Timothy Olyphant and FBI profilers look like the women on Criminal Minds?

We're talking about a show, after all, that opened with an early sequence on Claire Danes running arond Iraq doing her Damon/Greenzone best. Not quite what I'd call "realism."

[Mara]

Sure you can. Virtually every thriller and cop show does this.

And it's stupid.

Realism is a spectrum, and good shows can be found anywhere along it. Justified is not a very realistic show. (Raylan would be serving several life sentences by now, as well as being seventeen times dead if it were.) But it's a good show. Criminal Minds is not a realistic show, and also a piece of crap.

My issue with Homeland is that it is hitting several different points along the realism spectrum at the same time, and it needs to figure out where it belongs. Either it is a gritty, realistic look at a post-September-11th world, or it is a slick spy thriller. Any attempt to be both will just come off as ridiculous.

That first scene with Claire Danes is a good example of non-realism, as you pointed out. Her blonde hair being barely covered by a scarf as she speeds through enemy territory: ridiculous. But the torture/imprisonment flashbacks appear to be trying for a more gritty realism.

[Irish]

I think you my be reading it wrong. The show is Manchurian Candidate mixed with Three Days of the Condor. They're going for the same audience that's drawn to stuff like 24, Rubicon, and the BBC's Spooks, aka MI5. In other words, it's a detective show with action spy thriller elements.

The over the top violence is to one up network shows like CSI, NCIS, and Castle, which have rather benign premises while still showing a lot of blood and guts. I'm not sure if that really qualifies as gritty or real.

Your point on the spectrum is well taken. I mentioned those other shows because they are going for a certain amount of realism, one that's grounded in formula and a very specific tv universe.