The third track on one of my favorite rock records of the last decade, Okkervil River’s The Stage Names, is called “A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene.” Without context, its lyric is a bit of a tough nut to crack. Will Sheff sings about events unfolding on a TV screen in the first verse, recaps …
19. Veep Viewers had high expectations for this comedy from the mind of Armando Iannucci, creator of The Thick of It, and set in the dysfunctional offices of the Vice President of the United States and, happily, Veep delivered. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was fantastic as the VP, Selina Meyer, bringing out different elements in Iannucci’s comedy …
When it came to devising a list of what I felt were the top ten Television shows of 2012 I contemplated sticking with the theme of “Hey You Geeks!!” and centering the list solely on the best sci-fi and nerd related shows on TV. I generally group “Geek TV” into a segment of shows exclusively …
Homeland is reported to be President Obama’s favorite TV show. (His First Lady’s is said to be Downton Abbey, but more on that later.) And Mr President must have been on the edge of his seat, gripping the arms of his White House chair, while watching series 2, episode 5, ‘Q&A’. There is a moment …
Homeland is principally discussed and appreciated as a politically-inclined thriller, an action-oriented series that manages to feel vguely relevant despite its obviously heightened nature. The show also often draws praise for its unflinching depiction of mental illness, in the many scenes we’ve gotten with Carrie struggling to keep her head in the game for the sake of national security. As Season 2 rolls along towards its endgame, however, there’s something a little different at work.
Homeland, Season 2, Episodes 6 and 7: “A Gettysburg Address” Written by Chip Johannessen Directed by Guy Ferland “The Clearing” Written by Meredith Stiehm Directed by John Dahl Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime When it comes to becoming invested in serialized television, faith is a major factor. Showrunners need to build up a …
Season 3, Episode 4: “New Car Smell” Written by Meredith Stiem Directed by Jeremy Podeswa Season 3, Episode 5: “Q&A” Written by Henry Bromell Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime. Yep, Homeland pulled a Homeland again. The final moments of “New Car Smell” once again offer a scene that …
Homeland, Season 2, Episode 3: “State of Independence” Written by Alexander Cary Directed by Lodge Kerrigan Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtme After reminding us of its trademark breakneck pacing last week, Homeland throws us yet another curveball, by giving us the show’s version of a transitional episode. Were it as purposefully single-minded about …
Homeland, Season 2, Episode 2: “Beirut is Back” Written by Chip Johannessen Directed by Michael Cuesta Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime Well, it would appear that the greatest issue with Season Two’s credibility is about to be eliminated. In the “holy shit”-worthy final moments of “Beirut is Back,” Saul Berenson witnesses the videotaped …
Homeland, Season 2, Episode 1: “The Smile” Written by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon Directed by Michael Cuesta Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime It’s US election season. Fears of terrorism, domestic and foreign, are being stoked by candidates from both parties. The release of anti-Islamic videos uploaded to YouTube from the States have …
The 64th annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held on September 23rd in Los Angeles to honour the best of primetime television shows, movies, and miniseries that aired over the last year. With first-time host Jimmy Kimmel, many were interested to see how their favourite shows, actors, and actresses would fare in the most prestigious awards …
For the first time ever, we polled the entire SOS staff on their favorite TV of the last 12 months. We knew that, given the fact that our contributors are (principally) spread out across Canada, the US, and Britain, that the results might well be a mixed bag. What we didn’t necessarily expect was the …
Homeland, Season 1, Episode 12: “Marine One” Written by Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon and Chip Johannessen Directed by Michael Cuesta Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime There are only two questions left over after the first season finale of Homeland. “Who is the mole?” and, “How can they hope to deliver a second season …
Homeland, Season 1, Episode 11: “The Vest” Written by Meredith Stiehm & Chip Johannessen Directed by Clark Johnson Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime One thing about Homeland that should have been clear by now is that you have to expect the unexpected. This was supposed to be an explosive episode leading into an …
Homeland, Season 1, Episode 10: “Representative Body” Written by Henry Bromell Directed by Guy Ferland Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime That point in the first season of Homeland has come in which not much is actually advancing, but all the pieces are being put into place for something big to go down. That’s …
Homeland, Season 1, Episode 9: “Crossfire” Written by Alexander Cary Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime This was a week where Homeland saw fit to move the pieces of the plot forward in a big way, but much like another great TV show, Lost, the writers decided to push things …
Homeland, Season 1, Episode 8: “Achilles Heel” Written by Chip Johannessen Directed by Tucker Gates Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime Homeland has dabbled in thematically structured episodes already, but “Achilles Heel” took that to another level and by doing so brought to mind a lot of what made the best episodes of the …
Homeland, Season 1, Episode 7: “The Weekend” Written by Meredith Stiehm Directed by Michael Cuesta Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime Most good drama involves characters keeping secrets and telling lies. It’s practically necessary for good storytelling. If every character were open and honest with every other character there would hardly be any meaningful …
Homeland, Season 1, Episode 6: “The Good Soldier” Written by Henry Bromell Directed by Brad Turner Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime It had to happen eventually. Homeland has not been a perfect show, not really. As good as it is there have always been tiny little things that have threatened to derail the …
Homeland, Season 1, Episode 5: “Blind Spot” Written by Alexander Cary Directed by Clark Johnson Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime Five episodes in and Homeland continues to surprise. It should be expected at this point, but somehow Homeland doesn’t feel like it should work. It’s like a weird blip in the annals of …
Homeland Season 1, Episode 4: “Semper I” Written by Howard Gordon & Alex Gansa Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on Showtime Though it may not look this way on the surface, Homeland is quite an ambitious series. What the show does is play within the tropes of the typical conspiracy thriller …
Homeland Review, Season 1, Episode 3: “Clean Skin” Written by Chip Johannessen Directed by Dan Attias Airs Sundays at 10pm (ET) on Showtime With the third episode of its first season, Homeland has clearly found a groove. While the terrorist conspiracy plot is obviously the main driving force of the narrative, what makes the show …
Homeland Review, Season 1, Episode 2: “Grace” Written by Alex Gansa and Alexander Cary Directed by Michael Cuesta Airs Sundays at 10pm (ET) on Showtime Episode 2 of Homeland, entitled “Grace”, picks up where the pilot left off, and gives us more of the same. That’s a very good thing. Better still, this second episode …