By Drew Grant 1/15 8:00pm

As Seen On TV

From clockwise left: Damian Lewis in Homeland, Steve Buscemi in Boardwalk Empire, Andrew Lincoln in The Walking Dead, Jon Hamm in Mad Men, and Bryan Cranston on Breaking Bad. (Ed Johnson)

Bad Men: TV’s Most Reprehensible Antiheroes and the Women Who Love Them

On Sunday night, as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were making history as the first two women to successfully elbow out a male host for the Golden Globes, audiences took in an unprecedented display of girl power. With Lena Dunham winning for Best Actress in a Comedy, Girls taking Best Comedy, and Julianne Moore winning for Game Change, we trumpeted a new era … one in which women could not only captivate an audience but do so with an unlikable protagonist. (Hannah Horvath is no Tony Soprano, but she can be plenty unappealing at times.)

Many of the night’s other nominees, including the stars of Veep and Nashville, fit into the same category, as did the un-nominated (but still there in spirit) Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie, Laura Linney in The Big C and Laura Dern in the criminally under-watched Enlightened, which premiered its second season this week. This last is perhaps the best example of these hard-to-watch heroines, with Ms. Dern playing the most delusional, self-righteous and self-martyring female antihero ever to traipse through premium cable.

It was a great night for rude, crude, progressive women. Unfortunately, it was an even better night for Bad Men. Read More

By Drew Grant and Noam Cohen 12/17/12 12:22pm

Homeland

Is THIS a metaphor?? (Showtime)

Five Essay Prompts for Homeland: Season 2 Finale, ‘The Choice’

These questions regard the second season finale of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. Whoa, that was pretty heavy? Did you see that coming? BE HONEST. Read More

By Drew Grant and Noam Cohen 12/11/12 8:46am

Homeland

"Posing like you are in a men's catalog is a sign of strength."--David Estes (Showtime)

Five Essay Prompts for Homeland 2×11: ‘The Mother…With the Turban’

These questions regard last night’s episode of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. In last week’s episode, Dar Adal expressed nostalgia for the Cold War, when it was obvious who the enemy was. Conventional wisdom has it that militarized societies will turn on each other in the absence of a clear antagonist. And yet it is only now, when Nazir is right before them, evident and nearly in their grasp, that the CIA is really attacking itself, from Carrie tackling Galvez to Estes discrediting Saul “The Bear” Berenson. What does this self-hatred express and why is it all coming out now? Read More

By Noam Cohen and Drew Grant 11/26/12 8:47am

Homeland

Brody finds a payphone! (Showtime)

Five Essay Prompts for Homeland 2×9: ‘Two Hats’

These questions regard last night’s episode of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.
1. The only personal item in Quinn’s bare-bones apartment is a copy of Great Expectations in which he keeps a picture of his newborn son, John Jr. There is a character named John in Great Expectations: Mr. Wemmick, the man with “a post-office of a mouth” who serves as the go-between for Pip and his lawyer, Jaggers. How may Quinn be comparing himself (John Sr.) to Wemmick here? What other similarities might he see between his current situation and the plot of the Dickens novel? Read More

By Noam Cohen and Drew Grant 11/20/12 2:34pm

Homeland

Brody's like a bird, he wants to fly away (Showtime)

Five Essay Prompts for Homeland 2×8: ‘I’ll Fly Away’

These questions regard last night’s episode of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. The episode’s title refers to Carrie’s metaphorical desire to fly off with Brody, Dana’s emotional flight from Brody, and Roya physically flying off … with Brody. It’s also what I thought that Nelly Furtado’s song “I’m Like a Bird” was called for a really, really long time. Using “I’m Like a Bird,” Lenny Kravitz’s “Fly Away,” and that Christian spiritual “I’ll Fly Away” sung by Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss on the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack for reference, pick out one line from each lyric to apply to Carrie, Dana, and Abu Nazir, respectively. Read More

By Noam Cohen and Drew Grant 11/11/12 11:17pm

Homeland

"Hi, I'm Carrie." (Showtime)

Five Essay Prompts for Homeland 2×7: ‘The Clearing’

These questions regard last night’s episode of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. Even for a show about espionage, this episode was unusually concerned with the seen and the hidden (Quinn disrobing in front of Carrie; Aileen asking for a window, talking about the light, needing reading glasses; Brody hiding his scars from eager watchers). What did this episode allow us to see/understand that was previously hidden? Read More

By Drew Grant and Noam Cohen 11/06/12 6:44am

Homeland

homelandworstthing_

Five Essay Prompts About Homeland 2×6: ‘A Gettysburg Address’

These questions regard the second season premiere of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. Imagine Coleridge and Wordsworth were reanimated to watch an episode of Homeland. For the sake of argument, let’s say that they also have the same amount of knowledge about the modern world and its government infrastructures (not to mention cars, light bulbs, etc.) as you do.  Walk the two men who came up with the term “Suspension of Disbelief” through last night’s episode, and explain to them how we’ve bastardized their literary idea to apply to almost every scenario in the show. Be specific. Read More