Country of origin United States Original network Showtime | No. of episodes 12 | |
Starring Claire Danes
Damian Lewis
Morena Baccarin
David Harewood
Diego Klattenhoff
Jackson Pace
Morgan Saylor
Mandy Patinkin Original release October 12 (2011-10-12) – December 18, 2011 (2011-12-18) | ||
The first season of the American television drama series Homeland premiered on October 2, 2011 on Showtime and concluded on December 18, 2011, consisting of 12 episodes. The series is loosely based on the Israeli television series Hatufim (English: Prisoners of War) created by Gideon Raff and is developed for American television by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. The first season follows Carrie Mathison, a CIA operations officer who has come to believe that Nicholas Brody, a U.S. Marine Sergeant, who was held captive by al-Qaeda as a prisoner of war, was turned by the enemy and now poses a significant risk to national security.
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The season received universal acclaim, scoring a Metacritic rating of 91 out of 100 from 28 critics. TV Guide named it the best TV show of 2011 and highly applauded the performances by Damian Lewis and Claire Danes. Metacritic determined Homeland to be the second best TV show of 2011 according to major TV critics, by aggregating the critics' year-end top ten lists. The series won both the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series for this season.
The original broadcast of the pilot episode on October 2, 2011 received 1.08 million viewers, becoming Showtime's highest-rated drama premiere in eight years. The episode received a total of 2.78 million viewers with additional broadcasts and on demand views. The finale episode of season one received 1.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched season finale of any first-year Showtime series. The series also performed well in the UK, where it aired on Channel 4, with the pilot episode drawing 3.10 million viewers, and the finale drawing 4.01 million viewers.
Main cast
Reception
The first season received universal acclaim, scoring a Metacritic rating of 91 out of 100 from 28 critics. TV Guide named it the best TV show of 2011 and highly applauded the performances by Damian Lewis and Claire Danes. Metacritic determined Homeland to be the second-best TV show of 2011 according to major TV critics, by aggregating the critics' year-end top-ten lists.
Hank Stuever of The Washington Post gave the pilot episode an A−, saying "What makes Homeland rise above other post-9/11 dramas is Danes' stellar performance as Carrie—easily this season's strongest female character," and that "The latter half of the first episode is exhilarating. I'm hooked." Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe said it was his favorite drama pilot of the season, giving it an A. Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker gave it an A−, stating "It's the fall season's most intriguing, tense puzzler." IGN TV gave it a positive review, saying that it was an "ace thriller" that also managed to have something to say about the "War on Terror". The seventh episode, "The Weekend", received overwhelming critical acclaim and was described by both the creators of the show and Damian Lewis as a "watershed" episode.
U.S. President Barack Obama has praised the show.
Home media release
Homeland: The Complete First Season was released as a widescreen region 1 four-disc DVD and three-disc Blu-ray box set in the United States and Canada on August 28, 2012. In addition to all 12 episodes that had aired, it includes audio commentary on the pilot episode, deleted scenes, "Homeland Season One: Under Surveillance" featurette, and "Week Ten: A Prologue to Season 2" featurette. The same set was also released on September 10, 2012 in region 2.
The season is also available for streaming online via Hulu, as of August 1, 2016.