Daniels is the show's hero (and its best expression that contrary to Chad Kroeger, a hero will not save us), but not its "main character'. The show purposely doesn't have one, because it didn't want to grant the justifying power of POV to anyone. Even so, they had to give Bunk a sermon to explode the audience myth…

While the Wire did find some legitimate untapped talent, it mostly got great performances from flawed actors through perfect casting and brilliantly economical storytelling. Much as I loved Kima on the show, I'm afraid Sonja Sohn fell into the latter category.

I never claimed that it did. It mimics The Wire's rationale for making the cast an ensemble, although that of course wasn't invented by David Simon either.

I know I'm in the vast minority here, but I think BE is on the level of Mad Men. I find the latter's attempt at social criticism to be a detriment: clunky, distracting and essentially a pat on the back of its audience instead of a challenge. BE but merely shows the different values of a bygone era and makes some…

Well actually it does ape The Wire by not having an uber-powerful central figure like Tony, and demonstrating that even the most influential people are grappling with impersonal historical forces far beyond their control.

On the one hand, a show about F. Murray Abraham and Mandy Patinkin fighting over the soul of the CIA and foreign policy would be riveting and awesome. On the other hand, no one would watch it. I have to concede that Showtime, as much as it interferes creatively for short-term shitty business reasons, is kind of on…

The Wire was a great subversion of that trope as well, but in a different way.
I don't buy that the Shield was insufficiently committed to showing Vic's outright shittiness, even though I've heard the charge before. The adrenaline rush from his antics and the occasional application of his sociopathic tendencies…

The Israeli paratroopers haven't been deployed since the Suez Crisis in 1956. What else do they have to do all day besides craft preposterous spy thrillers?

Can't play your cards that early, brochambeau. Journalism 101.

Now that they've dropped all timidity with regard to the explosive racial subtext, why not Djimon Honsou as the leader of Al-Shabbab or the al-qaeda offshoot in Mali?

That subtext was handled far better on the Shield, IMO. It exploded the Dirty Harry rogue cop narrative just as easily as the torture glorification of 24.

This is the paradox of all tragic character arcs. The Sopranos handled it the best by having Tony die a slow spiritual death over the course of the show. Of course this was only accomplished by tying it to a larger narrative of the slow spiritual death of American society, something which Homeland doesn't seem…

The true mark of a great show is that it gets progressively better and is able to re-invent itself. Any blind squirrel can make a great season of Weeds before it goes to hell, but only the select few can take flawed but interesting first seasons and build them up into something great.

The fact that the toothless "satire" of SNL could poke such huge holes in the show speaks volumes to how obvious the flaws are.

Fair point, but I would argue that short-circuiting a great character can be a sign of a show that's ahead of the curve, rather than a show like Homeland that pathetically clings to dead wood like Brody. We shall see.

But the Republicans used tu quoque all the time back in the Bush years!!!

I think House of Cards has replaced Homeland as my choice for logically questionable, glossy, well-acted thrillers.

At least Lost realized that its nominal main character was less a flawed hero than an egomaniacal nutcase who didn't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Totally agreed. It's a show that at a fundamental level, wants to have its cake and eat it too. It pretends to question the national security state, but cements the fear that turrorists lurking in every corner. It wanted to tell a Valerie Plame like story about a dutiful agent getting betrayed by the…

Good point. This became the standard defense for Lost when it went off the rails.