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Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 108: Best TV of 2011, plus 'Homeland'

Dan and Alan offer their picks for the best shows of the year and discuss the 'Homeland' finale

By Alan Sepinwall Tuesday, Dec 20, 2011 3:43 PM

The

It's time for the Firewall & Iceberg Podcast to count down our favorite shows of 2011. You already know what my top picks were, but now I can discuss them with Dan, here where his choices and/or rankings differ from mine, and listen to Dan's absolute dismay as I express my disinterest in his favorite character on a show on his list. Plus, at the end we break down our thoughts on the "Homeland" season finale.

The line-up: 

TV's Best of 2011 (04:15 - 01:13:00)
"Homeland" finale (01:13:15 - 01:31:00)
 
As always, you can subscribe to The Firewall & Iceberg Podcast over at the iTunes Store, where you can also rate us and comment on us. Or you can always follow our RSS Feed, download the MP3 file or stream it on Dan's blog.
 
And as always, feel free to e-mail us at sepinwall@hitfix.com and/or dan@hitfix.com if you have questions you want answered on the show. Please put the word "podcast" in your subject line to make it easy to track them down amid the hundreds of random press releases we get every day.
Alan-sepinwall-sm
Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Related Searches: Firewall & Iceberg, Alan Sepinwall, Homeland, Friday Night Lights, Parks and Recreation, Breaking Bad, Louie, Downton Abbey, Community, Boardwalk Empire, Justified, The Vampire Diaries

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  • Default-avatar

    David

    The link provided in this post for Dan's blog leads to a "This page has disappeared or is lost." Any idiot can find Dan's blog of course, just thought I'd point it out in case that would be the same link in future posts.

    December 20, 2011 at 7:25PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Midnight_run_mca255950_talkback_profile

      sepinwall Thanks. Coding error has been fixed.

      December 20, 2011 at 7:28PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    aj0125

    Alan, did you ever get around to watching the finale of Dexter? I would be curious to see what you thought of the end of this train-wreck season and if you will be watching next season.

    December 20, 2011 at 7:56PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    isvida

    Alan, this comes from someone who has Breaking Bad, Homeland and Parks & Rec in his yearly top 3, take the time and go back to The Vampire Diaries. It is really worth your time and although i'm constantly justifying it to everybody else in my circle of friends, it is indeed a fantastic show. there, i said it.

    December 20, 2011 at 8:20PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Gina

    Alan can you please do an advance review of this weeks Chuck. I saw your Ryan McGee's tweets and would like to know what may or may not interest you in this weeks Chuck.

    December 20, 2011 at 10:45PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    tag8833

    Alan and Dan,
    On the Homeland finale; did you guys like Brody more or less after he decided to not go through with the suicide bombing?

    December 21, 2011 at 1:18AM EST Reply to Comment

    • Goddamnit. Really?

      December 21, 2011 at 9:10PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    TJ

    As Leslie Knope would say, "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."

    Hurray for one .5 second moment of TV encapsulating exactly why each of your #1 shows are so great.

    December 21, 2011 at 12:35PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Batfink_talkback_profile

    chuchundra

    I think you're being more than a little unfair to the people who didn't like the Boardwalk Empire finale. It's not that they got rid of a character that I (and a lot of people) liked the best, it's that that character's arc was the most interesting and compelling thing about season 2 and a season 3 without that character is going to be starting from a pretty deep hole.

    I'm going to watch season 3 for sure, but immediately after the credits for the finale started to roll, my wife said, "Well, I don't know that I'm interested in watching this show anymore".

    December 21, 2011 at 2:00PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      Mike But how exactly is that relevant to the quality of the finale itself as an episode? Obviously, there is a major chance that the show falls off a cliff in season 3 without Jimmy, who in just 2 seasons had already, to my mind, become an iconic television character, but I don't see how you can judge that episode based on it's potential to effect season 3 in a negative way.
      Sometimes the best episodes of television involve a beloved character dying that could potentially hurt people's interest going forward... like, I don't know, that Stringer Bell guy comes to mind. And yet, I'd argue that "Middle Ground" is the best episode of television in the history of the medium.
      I'm not disagreeing that this could hurt Boardwalk in the long term, but I think it's more prudent to cross that bridge when we get to it, and judge the episode and the season on the basis of itself, not what it could mean going forward.

      December 21, 2011 at 4:18PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      kronicfatigue That's interesting, b/c there was recently a season finale that I absolutely hated, that tainted my opinion on the entire season, and probably the show, and one of the bigger defenses was "it had to go in this direction, or else there wouldn't be a season two". That wasn't the only defense, but that was a big one. And that just killed me. I may be naive, but I want shows to tell the best story that they can, and if it takes them to a place where there's no more story to tell, so be it. End the show after one season, if need be.

      Personally, I think it's a self fulfilling prophecy. "We need X to happen, or else there can't be a season Y+1". Except, if X doesn't happen, you can still have a show, just an entirely different one than Y. Is that such a bad thing? Season two of the wire took place on the docks, and it was my second favorite season!

      December 24, 2011 at 9:58AM EST
  • Default-avatar

    Jill

    I am one of your readers in the minority who absolutely loved the season finale of "Homeland." There was so much more in character development and emotional connection in the story with the characters than plot if Brody were to blow him and the room of the vice president and other high ranking govt. officials up. I'm very excited to see where Carrie and Brody are next season, and what the stakes are, and when and how they'll interact with each other and the others on television.

    December 21, 2011 at 3:52PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Batfink_talkback_profile

    chuchundra

    Can I venture a question about Parks and Rec?

    I've never watched the show so I got the first season DVD out of the library. I got midway through the second episode and...I don't know...it's kinda painful to watch.

    It reminds me of The Office, which I also didn't enjoy. I don't like humor that comes primarily from feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable for the people in the show.

    But this is a show that everyone seems to love and I want to give it a fair shot. Should I try to plow through it because it gets much better later on?

    December 22, 2011 at 1:57AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      Martin It truly does get better. Season one really tries to be too much like The Office and fails. Season 2 is significantly better and Season 3 is near TV comedy perfection.

      December 22, 2011 at 2:11AM EST
    • Madmen_icon_talkback_profile

      LJA It VASTLY improves. Season two, Leslie Knope has been retooled and is no longer a female version of Michael Scott. Honestly, I think I'd just skip season one altogether and start with season two.

      December 22, 2011 at 2:59AM EST
    • Default-avatar

      TJ You definitely need to push through. Or even skip to Season 2 (or episode 6, which I remember being good).

      I was like you--I watched the first two episodes when they first aired and wasn't interested. I have a hard time with embarrassment humor sometimes. Around the time everyone was raving about season 3, I started watching Season 2 on Netflix. And wow--does it turn it around in a hurry.

      Not only does it get loads better, it completely changes.

      December 22, 2011 at 9:22AM EST
    • Andy_looking_up_talkback_profile

      andythesaint Season one of PARKS is best to be viewed as a three hour pilot, one that the series reworked to find what works. I always think people should watch shows from the beginning to end, except in this case, where I would never recommend anyone start by watching the first season. It is irrelevant.

      December 28, 2011 at 1:07PM EST

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