My Homeland Addiction

At first my husband watched it and I did not. But he was so engrossed in it and I kept hearing about it in various places. And then I found the first episode on a cable channel one night and there was nothing else on so I watched it, just to see what all the hoopla was about. Then they had the second episode on right after and so, while I wasn't that enthralled, I kept watching.

They got me at the end of that second episode.

I texted my husband (who was out of town, so I blame him for leaving me to my own devices) and said "You're in trouble now. I'm going to start watching HOMELAND." He was so excited to have a viewing partner that he has gone back and watched the whole first season with me.

Ah, love in all its forms.

Here are the reasons I watch: 1) the show is filmed in my hometown, so it's fun to pick out locations I'm familiar with-- especially when they say they're other locations, which makes me smile.  2) it truly keeps you guessing. Is Brody bad or good? Every time you think you've got it figured out, they switch it up. As a storyteller I both appreciate and learn from that. 3) I love Claire Danes and have since MY SO-CALLED LIFE.

The language is just awful. F-bombs abound. There is nudity and sex. There is violence. The characters do despicable things to each other-- and to themselves. Sometimes I literally have to get up and leave the room. And also? Whenever I watch Claire Danes' love scenes (is it love?? I think not.) this woman comes out in me:

For those of you who have no idea, it's Bess Armstrong, the actress who played Angela Chase's (Claire Danes' character) mother in MY SO-CALLED LIFE. I want to jump up and say, "Young lady you should not be behaving like that! You are grounded!"

But turns out Clare Danes is now 34 years old and this just makes me want to cry.

Finally the other night we were watching and this image came on the screen and I hollered, "Pause it!" So we did and I took this picture and texted my friend and said, "Is this you?" and she texted back, "Caught me." And it was my Actual Friend On The TV. Which was really cool and goes back to reason number one why I watch the show. Because when it's filmed in your town, you just never know who might walk across the screen. I suggested to my friend that she should use whatever connection she has that got her on the show to get me on the show.

She never texted back.

I hear that people have run into Mandy Patinkin and Claire Danes around town and I'm not sure what I'd do if that ever happened to me.

Rest assured, you'd hear about it here.