'Tis the season not to give yourself an ulcer over Homeland, guys. It is what it is, and Andy and I have repeatedly addressed this over the last month or so. We wanted to at least try to imbue this pod with something more joyous than “OMG CARRIE WTF!?” So with that in mind, and the holidays in our hearts, we decided to talk about a really great gift we’ve gotten this year from television: the British anthology series Black Mirror. Without giving much away about any one episode (for that, read Emily Yoshida’s recaps here), Andy and I celebrate this truly amazing show and talk about whether anything like it could be replicated here.

This led to a discussion on the state of television, how NBC’s gamble with the live Sound of Music paid off, and whether networks can get their swagger back with more inventive “big event” programming. Somewhere in there, we brought up Frances Ha. Obviously.

Then … well, then we talked about Homeland. It is what it is. Happy holidays.

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