which did you prefer?

Homeland

Homeland was always hit or miss, at its best it is great. At its worst it is borderline bad. Whole half seasons or more would be bad, and then redeemed by a few good episodes.
Americans was consistently good.

2 very different feels though, Americans was subtle, slow, building and family was central to the theme...homeland is more about the constant drumbeat of crisis and conflict.

Give me the Americans easily.

Americans was solid every episode, through all seasons. Is capped off with a great finale.

Homeland had a great first and second seasons but trailed off pretty quickly from there. Gave up on the show because the story stagnated. Haven't watched the last two seasons. Probably will someday but not that interested.

I think the Americans gets a pass in too many areas, but it was better than Homeland.

Homeland has a much higher ceiling but a lower floor.

Like them both, edge to Homeland.

homeland season 1 and 2 were fantastic, season 3 sucked, but 4 was amazing. 5 was good and 6 was meh.

Harry Stone said:

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homeland season 1 and 2 were fantastic, season 3 sucked, but 4 was amazing. 5 was good and 6 was meh.

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that storming of the embassy might be the most intense hour of televison ive ever seen. plus the hate that the paki chick incited

Seasons 1 and 2 amd Homeland are better than anything the Americans has ever done. Homeland is the better show by a fairly wide margin. But the episodes focusing around Carrie's "bipolar depression" are borderline ridiculous. It's like the writers or directors or whatever just picked an illness name out of a hat to give her mental illness. Completely out of touch with reality.

Homeland burned VERY brightly and then fizzled out. Americans simmered the whole entire time (I mean that as a compliment.)

I love both. Homeland has lower lows for sure. I'd probably give the edge to the Americans but Homeland has had amazing moments that I'm not sure the Americans ever reached.

My input....
1) Homeland Season 1 and 2
2) Americans (entire series)
3) Homeland Season 3-current

That being said...
You need to check out both.
And there are a few moments in Americans where your mind starts to wander in season 2 I think, but keep at it. This is a top 5 (probably 3) series finale for me.

The Americans. And it's not even close.

Homeland was great for a season or two, then it rehashed the same storylines with little to no character development. It was mindless action wrapped up in a story that made it seem more intelligent than it was.

The first two seasons of Homeland are incredible, but The Americans is an all time great show IMO.

The Americans is a more complete show but never reaches the height of the first two seasons of Homeland. Every season of the Americans is better than any season of Homeland after season 2. I would watch The Americans first because every season is good. Season 1 is probably the slowest (still good), but every season after that is great. Watch Homeland after and quit if you get bored after the first two seasons.

Homeland for binging. The Americans if you want to take your time with a show. The Americans is more like Mad Men, where it benefits from giving each episode time to breath, and can be a bit depressing to pack too many episodes in at a time. Homeland is like any streaming show, there are a lot of frustrating plots or filler episodes, but if you are binging through it, then it still holds your attention well.

For me it's the Americans by a wide margin. The first season of Homeland was really engaging and kept the tension level high but once that main story was resolved at the end of season 1 it felt totally ridiculous that some of the characters were still around. The idea that someone with that level of mental illness would be allowed to continue having access to classified material is outrageous as well.

As for the Americans, other than the where's Henry unintentional comedy (he's in the bathroom) and the dumb storyline with the daughter the show is epic. I think it's made even better by the fact that the two leads actually end up getting married in real life, so some of the acting you see probably involves some real emotion. Stan is also an all time winner for me because he's the hero of the show, but he's also flawed and has to make some impossible choices. Of course I could critique the fact that the Philip and Elizabeth are masters of all types of intelligence gathering which is a bit of a stretch, and seem to be working way too many targets simultaneously, but in the end this is more realistic than someone with diagnosed bi-polar even stepping foot into the CIA.

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The idea that someone with that level of mental illness would be allowed to continue having access to classified material is outrageous as well.

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I have not seen the Americans but have seen all of Homeland and me and my wife make this point pretty much any episode in which Carrie goes off the rails. Its so so unrealistic that the agency would maintain any relationship with her much less let her work for them in any capacity with her mental state.

What's more unrealistic -- Carrie having access to top secret information while being bipolar, or Elizabeth pulling off multiple disguises as a spy with A VERY DISTINCT MOLE ON HER LIP.

At first I thought they were going to have her hide her illness, but once it became clear that at the very least Saul knew about it and did nothing, that breaks suspension of disbelief in a BIG way. The agency may not fire her, but they would surely re-assign her to a less stressful and less sensitive position to minimize the risk of her compromising herself or other ongoing operations.

Meanwhile to contrast that, the Americans has Philip suffering from burnout of all the awful things he has done and he's getting treatment and searching for a way out of the life but he just can't seem to get out clean. In the end, it costs him his family and his way of life. Much more realistic personal struggle in my opinion.

The basic point here is that I can watch the Americans and identify with all three of the main adult characters and wonder what I would do if faced with the choices in front of them and I'm not sure which one I would pick. Genuinely complex show with good writing, while in Homeland there seemed to usually be a right decision to make, but Carrie wouldn't make it because "she's crazy" or Brody wouldn't do it because "he's brainwashed" both are just a bit too contrived for me to identify with them.

Proposition Joe said:

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What's more unrealistic -- Carrie having access to top secret information while being bipolar, or Elizabeth pulling off multiple disguises as a spy with A VERY DISTINCT MOLE ON HER LIP.

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I was also a little annoyed that Elizabeth could get kill shots using a handgun on multiple FBI agents from a moving vehicle although we never saw her put in any trigger time at the range.

Still, you need to watch The Americans.

CW Griswold said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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What's more unrealistic -- Carrie having access to top secret information while being bipolar, or Elizabeth pulling off multiple disguises as a spy with A VERY DISTINCT MOLE ON HER LIP.

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I was also a little annoyed that Elizabeth could get kill shots using a handgun on multiple FBI agents from a moving vehicle although we never saw her put in any trigger time at the range.

Still, you need to watch The Americans.

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Don't get me wrong I thought The Americans was great.

But Elizabeth would put on a "disguise" and it was plain as day it was the same person. Hot, fit, woman with a mole on her lip. It honestly was the most unrealistic part of the whole show which is saying a lot.