Guaranteed Crowd Pleasers: Homeland and Fargo

Perhaps the most impressive trait of Homeland, beyond its enormous capacity for the well-executed, nail-biting cliffhanger, is how quickly it pivots each year. After making the well informed decision of abandoning its main storyline at the end of season three, Homeland has seamlessly morphed into a fictionalized, stand-alone seasons exploring hot button Middle East issues. Occasional accusations of racism aside, this strategy has generally worked: Iran, drone warfare, troops in Afghanistan, and now in the newly premiered season six, illegal surveillance.  Currently out of the CIA, Carrie (Claire Danes) has settled in private-sector Berlin as the security chief of a multinational conglomerate. Saul (Mandy Patinkin) serves as the CIA head honcho of Europe, and Quinn (Rupert Friend) is in his element, hunting down terrorists and firing off some solid one liners. When the CIA-led spying of German citizens gets leaked, and when Carrie dodges a…