SHOWTIME’s gripping series “HOMELAND” is a huge hit, but it misses the target for eagle-eyed viewers who catch its goofs, blunders and mishaps.
The cable TV drama stars Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, a CIA agent on probation, and Damian Lewis, who portrays Nicholas Brody. He’s a turncoat U.S. Marine sergeant working for terrorist Abu Nazir, played by Iranian-born actor Navid Negahban. The Emmy-winning drama is now in its second season and draws more than 2 million viewers.
In one startling gaffe this season, a merchant’s stall that’s supposed to be in a Beirut, Lebanon, marketplace displays Hebrew signs advertising a T-shirt for a Jerusalem soccer team. And another shot displays the distinctive Tel Aviv skyline, showing the film location to be in Israel – not Lebanon!
The show gets “lost at sea” when Claire Danes’ character Carrie is taken to a safe house that overlooks the ocean in Nicosia, Cyprus. Just one problem – the ocean is not visible from Nicosia!
Even when filming back in the U.S., the series sometimes confuses the location.
In the first series, the wife of Mandy Patinkin’s character, CIA operative Saul, rushes off to the airport from a Washington, D.C., suburb in a cab with “Charlotte, NC” blazoned across its door! And the airport door states, “Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.”
Another time, Brody’s wife Jessica is shown bringing home groceries in bags labeled www.hemarket.com – a chain of stores exclusive to the Charlotte area where “Homeland” is filmed, but not the DC metro area where the story takes place.
In a baffling oversight, the rank of Lewis’ character Brody seems to change, judging by his uniform.
At one point he appears to be a gunnery sergeant. Then in a formal dinner scene, he is in dress blues with only a sergeant’s rank and is referred to as “sergeant.” If the gunnery sergeant rank is correct, he would be referred to by that rank or informally called “Gunny.”
Even heart-tugging, patriotic scenes get botched.
In a flashback, Iraqis put a pistol to Brody’s head and force him to kneel beside a hole he just dug. He sings the U.S. Marine Corps Hymn – but unbelievably gets some of the lyrics wrong.
He sings: “First to fight for right and country…” and “Proud to bear the title…” The correct lyrics are “First to fight for right and freedom…” and “Proud to claim the title.”
