Before the senate select committee ... Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) in Homeland season 3. “A lot of my friends tend to watch the same shows. If someone’s that far behind, you don’t want to give them spoilers, so we all keep up to date. And also I’m active on Twitter, we all watch the same sort of stuff and have conversations about that.” Faro-Tusino says he is extremely surprised that Ten have taken this step and will watch the stream ahead of the traditional broadcast that evening as he has other shows he can watch then. “I really like the concept, it removes the temptation for me to have to find ways around it. It works for me because I have Mondays off uni and I’ll be home, if you’re free.” Ten's move is an incremental step up from the “day and date” and “fast-tracking” services provided by networks, particularly Foxtel, that have delivered episodes of high profile dramas within hours of their broadcast in the US in an effort to reduce the number of illegal downloads.

Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend) is back on the scene in Homeland season 3. “It came from an internal conversation that we've been having that obviously 'day and date' is important clearly, but becoming more important is time,” says Ten's chief digital officer Rebekah Horne. “People want to see it at the same time. If you look at the examples of Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, between the US [broadcast] and an Australian broadcast later that day, even if it is by a few hours, you are getting up to 100,000 bit torrents.” Ten see their tenplay offering, a new website and application video streaming service, as a solution. “Tenplay can be a good showcase for our ability to actually meet day and date and time for those that want to watch it at two o'clock in the afternoon,” says Horne.

Right now it's just for the first episode. We'll see what people do, see what numbers we attract and see what the broadcast outcome is. The streaming of Homeland's premiere, is being treated as an experiment to determine viewer interest in such delivery, and at this stage is only planned as a one-off event. “Right now it's just for the first episode,” says Horne. “We'll see what people do, see what numbers we attract and see what the broadcast outcome is. “We need to test and learn, but our view is that it's our job really to package up content and put it out to audiences. Some of those audiences are shifting.” Horne says there is very little resistance internally at Ten to the exercise as there is a theory that the move could improve the show's ratings for the traditional broadcast that evening, acting as a promotional activity rather than draining the audience.

“The biggest priority today is broadcast,” says Horne, “and anything I do is about supporting that business.” The move is part of a “TV everywhere” strategy that Ten claims will give consumers access to content “anytime, anywhere and on any device” and comes in a year where Ten have suffered a ratings decline, with the network often finishing in fourth place behind the ABC in the traditional ratings measurements. “There's a couple of challenges around that measurement system,” says Horne, noting that viewers watching on services such as tenplay or using personal video recorders don't contribute to the numbers. “If you have a certain kind of demographic, as Ten does, you're probably more impacted than others.” If the ratings system can better reflect broader viewing patterns, Horne believes “there is a great opp[ortunity] for TV in the future to be available on any device at the same time". Disappointingly for Ten, an unfinished version Homeland's season three opener, entitled Tin Man is Down was leaked online at the beginning of September, with star Damien Lewis blaming hackers and “bad security online".

The episode shows Carrie (Claire Danes) testifying at a senate select committee as a result of the fallout from the explosive events that concluded season two. Overall the critical response to the first two episodes of Homeland’s third season have been cautiously optimistic. Universally, critics agreed with The Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodman who had “enormous and ongoing issues” with the show’s second season. Goodman had “a lot of faith restored” by the new episodes, saying “the writing and acting in the first two episodes are exceptional. Let’s hope this continues, because it’s once again thrilling to watch this show.” Brian Lowry in Variety feels “these latest episodes represent a tentative first step toward seeing whether the show can re-ascend to those heights or, conversely, plummet into an abyss of implausibility.”

Sonia Saraiya from The AV Club agrees: “Despite what feels like risky storytelling, Homeland is staying true to its characters, following through on its fireworks to examine the ashes as well. It’s hard to tell which way it’s going to go, but for its performances and sheer courage, it’s worth watching.” Andy Greenwald, writing for Grantland, was hoping for a “complete reboot” and as such was disappointed that “rather than approaching the CIA bombing as a chance to build something new from the ashes, the season premiere [is] a strident and occasionally clumsy hour of exposition intended to help viewers adjust to the new normal.” While Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times felt her disappointment was "almost inevitable." “The third season doesn’t just stretch credulity, it tries patience.” The series three premiere episode airs on Ten at 8.30pm on Monday and will be available from their regular catch up service immediately afterwards.