US critics banded together to hail Homeland, the Showtime television series, one of the best new shows to hit the small screen. Homeland is the American version of the Israeli hit series, Hatufim.

“Homeland is probably the most serious yet entertaining, sly yet not ‘cool’ drama to debut thus far,” writes EW.com. The Wall Street Journal wrote that after the first episode, “it’s going to be hard standing the wait for the next.”

The Israeli series traced what happens when two soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces return after being held captive by Syria for 17 years. The American version features Claire Danes as a CIA operations officer who follows a US Marine (actor Damien Lewis) whom she suspects has turned into a spy after being held by al-Qaida as a prisoner of war.

This is not the first Israeli TV show to be picked up by Hollywood.

HBO bought In Treatment (BeTipul in Hebrew), which went on to win numerous industry awards.

And earlier this year, Fox debuted Traffic Light (based on the Israeli Ramzor). 

Homeland has been given the green light for 12 episodes.