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Sleeper Cell: American Terror
MINISERIES: Showtime, begins Sunday 12/10 at 9:00p


6.9

based on 20 reviews
read critic reviews
how did we calculate this?

based on 14 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

TV:

Sleeper Cell

Official Show Site

Starring Michael Ealy, Oded Fehr, Henri Lubatti, Thekla Reuten, Omid Abtahi, Kevin Alejandro, and Melissa Sagemiller

The second season of Showtime's terrorism drama once again finds an undercover FBI agent attempting to thwart an attack in Los Angeles.

GENRE(S):	Drama
CREATED BY:	Ethan Reiff Cyrus Voris
FIRST AIR DATE:	December 10, 2006
LAST AIR DATE:	December 17, 2006

Hourlong episodes air every night from 12/10 through 12/17 at 9pm. All episodes also available on Showtime On Demand on 12/10.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

Another edge-of-your-seat thriller.

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

The second season of “Sleeper Cell” burrows even deeper into the mind-set of Muslim extremists than the first and is all the better and more troubling for it.

New York Daily News David Hinckley

Powerful.

San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum

"Sleeper Cell" is a compelling, kinetic ride that matches "24" in its power and is far more realistic and topical.

Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron

As exciting as the original.

Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray

If you can make the time in a season where most programmers think we're all too busy shopping to be watching anything heavier than "Miracle on 34th Street" (the Natalie Wood version, of course), then "Sleeper Cell" delivers.

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

Ealy and Fehr give fierce performances that will keep fans hooked.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

The action is intense in "Sleeper Cell," and each episode includes at least one stunning moment of violence or betrayal. But character depth isn't sacrificed to keep the pace moving, and there are valuable calms between the storms.

People Weekly Tom Gliatto

The quickened pulse is a plus: The violence registers as sharp, stinging slaps. [11 Dec 2006, p.41]

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

The acting, writing and directing are subtle and graceful.

Newsday Verne Gay

"Sleeper Cell" is nicely acted, produced, written, directed, but is still so deeply rooted in the conventions of the medium, that no matter how hard it tries, or how hard it wants to be something else, this still ends up Just TV.

TV Guide Matt Roush

Reminiscent of 24 but about a dozen times more realistic (though dramatically more uneven).

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

The series would fall apart if Al-Farik were a cardboard cutout villain. Who’d want to watch eight hours of this man’s journey if he were just a shallow action-movie bad guy? But thanks to Fehr’s brave, layered performance, it’s impossible to ignore Al-Farik or the ideas that motivate him.

Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall

The new edition delivers many of the same thrills and intelligent debate that made the original so exceptional. But the mere act of bringing it back creates problems the original never had to deal with.

Los Angeles Times Paul Brownfield

The show isn't brilliant, but it is audaciously alive.

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

Violent and sometimes sexually tawdry, as only pay cable can be, Sleeper Cell is not for the faint of heart, but it provides well-constructed thrills with its tour of the morally ambiguous land of counter-terrorism.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland

A significant improvement in the sequel is its keener sense of urgency and alarm, achieved by down-scaling the exposition and character development that bogged down the first hours of the original.

Time James Poniewozik

While not perfect, [it] manages to be both exciting and--if not exactly realistic--then at least reality-grounded.

Entertainment Weekly Gillian Flynn

It hardly enlightens, and it never feels urgent. It feels like a decent cop drama pretending to be something more important.

Washington Post Tom Shales

A dreary thing it is, and depressing, too.

The average user rating for this tv show is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Charles G gave it a10:
I don't know what show the people here who gave this a 1 were watching. "SLEEPER CELL - American Terror" is without a doubt one of the best things ever on TV. This show is freaking awesome, combining great characters, true-to-life stories and terrific production value throughout its 8 hours - which felt more like 4 hours to me when I watched them straight through over 2 days. I guess its all subjective and I don't even want to bring up how much most of the rest of TV sucks compared to this show or others like it but I just did, so oh well... Anyhow, I love both seasons of Sleeper Cell and hope we get to see a third!

Ware C gave it a1:
Absolutely terrible! And I loved last years mini-series.

Adam M gave it a9:
Great show, makes me sad and want revenge myself! Badass fight in the streets of Yemen as well...

Chocolatepink gave it a10:
Showtime has really given us a worthy program to boost its standing alongside HBO, this is a very interesting and insightful program.

Scott M gave it a1:
This show aspires to the quality of The Wire... but falls short on every level. If you are going to try to do something like this, it is critical to succeed. If you don't it is all the more miserable. Don't bother.

Michael T gave it a5:
[SPOILER ALERT:] Are you kidding Me? I can not believe they blew up the safe house when the FBI Agents went in. I think I saw this exact scene in about twelve other movies. Did they get tired and let an intern finish the scipt? Come on. Really, I loved season one, but this might have ruined the whole season for me. I can't suspend my disbelief anymore after this plagerism. Also, Melissa Sagemiller's overacting makes me laugh.

Melanie W gave it a10:
I just got thru watching the 2nd season tonight and loved it. Showtime you Rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sleeper Cell: American Terror MINISERIES: Showtime, begins Sunday 12/10 at 9:00p

Sleeper Cell: American Terror
MINISERIES: Showtime, begins Sunday 12/10 at 9:00p