Brody pauses from his jog to gaze at the Capitol building. The episode was co-written by executive producers Alex Gansa, Gideon Raff, and Howard Gordon, while executive producer Michael Cuesta directed. The original broadcast of the pilot episode on October 2, 2011 at 10:00 pm received 1.08 million viewers, becoming Showtime's highest-rated drama premiere in eight years (since "Dead Like Me" which also starred Patinkin, with 1.11 million in 2003). The episode received a total of 2.78 million viewers with additional broadcasts, on demand, and online viewings. The pilot episode received universal acclaim, scoring a Metacritic rating of 91/100 from 28 reviews, with all 28 critics giving positive reviews. Hank Stuever of "The Washington Post" gave the pilot episode an "A-", saying "What makes "Homeland" rise above other post-9/11 dramas is Danes' stellar performance as Carrie—easily this season's strongest female character" and that "The latter half of the first episode is exhilarating. I'm hooked." Matthew Gilbert of "The Boston Globe" said it was his favorite drama pilot of the season, giving it an "A". "Entertainment Weekly"s Ken Tucker gave it an "A-", stating "It's the fall season's most intriguing, tense puzzler." IGN TV gave it a positive review, saying that it was an "ace thriller" that also managed to have something to say about the War on Terror. Michael Cuesta received a nomination for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series, losing to Patty Jenkins for the pilot of "The Killing". The episode received Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series nominations at the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards; Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, and Gideon Raff won for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Jordan Goldman and David Latham won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series for their editing of "Pilot". This episode won the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Television Episode Teleplay.