Fri
Feb 1 2013 9:45am

Spying New Dramas: FX’s The Americans

Anyone else miss the good ol’ days of Americans squaring off with Communists? I mean where’s Rocky beating the crap out of Ivan Drago? Where’s the good feeling of watching Patrick Swayze shout “WOLVERINES!” while blowing up a Soviet tank? Well, we won the Cold War, though it may be a bittersweet victory. Yeah, we don’t have to worry about mutually assured destruction, but we also don’t really have a bad guy anymore. But you can’t keep a good villain down.

This week marked the beginning of a new FX show starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys called The Americans. Keri and Matthew play Soviet spies implanted in 1980s America. The first episode wasn’t bad, and I recommend checking it out if you have a chance. Above is the trailer, what do you think? Did you watch the first episode?

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1. Terrie

view all by Terrie | Friday February 01, 2013 10:08am EST

Saw it. Loved it. Will watch again! FX Wednesdays at 10.

2. LanceC

view all by LanceC | Sunday February 03, 2013 11:34pm EST

Pretty fun; it's on my DVR list. The dynamic between Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell is interesting and not something you see on every other show. I'm looking forward to some good old-fashioned spy tradecraft--no drones, no memory sticks, no GPS tracking, no Internet.

Who'd have thought we would ever get nostalgic for the Soviet Union?

It'll be interesting to see how well the producers manage the 1980 production design. Dallas had been on the air for two years by then, but I didn't see nearly enough big hair on the women. They made a good start on the '80s soundtrack (including the obligatory Genesis cut). A leotard-and-leg-warmers gym scene is the next required cultural marker. I'm old enough to remember 1980 from the first time around, so I'll be keeping track.

One concern: Keri Russell's character is supposed to be 40 (clue: she said she was two years old when the battle of Stalingrad happened in 1942) and Russell is actually 36, but she looks about 25. Notice how little difference there was in her looks between the early-1960s scenes and the 1980 scenes? They might think about aging her a little.

All in all, a promising start.

3. cmorgan

view all by cmorgan | Monday February 04, 2013 08:58am EST

@ Lance

About "getting the 80s right". I feel the same way. A lot of what I think is happening is that these TV folks are so terrified of falling into the 80s camp that they are playing it REALLY conservative with the costuming. My wife watches Carrie Dairies on the CW which is also set in 1984 and hardly any of the kids look like they are dressed like a highschool kid of the 1980s. I think mostly they rely on the music to set the tone, which as you pointed out, they handle quite well.

I didn't catch the age bit, very nice one.

I've been trying to figure out why they set it in the Regan era. I would think the really fun stuff of the Cold War would be during the 50s and 60s. But then I guess this brings us right to The End, which gives plenty of room for fun last minute alligence changes.

4. DeborahLacy

view all by DeborahLacy | Monday February 18, 2013 11:42pm EST

I just got caught up on this one and I love it.