The Americans

[Samson]

I cannot believe no one on USMB has started this thread, or that I just downloaded Season 2 so I can have something to watch on flights.

Historical drama set in 1980's Soviet vs. Reagan's USA/ I'm constantly wondering about the accuracy. I'd suppose much of the action, if it ever actually happened, would be classified.

 

[AquaAthena]

I started a thread on it two years ago, I think. Maybe it was just a post to an OP. But anyway, YES...the absolute best TV series ever, in my opinion. Can't wait for Season 3 to begin. I have seen all eps., twice...lol. It has won many awards. What a great production. I wish it were two hours long, each episode...lol.

 

[shart_attack]

I cannot believe no one on USMB has started this thread, or that I just downloaded Season 2 so I can have something to watch on flights.

Well, I started one about it a coupla months back; but unlike this one, the thread I started is only about the series' season two finale:

http://www.usmessageboard.com/tv-forum/355823-the-americans-season-two-finale.html

Historical drama set in 1980's Soviet vs. Reagan's USA/ I'm constantly wondering about the accuracy. I'd suppose much of the action, if it ever actually happened, would be classified.

Based on what I've heard USMC Lt. Col. Oliver North—who helped write one episode of the drama's second season—say, some of the content is true, some of it furtively fictive. Think of the content as analogous to Law & Order episodes, the majority of which are based on true stories.

The Americans (2013 TV series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Politico]

There have been several threads on the this show. It is very accurate.

 

[shart_attack]

The one thing I hate about the show is that, true to the milieu of most dramas featuring antiheroes as protagonists, I can't help sometimes but find myself rooting for the two KGB agents — against President Reagan, against the FBI, against the DoD, against the Arpanet, against essentially all things American.

I really hate myself for that.

It's not like we're talking about Sicilian Mafia figures in America or former high school chemistry teachers gone rogue in the saga that is the American Drug War: it's the frick'n K - G - B, for crying out loud.

The mark of excellent writing is when it's so powerfully compelling that it can move the most unlikely within the audience it's targeting to become fully conscious proponents of its most nefarious of characters.

 

[GHook93]

The one thing I hate about the show is that, true to the milieu of most dramas featuring antiheroes as protagonists, I can't help sometimes but find myself rooting for the two KGB agents — against President Reagan, against the FBI, against the DoD, against the Arpanet, against essentially all things American.

I really hate myself for that.

It's not like we're talking about Sicilian Mafia figures in America or former high school chemistry teachers gone rogue in the saga that is the American Drug War: it's the frick'n K - G - B, for crying out loud.

The mark of excellent writing is when it's so powerfully compelling that it can move the most unlikely within the audience it's targeting to become fully conscious proponents of its most nefarious of characters.

The USSR fell, Russia has European style capitalist based economy, they have private property and privatization and we won the cold war. I have no problem finding myself rooting for fictional KGB characters in the Americans.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Wonder when they cover Jake Starkey's infiltration of the Republican party

 

[shart_attack]

The one thing I hate about the show is that, true to the milieu of most dramas featuring antiheroes as protagonists, I can't help sometimes but find myself rooting for the two KGB agents — against President Reagan, against the FBI, against the DoD, against the Arpanet, against essentially all things American.

I really hate myself for that.

It's not like we're talking about Sicilian Mafia figures in America or former high school chemistry teachers gone rogue in the saga that is the American Drug War: it's the frick'n K - G - B, for crying out loud.

The mark of excellent writing is when it's so powerfully compelling that it can move the most unlikely within the audience it's targeting to become fully conscious proponents of its most nefarious of characters.

The USSR fell, Russia has European style capitalist based economy, they have private property and privatization and we won the cold war. I have no problem finding myself rooting for fictional KGB characters in the Americans.

 

[shart_attack]

Pretty descriptive details about what's coming in season three just hit the Comic-Con a little over a week ago.

Nicole Massabrook, Int'l Business Times, Oct. 11, 2014—“The Americans” will return to FX in 2015, and the cast and producers stopped by New York Comic Con to share a few things with the audience. Creator Joseph Weisberg, executive producer Joel Fields and actors Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Noah Emmerich and Annet Mahendru all attended the event in Commie Con t-shirts. While they were ready to share plenty of jokes on stage, they were all very tightlipped when it came to “The Americans” Season 3 spoilers. Here is what we learned about “The Americans” Season 3:

1. Afghanistan. Afghanistan will come into play in Season 3, which takes place in 1983. “The war in Afghanistan will loom large this season,” Weisberg teased. He didn’t say how exactly it would affect the characters, though.

2. Parenting Focus. Expect the focus to move from marriage to parenting. “For us the show is working best when Phillip, Elizabeth and the other characters are all struggling with things that everybody struggles with in their family and relationships,” Fields said. “But because of their situation, it’s on a much more heightened, life and death level.”

Elizabeth (Russell) will still be conflicted about training her daughter Paige (Holly Taylor). Their bosses ordered them to groom their daughter for espionage work, but Phillip (Rhys) wants to disobey while Elizabeth thinks it might be good for her. “I think there are so many layers for this moment as a mother for Elizabeth watching this daughter be of the age that she was when she began [working for the K.G.B.],” Russell said.

3. Nina Might Be Pregnant. A fan asked if Nina (Mahendru) could possibly be pregnant and everyone danced around an answer. “[Weisberg and Fields] both just scribbled notes under the table,” Rhys joked. The only thing Mahendru was allowed to tell the audience was that her character would be alive at the beginning of Season 3.

4. Older Technology Helps The Writers. When a fan asked about researching older technology, Weisberg had to laugh. “I wish I could call it ‘research’ instead of ‘memory,’” he joked. “The fact that we have to use this old technology and our guys don’t have cell phones and can’t solve so many problems by calling each other makes a lot of our stories work and makes a lot of our stories more interesting.”

5. Even Musical Montages Have Hidden Meanings. “Everything has hidden meanings on this show,” Fields laughed. “We come up with a lot in advance, but we don’t think about musical montages in advance. We think about story and character.”

6. Stan’s Life Won’t Get Easier. The man will find trouble anywhere he goes, even if he isn't with Nina. “We keep saying ‘Stan’s got to catch a break! He’s got to catch a break!’ and then he just doesn’t catch a break,” Weisberg said.

“The Americans” Season 3 will premiere on FX in January.

The Americans Season 3 Spoilers 6 Things We Learned At New York Comic Con 2014

 

[2aguy]

The one thing I hate about the show is that, true to the milieu of most dramas featuring antiheroes as protagonists, I can't help sometimes but find myself rooting for the two KGB agents — against President Reagan, against the FBI, against the DoD, against the Arpanet, against essentially all things American.

That's the point ....the series makers are typical anti American hollywood types...who write well...now imagine if you are educated in a government school controlled by the education wing of the democrat party...and you have no real history education...and you watch this show and think that this is the way it was...Reagan was the worst of the worst...and brave, beautiful kgb agents are trying to save the world...get the idea now...

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Shart, when you find yourself not liking how you side with the antiheroes when they're KGB operatives, think of it this way: Because of spies on both sides, the US and USSR never got into a shooting war. In fact a KGB higher up is directly credited with preventing a nuclear exchange.

Stanislav Petrov - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[2aguy]

Shart, when you find yourself not liking how you side with the antiheroes when they're KGB operatives, think of it this way: Because of spies on both sides, the US and USSR never got into a shooting war. In fact a KGB higher up is directly credited with preventing a nuclear exchange.

That is an example of a kgb murdering thug being a hero...correctly reporting that the report of a missile launch was false...

Not really helping...