The Americans is Delightful.

[Guy Gardener]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2149175/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

It's 1981 and there are Russians everywhere.

No one can be trusted.

No one is safe.



Keri Russel (Felicity)

Matthew Rhys (Brothers and Sisters).

The pilot is quite good, anyone watch?

 

[BillJ]

Got it on my DVR to watch later today. Love Cold War drama.

 

[Greg Cox]

I really enjoyed it. The whole double-life aspect, with constant fear of exposure, reminded me a bit of DEXTER, although without any of the black comedy aspects. And whole family dynamic is nicely complicated; I liked the way "Elizabeth" can't stand that her own kids are growing up to be patriotic, Reagan-era Americans, who think of Russia as the bad guys. You can practically see her biting her tongue all the time.

Meanwhile, the dad has obviously gone native . . . .

 

[BillJ]

My fucking DVR ate it! Saw it recording last night, went to watch it this morning and it was gone. Not even listed on the DVR history.

 

[sojourner]

^Check the on demand channels, also, this is FX, they reshow everything multiple times.

Good first episode. I think Guy liked it just to see Keri get down and dirty.

 

[BillJ]

^Check the on demand channels, also, this is FX, they reshow everything multiple times.

Yeah it's on demand but not in HD. I've got it set to record next Tuesday night.

I'd call and bitch at the cable company but they'd just tell me tough shit just like my wife did. She works for them.

 

[davejames]

I struggled with it at first, because the russian couple just did not seem particularly likeable or sympathetic, and the storyline was a bit muddled and dull.

But by the end, after Elizabeth had finally started to soften up a little, and after we got to understand the husband a little better, I found myself starting to get into it more.

Although to be honest... I still found Emmerich's FBI agent the most interesting one on the show, and kinda wish the show was all about him.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Like the newsroom I can only imagine that this show is going to be dancing around real events in the news and public awareness. They were already talking about the freeing the hostages on the radio report which I guess might have been an archive? What else could be prepped for down the line? Could we imagine these two setting up some guy on a date with Jodie Foster if he shoots Ronald?

 

[Guy Gardener]

^Check the on demand channels, also, this is FX, they reshow everything multiple times.

Good first episode. I think Guy liked it just to see Keri get down and dirty.

Are you talking about the fight or the blow job?

Until she took that wig off I thought that this lead was Kathryn Morris.

Then I'm realizing who this is, and I'm laughing that Abrams discarded her for Jennifer Garner for no good reason, when he replaced Felicity with Felicity 2.0, I mean Alias.

Although my best guess at that point was that she was a newspaper woman willing to do anything for a story... So the WTFedness kept me well on board tiill the big reveal and then I exploded.

 

[Worf2DS9]

I also really enjoyed the premiere. It was great seeing Keri Russell back on TV and kicking some ass, and she and Rhys worked well together. Only thing I was confused about was I thought the guy in the trunk was the Fed from the beginning, not the Russian. I'm definitely going to have to watch it again, this time with headphones so I won't miss any important details. Also loved the score and '80s tunes.

^Check the on demand channels, also, this is FX, they reshow everything multiple times.

Yeah it's on demand but not in HD. I've got it set to record next Tuesday night.

I'd call and bitch at the cable company but they'd just tell me tough shit just like my wife did. She works for them.

It's repeating tonight at 9pm...at least it is on FX Canada.

 

[BillJ]

It's repeating tonight at 9pm...at least it is on FX Canada.

Not here unfortunately.

Ended up watching the SD on demand version. It was enjoyable, but I'll have to rewatch it when it records on Tuesday.

 

[marillion]

Not on Comcast's VOD... Dammit!! I caught the first hour and fell asleep, due to the late hour more than it not holding my interest...

 

[Guy Gardener]

So you didn't get to the bit where Keri takes her top off?


(kidding )

 

[sojourner]

I got that bit, it just wasn't the top I was hoping for.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Move along, these are not the tops you are looking for?

 

[Zardoza]

I will probably watched it after it will be finished or it's cancelled.

 

[flipjack]

When he went to the pedo's house, did anyone else think for a second: "It's Lieutenant Dan! You got new legs!"

 

[stj]

The opener was pretty cagey in making Philip kill the defector for personal reasons, so that he would feel that he couldn't make a deal. That way he gets to be all America-loving but do nothing about it.

But, it's already obvious that in the long run, the more you remember about those years the less savory Philip will be. These were after all the years when the US was building up Osama bin Laden in pursuit of the struggle against Communism. Or paying cothinkers like Hekmatyar to throw acid in schoolgirls' faces. We know that Reagan eventually signed arms control agreements, but that it happened because Nancy's influence increased dramatically because of the Alzheimer's. The terror campaign against the Sandinistas we now know to have been pointless murder. The Sandinistas have been around for years, all of us know there was never any threat. And so on.

Also, in general, spies rarely engage in violence. They haven't the resources, and it is something ordinary police will investigate. The exceptions are almost invariably aimed against domestic enemies like defectors. Counterintelligence, as agents of the state immune to justice with the resources of the state, much more often do. Tradecraft isn't very sexy. Real spies operate much more like Philip's false flag recruitment of the woman at the FBI office. I'll be watching the first regular episode if they're going to opt for the melodramatic fighting.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Hey, compared to Chuck's definition of the spygame, this is hyperealism.

 

[BillJ]

Now its in HD On Demand.