Season 1 DVD/BluRay

[georgley]

For some reason when the season 1 DVD release date was pushed back in other countries, it didn't change in Australia so the release date here stayed as the 5th of Feb. I went past my local store on the way home from work tonight and they already had the DVDs out on the shelf!

I figured I'd post a few thoughts here if anyone is interested. Spoilers for the special features are below.

First of all,for some reason the actual DVDs are labelled incorrectly. Disc 1 says that it includes episodes 1 - 4 however it is actually only 1 - 3 so all the subsequent discs are wrong. Not sure if that will only be for the Australian release.

Now, onto the special features!

Gag reel
This goes for about 3:30 and contains the scenes from the gag reel that was released on TVLine yesterday as well as a whole lot more. There are quite a few scenes with Keri and Margo cracking each other up including the first one which is the two of them on the bench for the "I'm sorry I didn't kill you scene" and Margo doesn't realise they called "action" so they just end up staring at each other awkwardly for ages until Margo finally says "Are we acting?".

Deleted scenes
There are quite a few for the pilot including a Paige/Elizabeth scene showing them in the car about to go to the drugstore (after Paige interrupted Elizabeth cleaning the trunk). There is also a Paige/Elizabeth scene from COMINT with Elizabeth having returned from her encounter with the man who beat her, checking on Paige while she is sleeping.

There were also a few scenes that covered off some Stan backstory including that he once got shot and he had to have his spleen removed. There was also a little more about his undercover work. Will be interesting to see if this ends up getting mentioned at all in later seasons or if they decided to go in a different direction.

Bizarrely, there are a couple of deleted scenes from later in the season showing with a story that must have been dropped. It featured Sandra getting a broken leg after she was hit by a car!! I was not expecting that.

Commentary
I really enjoyed it but I'm a nerd who always listens to the DVD commentaries. My only complaint with the DVD was that there weren't a few more!

Noah had some really interesting insights into Stan and also the Philip/Elizabeth marriage. It was also interesting to hear how seriously he takes his acting because he said he actually found himself getting mad at Susan Misner when Sandra wouldn't accept Stan's offer of going on vacation!

Noah did say that one of his favourite lines from the whole season was when Philip says "Elizabeth" after Grannie interrupts his meeting with the Colonel. Apparently he often emails Joe and Joel with his thoughts after reading each script and they joked that the emails are usually titled "Why doesn't Stan have more screen time?"

Featurettes
There are a few other small segments covering off how the idea for the show came about, the 80s technology etc. These were quite interesting although did cover some things that have been discussed a lot in other interviews.

Looking forward to seeing the discussion once these have been released elsewhere!

Comments

[katiac]

Wow, thanks, Georgley! These sound so great! I am especially looking forward to all the deleted scenes. Were there any good Philip/Elizabeth ones or did those mostly make it into the show? I always wondered about the drugstore question in the pilot! It seemed like there was more there, so I'm glad to see a little more of where they were headed. Sandra getting hit by a car and getting a broken leg is just crazy! That seems like it would be quite a mess (much like having Elizabeth shot) just because of the inconvenience of having Sandra immobile during scenes. Did it look like it belonged in episode 11 by chance? I guess we don't see her (weirdly) after the scene with Stan so that would fit. I'm really curious about Stan's backstory now too! It's interesting that they would write all that stuff out and then not include it... and then include it in the DVD. I wonder, like you, if they decided to go in a completely different direction which is why it's no biggie if they show it now.

Thank you so much for writing this up! I'm that more excited to see it next week!

[georgley]

There weren't any deleted scenes featuring both Philip and Elizabeth. There was an extended scene from the Pilot of Philip listening to the tape of Elizabeth and her mark. There was also a Stan/Philip scene from the start of Episode 8 where they discuss their marriages which was interesting.

I think the Sandra stuff was from Episode 11!

[katiac]

Ooo... I can't wait to watch the Philip/Stan scene (particularly to see what Philip says...)

[georgley]

The first time I watched it I think I was too busy laughing at their racquetball outfits :)

[jae]

Thank you so much for doing this, Georgley! :D Especially for confirming that the gag reel on the DVD wasn't just identical to the one that came out yesterday--I was hoping that the reel that came out yesterday wasn't going to be the whole thing. Because that was fun, just...really short.

And holy deleted scenes, Batman! I can't wait to see them, but thanks for the taster.

I will totally be watching all the commentaries too. In fact, I think I should probably block off some time in my schedule RIGHT NOW to do that....

I'm envious but also glad that you guys get something first for once! It's only fair. :)

-J

[georgley]

The gag reel is pretty funny! I was glad there was more because the short version was cute but I wanted more!

There was only one commentary which was for The Colonel. I so wish there was more. Maybe for season 2!

[katiac]

I guess if there could only be one, that was a good one for it to be. Either that or the pilot. Can't wait to watch it! Who did they have doing commentary?

[georgley]

It was Joe Weisberg, Joel Fields and Noah Emmerich.

Next season I'd love one with Matthew Rhys. He's always funny in interviews so I think it'd be pretty great!

[sistermagpie]

Wee! Thanks for this! I'd love to hear more about NE's thoughts on the P/E marriage and Stan! Interesting how much they were setting up Paige/Elizabeth scenes. They must have known early on that Paige was the one to worry about, being older (as well as probably wanting to parallel/contrast Elizabeth and Paige last season when Elizabeth was going through so much).

[georgley]

I'll try to watch the commentary again tonight and come back with more detail. Noah was pretty defensive of Stan killing Vlad which made me laugh. He wanted to make sure that people knew that Vlad and Nina weren't just secretaries, they were actual KGB spies.

I hope they continue to explore the Paige/Elizabeth relationship. It really is interesting watching Elizabeth interact with Paige.

[katiac]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching Elizabeth and Paige together. That's probably the most interesting relationship dynamic to me on the show, after Elizabeth and Philip.

I'm glad they clarified that about Nina and Vlad. Like it's in some ways clear they're spies and the jobs at the embassy are just for cover, but I still remember being shocked when Nina got promoted because I hadn't seen anything about her demeanor or way she was treated at the Rezidentura (or Vlad either for that matter) that gave any indication they were someone doing something important spy-wise.

[jae]

He wanted to make sure that people knew that Vlad and Nina weren't just secretaries, they were actual KGB spies.

That's hilarious, because this is something that always makes me so annoyed about media coverage of the show--when people refer to Nina as a secretary. But I'm always coming at it from the perspective of someone who's defensive on Nina's behalf! :)

-J

[quantumreality]

I'm watching the deleted scenes now and the ones that stand out are definitely the E/P scenes. For example the one where Paige doesn't like Matthew and Elizabeth counsels her. Very nice touch, but I can see how it might have killed the pacing of the Pilot.

[jae]

I don't know how this happened days before the release, but mine shipped two days ago and is now in my city! *bounce*

-J

[georgley]

Yay! I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

[jae]

All right, I haven't watched the commentary, but I've watched everything else--all the featurettes and the gag reel and all the deleted scenes. I'm so happy to have it! Here are my thoughts so far:

1. georgley said that the featurettes didn't really cover anything new, and she was totally right, but it was still fun to watch them, especially the interview bits. I probably won't rewatch them, though.

2. The expanded gag reel was fun, but to be honest, the best scenes were already in the one that had been released.

3. Okay, the pilot would have been ridiculously long if all of those scenes had been included. It was already over an hour! They must have filmed a crazy amount of footage. I remember reading somewhere that they ended up having to add in a bunch of new stuff to the pilot about Stan when the show was picked up, so maybe that's why they had all this extra stuff?

4. It's not clear whether the delightful car scene between Paige and Elizabeth was from the pilot or from "The Clock," because it was sandwiched between one from each episode. It probably too on-the-nose for the writers' sensibilities, so they took it out, but it was still my favourite of all of them.

5. No deleted scenes from "Gregory"? :(

6. Stan was shot while undercover? Wow. And he talked about it so casually, too. And I love his conversation with Philip about marriage in that scene! This is my other favourite.

7. So bizarre, the scene about Sandra and the broken leg! I wonder what the story was, there? She said she got hit by a passing car while getting out of it, but are we meant to believe that was actually what happened?

8. Here's something I always wonder when I watch deleted scenes: to what extent are we supposed to take them as canon? Like the scene about Stan telling Philip he'd been shot while undercover--is that canonical? I think we can assume the scene about Sandra breaking her leg isn't canonical, because we see her up and walking around--so should we assume all the rest of them never happened, either? What do the rest of you think about this sort of thing?

All in all, though, two thumbs up! I'll come back and say more after I've seen the commentary on the finale too. What does everybody else think?

-J

[alisonx]

On the last point, in a lot of Noah's interviews during S1 he talked a lot about how much we don't know about Stan and how much he hopes we'll learn in later seasons. So I kinda feel like it is canonical but the scenes were dropped because they felt like they could tell the story in a richer way down the track? I don't think the deleted scene from the Pilot with Amador and Stan was the best way they could have started the storyline either so I see why it was dropped. Alternatively, the writers could have just deleted it because they changed the storyline also.... I have no idea what that Sandra leg storyline was, that totally threw me for a loop. My fave of the deleted scenes was definitely the car scene :) Also how artsy were those polaroid selfies, would love those in HQ.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the commentary. I ended up taking notes on my second watch. I loved the story about Lev, the awkward stuff they said during the Clark/Martha sex scene ("I love how he comes up like he’s just been scuba diving"), and of course the stuff about Nina/Vladimir that @georgeley mentioned. Their banter was awesome I loved their joking about the title sequence and the subtitles. I would elaborate but I dont wanna spoil anything more!

I hope we get Joe/Joel/Keri/Matt commentary in s2. Matt was hilarious in the Brothers and Sisters commentary (and in all interviews ever). I wonder if Keri ever did any commentary for Felicity hmm.

[jae]

So I kinda feel like it is canonical but the scenes were dropped because they felt like they could tell the story in a richer way down the track?

Right, but it could be that they deleted the scenes because they decided to go a different way with the story altogether when they do get around to telling it (which would mean that they're NOT canon). That's what I find so confusing about deleted scenes--I mean, I love them, but I'm never sure whether to read them as a part of the show or not!

I'm going to try to watch the commentary today, and take my own notes. You should post yours!

-J

[quantumreality]

Are you talking about the cigarette machine scene with Stan and Amador and the one-scene boss wonder?

I got the vibe that none of the characters seemed, well, in character. Stan seems a little too diffident, and Amador doesn't seem as brash or as carefree as he usually does.

I think that's why they took it out.

My thoughts on the commentary on The Colonel

[jae]

This is going to be very stream-of-consciousness--I'm taking notes as I go. I apologize in advance (especially to Georgley, who's going to get this emailed to her as the author of this post, poor thing. sorry, Georgley!).

I have to admit that I was thrilled when I heard who was going to do this commentary: creator/showrunner Joe Weisberg, showrunner Joel Fields, and Noah Emmerich. Of the actors (not the characters, but the actors), he's actually the most interesting to me; in interviews and on panels he always seems so eloquent and thoughtful. And he sure didn't disappoint here, I just loved his insights.

Okay, I had no idea that the writers/producers had any input whatsoever into the recaps at the beginning! I wonder if it's like that on other shows, too. I'm totally going to be watching the "previously on The Americans" shots at the beginning with that in mind. Apparently Joe Weisberg is particularly "obsessed" with them; he wants them to draw the viewer into the show.

My mind really caught on the comment that Philip's deception of Martha has been much more of a sticking point with the audience than any of the people that either Philip or Elizabeth have killed. It's interesting both that that's true, and that the writers are aware of that.

It was really interesting to hear about the work that went into the main titles, how they were so intricate and fiddly that they weren't sure they were going to get them done in time for the show to air! And Noah Emmerich has totally rewatched them in slow motion just as the rest of us have--so awesome. :)

Pretty much every rabid fan will have heard them talking about this before, but somehow they managed to put a slightly different spin this time on how they originally thought people weren't going to take to the scenes with subtitles, and didn't plan to have so many of them, but then they increased them as the season went on and they became more confident that it was being well received.

On the other hand, the bits about Lev Gorn were new to me: how he spoke English with a heavy Russian accent while he was auditioning! And it was really delightful to hear how meaningful it was to Lev Gorn that his greatest success as an actor has been in Russian. There's an Israeli show called Ta Gordin which is also about Russian spies (in the present day, so working for the SVR instead of the KGB), and something similar happened there--there were all these Russian immigrants, some of whom didn't even speak Hebrew very well, who had left Russia for Israel and now were getting the chance to act in their native language in their new home country.

The way Noah talks about Stan on this commentary is just wonderful. Georgley already mentioned that he was defensive about him in several places, and that's totally true (I especially appreciated the way he said that he was angry with Susan Misner for not accepting the trip!). But he's also got his own criticisms of his character too, and he had that insight that Stan really hadn't done a whole lot to win Sandra back, and his offer to go away together was "immature."

It was great to hear the process that they used to translate Elizabeth's tape letter. It started with the English text and read by the script supervisor, then got translated into Russian, and then ultimately read by the actor who plays Elizabeth's mother.

On Paige finding Elizabeth in the basement at night: She should just admit it: "Mom, what are you doing?" "I'm a KGB spy." "No, Mom, seriously." HA.

I really enjoyed listening to all three of them get so specific about their praise for the director. I don't have any sort of training whatsoever in filmmaking, so I just eat that sort of thing up when people do that kind of analysis of camera angles and lighting and such. It really makes it all come together in a new way.

It was also fun to hear about how Noah was resentful at first of the faster pace of television, but how he's come around to appreciating the way so much more is done on instinct (while still enjoying the way that in film you can always take the time and try different things because you're shooting two pages a day rather than seven or eight).

Love the praise for the hair and makeup crew (they have their own twitter, you know: @theamericansHMU)! And then the bit about how they all reacted to the real spy in a much worse wig who was arrested last year in Moscow--god, they must have filmed this a long time ago.

Joe Weisberg says at one point: "We talked so much about people's motivations for giving up information." I'd love to have gotten some clarification on who that 'we' was, there--Joe and Joel with the writers? Joe and Joel with the actors? Both? Ah well.

The idea of Noah sending Joe and Joel emails with "why isn't there more Stan!" messages is hilarious (and probably true *g*). I remember that they joked about that at the Paley panel too.

Stan shooting Elizabeth on the really short time frame before they lost the light outside--so tense!

Steven Spielberg watches the cuts and reads the scripts??? How bizarre. And he helped edit the chase! That's so funny. I actually didn't care for the chase--not sure what that says about me. :)

And then there's Noah commenting on the way Keri Russell played Elizabeth going through the motions after she'd been shot as "something a little bit off"--so brilliant. And so cool of Noah to notice and admire that.

And then there's Joe's comment on the Stan-and-Nina scene where he's come back to the safe house and "that's the first time that you know that she [Nina]'s acting". And then realizing that he's used the word 'acting' and he has to admire the layers of the onion, there: how you had Annet Mahendru playing Nina acting--and Nina being as good at it as Annet.

Ohhhhh, it was Joe Weisberg who was responsible for Philip's involvement in Elizabeth's surgery! Bless you, Joe. That bit just killed me.

Noah loves the convoluted nature of the way his relationship with Philip plays out at the end: "You shot my wife and now take care of my kids!" Yessss, that's another thing that just devastated me! *sob*

Oh, and now we're onto the translation issue, how "come home" translates into Russian as "come back to the physical address of my house," so they had to "reverse engineer" that dialogue in Russian to give it that same feel. (Boy, have I ever been there.)

Oh my god, and the end was SO VERY MUCH the best part: the bit about the fanbase and how we blog and tweet and they know we're out there! And they think we're smart--they call us the megabrain! (Okay, that's just hilarious.) And we say things that they didn't even think about, and there's so much they can't read it all! I am so terribly, terribly amused.

Okay, now I can't help myself; I have to do this: HI, Joe, Joel, and Noah! That was a great commentary--thanks for recording it for us.

*grin*

-J