Links and media and etc.

[jae]

The (first?) trailer for "Cardinal" is out, as well as a full scene from the episode. A new trailer for the second season in general is also out.

The ratings for "Comrades" (season two, episode one) are out, and they are mixed, mostly bad, news. Critic Alyssa Rosenberg, who has been a huge champion of the show, was vocally disappointed on Twitter. But others compared it to what happened with Breaking Bad, implying there's reason to be hopeful.

A couple more season two reviews have trickled in: from the New Republic and from The Atlantic.

Crave Online has an interview with Matthew Rhys.

Indiewire on TV's antihero tradition and how The Americans deviates from it with a compelling romance.

Vulture on That Sex Scene from "Comrades."

E Online talks about the most intense moments from some of the premieres of this past week, including The Americans.

And Complex has one more "talking to the cast at the season two premiere" video.

Comments

[merryghoul]

I wouldn't worry too much about the ratings for The Americans right now. Pretty sure The Bridge did worse ratings-wise and, to my surprise, still got renewed, so there's that.

[jae]

Yeah, and the last bit where FX says that they do expect to renew it is hopeful. Still, I will feel much better once it's officially renewed!

-J

[quantumreality]

Also, the TV show Revolution has a similar tale of ratings woes and yet it's been rolling on through a second season even through several mini-hiatuses.

[jae]

I am greedy, though, and I want a third and a fourth and a fifth season at the very least. :)

-J

[quantumreality]

Heh! I'd love to see what Phillip and Elizabeth think of Gorbachev! :P

[jae]

I know, right? :D

-J

[georgley]

Well, the FX press release about the ratings apparently said they expect the show to be on their schedule for at least five more years. There's hope!

[jae]

I know! That did make me happy. They wouldn't say that about a show that's on the bubble, right? That's what I'll keep telling myself, anyway.

-J

[katiac]

I really enjoyed some of the stuff in the Matthew Rhys interview especially. Finding out more about their training/recruitment, or at least why they were motivated to fall into the roles they did relationship-wise is exactly the sort of stuff I find interesting about the show. Particularly if it focuses on Philip's end, which I feel like it would almost have to.

[jae]

It will be fun to get that for sure!

-J

[sistermagpie]

I loved that part too. I was also interested in how he corrected himself on the idea that they chose the job, saying they were chosen for them. Does that mean that they would have just joined the KGB in general and then been picked for the Illegals training without any real desire on their part? I mean, presumably if they really didn't want it at all they would have flunked out of the training, but if they wanted to please their superiors and were good at this...

[jae]

I have no idea how they'll portray it in the show, but it certainly wasn't like that in real life. Real-life illegals were actually kept completely separate from the KGB and told very little about the inner workings of it during their training. It's possible that there were select individuals who were plucked from the ranks of the general KGB recruits to become illegals (I played with that concept in my Elizabeth story), but if it did ever happen, it was very, very rare. For the most part, they were taken from other careers/schools on a very individual basis.

Also, I mean, again based on what I've read, illegals were like rock stars in the Soviet Union. They were a whole pop culture phenomenon, even. Being an illegal was like the awesomest thing you could do. Even people who had doubts about the system otherwise were completely gung-ho about being able to do that particular job because of the status it had in the culture. It would be very very hard to imagine that anyone would be picked for the job without desiring it.

But this is not exactly the real-life KGB that they're portraying on the show, so who knows? It would make me sad if they did it that way, but it is their right.

-J

[sistermagpie]

Some of those things were more my impression--that is, I knew it was considered an awesome job, so I had always assumed that they both wanted it. And I knew from things you'd said that the show had changed things in by even having Elizabeth identify herself as a KGB officer and by having her seeming to be in training that seemed like she was part of the military.

But that made me wonder about that line of MR's. It seems like if he just meant that they were too young to really know what they were getting into he would have said something like that. So I wonder if he means that in this place they were recruited.

If, in reality, they came from other fields...well, actually that's even more fascinating to me because it suggests that they even more have this alternate life they would have had. But how did they pluck people out? Did the program look for signs that someone was good and approach them? Because if something like that happened, even if they were in the KGB, I can see that being translated into saying the job was chosen for them, even if they enthusiastically accepted it.

[katiac]

I know, right? Whatever the answer turns out to be, exploring this subject sounds so great.

Like when I first read it, I thought he was referring to the age thing again--how they made this choice to join the KGB at 17 before they really knew who they were, and then sort of got locked into that path--but you're right it maybe could also be more literal. And really, even if they weren't overtly forced into it, it's easy enough to imagine them in a situation where they don't really have a lot of other options so they're not even looking at it that way like they could opt out.

On the other hand, I would imagine to do that sort of job would almost have to come with some level of desire and the KGB head honchos have to also know that if they pick and train agents who don't really want to do the job 100%, they'll just bolt the moment they get on US soil and trade their secrets for immunity and a cash payout. And the KGB wouldn't want that either.

So excited to see where they go with this! And I like that even though we've only seen the one episode, already there seems to be more of an equal focus. Last season it was mostly Elizabeth a lot of the time. Here Philip played a much more critical role from the start of the episode to the finish, with both of them being highlighted at different points for the emotional strain they were going through. I would say they even focused more heavily on Philip a little, because when I read reviews saying Elizabeth was showing the stress of her injury and being back too soon, I was like huh? and hadn't really even picked up on that so much as Philip's pain at different events throughout, which were zoomed in on much more strongly.

[lovingboth]

It would be interesting to see the s1 figures by episode, to see how the decline in numbers happened.

[treonb]

Wikipedia has a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Americans_episodes

I don't really see what they're talking about. The premiere drew in 3.2 million, and then the show dropped to its normal viewership. 1.9 is not really a drop, it's just not a big jump.

Also, the show had a lot of non-live viewership, and this wasn't yet taken into account.

[jae]

I suspect that when talking with network executives, the representatives from the show aren't representing the smaller number as the "normal viewership." 3.2 million is the potential they're still striving for.

It is known, though, that this is a show that a lot of people watch on their PVR (or whatever that thing is called in various parts of the world--have you noticed that every single country has a different term for this? it gets confusing in international conversations!), and as I understand it, they cite those numbers too, when they can get them.

It all sounds like a pretty cutthroat business, though, and I'm glad I'm not in it.

-J

[treonb]

I'm not sure 3.2 million is really the potential. It seems many people tuned in expecting to see something else.

But in any case - that article is talking as if there was a major drop in the last few episodes, and I just don't see that. The show ratings seems pretty stable.

[georgley]

There is a new "Inside the Secrets" video with Joel Fields up on the FXNetworks YouTube page.

It is focused on the flashbacks and how they film them and whether we will see more for Philip in season 2. Plus it shows flashbacks with Philip and Elizabeth in Washington in 1967 and Elizabeth and Leanne in 1966!

[jae]

Oh, wow, he used my question (the one about Philip's background)! How funny. And god, that was a long time ago--way back in the fall, if I remember correctly. Maybe even the summer.

I really love this format, though--the way the fan questions are interspersed with little bits and pieces from upcoming episodes. Very clever. I hope they do something like that again!

-J

[katiac]

I know! I was trying to think how far back that was because I remember him asking on Twitter but it was like forever ago. I was so excited to see the flashbacks we'll get to see this season!

[jae]

I wondered for a while if those questions had actually gone anywhere, but eventually figured they must not have. This is so much better than anything I could have expected, though! I hope they do more and more of those.

-J

[katiac]

I was so excited to see that! I love that we're going to see more of Philip and Elizabeth's early years together :) And Elizabeth and Leanne flashbacks too!

[georgley]

I can't wait to see what Philip and Elizabeth's relationship was like in the early days together!

[katiac]

Me too! (Even if I have to rewrite like, my entire fic!)