theamericans | Week three linkspam

Keri Russell (Elizabeth) did an interview with Collider about the second season.

Matthew Rhys (Philip) did an interview with Esquire about the second season and especially "Cardinal" (202).

The Americans gets a mention in this piece by Think Progress's Alyssa Rosenberg about why we keep having the same debates about prestige television dramas. (Rosenberg is one of the show's unapologetic critic cheerleaders.)

Bad news about the season two ratings: they slid between 201 and 202. But on the other hand, FX executive John Solberg tweeted that the show is up a ridiculous 94% in "time-shifted viewing" (that's up from an already very high 81% for the season premiere).

Another piece about the "spy training day" to which the show invited journalists has come out, this time by the UK's This Is Fakediy.

U.S. magazine Mother Jones has a piece about the Middle Eastern and Central American politics that form the backdrop for some of the plotlines for season two.

The critic at the Salt Lake Tribune who likes the show argues that Putin makes it harder to root for the two Soviet leads.

Some fans did some research into whether Raiders of the Lost Ark was actually still playing in early 1982, and apparently the writers did their homework.

Attention icon makers! screencapped.net has a treasure trove of high-quality images for you to work with, and here's another at grande-caps.net.

And finally, Keri Russell made a brief appearance on Jimmy Kimmel along with the infamous "Felicity wig" (video, just over 3 minutes).