Week nine linkspam

[jae]

An interview with Matthew Rhys (Philip) in the Los Angeles Times.

An interview with Alison Wright (Martha) in Rolling Stone.

An interview with Holly Taylor (Paige) in Vulture.

An interview with Costa Ronin (Oleg) in Metro.

There's a The Americans recap video podcast being done by AfterBuzz, and the most recent one also has a guest spot by Costa Ronin (video, ~54 min). There's also an audio version of the podcast available here.

The Americans has come in at #2 in the new Hollywood Reporter "power rankings".

Recent data indicates that The Americans is the most time-shifted show of all in the U.S. (meaning that a larger percentage of our show's audience watches a recorded version of the show than is the case with any other show).

The official description of the finale has been released.

Better late than never, there's a Guardian review of the first season's box set.

And finally, FX has released a little mini-documentary about the show's vintage cars (visible only within the U.S.).

Comments

[jae]

This bit from the Holly Taylor interview had me both laughing and dropping my jaw in amazement:

Between takes, he was like [trying for a Welsh accent], “Oh, I’m so sorry, Hollister. You know I don’t mean it.”

I have so much trouble imagining this--snapping in and out of the sort of mental state you'd have to be in to give the performance we saw in that scene! Where you could give that sort of performance and still be jokey Matthew Rhys between takes, just...wow.

-J

[georgley]

Yeah, that made me laugh as well. I also loved that Holly tried to imitate his Welsh accent!

[(Anonymous)]

Can you get to the Sunday Times interview with Matthew that just came out today?

BTW, I had the same thought about MR 'snapping in and out' of that scene to apologize to Holly. But, I'm glad he did. Must have been tough for her, too.

[jae]

Thanks for the heads-up!

The article seems to be behind a paywall, but there it is for anyone who wants to see the beginning of it.

-J

The Mail-Bot

[quantumreality]

I totally want to see the mail-bot in the S2 gag reel :D

[apolla_savre]

YOU GUYS! YOU GUYS! T-SHIRTS!! (and a mug)

http://shop.fxnetworks.com/the-americans/index.php?v=fx_shows_the-americans&ecid=SMM-FX-00388&pa=SMM-FX-00388

20% off today with the code: LOGO20

(Sorry for capslock, I'm excited!!)

[jae]

Awesome! Thanks for pointing this out.

The FX shop actually had a one-day sale like this once before, and I found out about it because they posted their code on Twitter. I ended up buying a bunch of merch. I couldn't have it shipped to home, though, so I opted to have it shipped to people I knew in the U.S. and will pick it up when I see them in May. :)

-J

Preposterous?

[jae]

Referring to the Guardian review that depicts the premise of the show--with undercover Soviet spies living in the U.S. as Americans--as "preposterous": I'm always fascinated when people talk about it that way. Do these people not know that KGB illegals were real? And that there was a high-profile, recentish news story about an entire group of illegals being hunted down and exposed that actually was the impetus for making the show in the first place?

I mean, there are plenty of things that are different about the show from real life--the real-life illegals did more of the long-term, hardcore undercover work and less of the actiony assassiny stuff that often gets portrayed on the show. But the premise itself is hardly preposterous.

-J

Re: Preposterous?

[lovingboth]

I think part of the issue is that having the FBI counter-espionage agent as a neighbour is a coincidence too far for some people.

Particularly after having the DEA agent brother-in-law obsessed by the search for the 'hero' was used by Breaking Bad.

Or the reviewer may just be remembering the really preposterous episode in S1.

I'm more surprised by the comment from someone who didn't like S2E01.

Re: Preposterous?

[quantumreality]

And besides, the idea of such "sleeper" or "illegal" agents has a kind of captivating aura about it and draws you in: what drives these people? How do they maintain their ideological drive amidst an entire people who are taught the diametric opposite of what the agents believe?

I mean, would these people be complaining if the illegals were hostile space aliens doing long-term reconaissance of human beings? :P

Re: Preposterous?

[treonb]

would these people be complaining if the illegals were hostile space aliens doing long-term reconaissance of human beings?

In their defense, such a show would have 'preposterous' written all over it.

But in any case, I'd expect the sentence "It sounds preposterous, but" to end with "it's based on real life". Not "Joe Weisberg is a CIA officer (so he must know something we don't)".

Wasn't UK also on the illegals list? Who knows, maybe one of them wrote this ;-)

[lovingboth]

Sadly comments are closed on the Guardian piece, but it does remind me to point at this story about some real 1980s spying.

[jae]

Thanks. :)

And yes, one of the things that got me about that Guardian piece is that I have read many stories about KGB illegals in that very paper...

-J

[quantumreality]

Nice article! Thanks :)