Week ten linkspam

[jae]

Elizabeth Jennings got a mention in this New York Times piece about "mean girls" with power.

The show also is one of the main subjects of this AV Club piece about shifting concerns when deciding whether or not to renew shows.

In Channel Guide, an interview with Noah Emmerich (Stan).

Matthew Rhys (Philip) did an interview on ABC's Today Show. You can watch an adorable clip on this Vulture piece or on the Today site (video, ~52 seconds).

Rhys also won TV Line's Performer of the Week last week for "Martial Eagle."

A radio interview with Costa Ronin (Oleg) (audio, ~10 minutes)

In Billboard, an interview with The Americans music composer Nathan Barr.

Speaking of music, here are a couple of things about the Pete Townshend song written for the show: an article in Vulture, and the promo that aired on FX (video, ~30 seconds).

And finally, an interesting Twitter thread started by the AV Club's Todd van der Werff about the reasons why the show provokes wildly different reactions.

Comments

[sistermagpie]

I'm struggling with using the term "mean girl" to mean...apparently every woman on TV. It's got a specific meaning, and one that's intentionally demeaning. Elizabeth Jennings wold never ever have been a "mean girl" in terms of what the term really means. It's the opposite of everything she stands for.

[jae]

Yeah, it really did seem like a stretch.

-J

[alisonx]

The twitter thread is really rather interesting, a lot of people saying they can't connect to the characters and have nobody to "root for."

The multiple languages has never really bothered me, because I have already invested so much love into this show. But I can understand how it would be tough. I think it would annoy me if it were any other show. The only other show I can think of in multiple languages is The Bridge, which I got so sick of by the end I was just fast forwarding all the Spanish scenes and reading the subtitles....I wasn't sick of that show because of the languages though don't get me wrong.

[jae]

The multiple languages thing is actually one of the things I love about the show--I adore so much that they're really fully invested in making its bilingualism natural. I would be so sad if they were to cut back on the Russian scenes to give the show a broader appeal! But I guess I think it's good for English speakers to get used to watching a show with subtitles anyway, too, because there's sooooooooo much good international television that monolingual English-speaking folks miss out on as a result of not being willing to read them. :)

I was really surprised by the number of people who said they couldn't connect to the characters--what I find so different about this show as opposed to many other "golden age of television" shows is that the characters actually are designed to be people the audience comes to love (as opposed to merely finding them interesting).

-J

[alisonx]

Just had a terrible image of people hate watching the americans. I have never even considered the idea but wow it's painful thinking about people hate watching the americans like I hate watch Hannibal no no no.

About the connecting to characters thing that's probably also one of the reasons why "people" don't consider the americans as golden age quality. Sometimes I get wrapped in this bubble I forget a lot of people haven't heard of the show. As opposed to the social zeitgeist domination of bb, got, mad men, hoc, oitnb, ob etc. Loved that little alphabet soup sentence

[wendelah1]

"My working theory for why Americans seems to produce such wildly divergent reactions: It is broadcast in two languages."

What are these "wildly divergent reactions" of which he speaks? Without more context I have no idea how to judge this statement or any of the responses to it.

[jae]

You would have to ask him to be sure; I can only guess. But the wildly divergent reactions that I have observed involve nearly complete critical acclaim on the one side and "I don't know what you guys see in this show; it's okay, but it's really not as good as you say it is" on the other.

-J

[wendelah1]

I think that has more to do with the content--what the show is about and who the characters are--than with the Russian subtitles. My husband has no problem with subtitles but he dislikes the show. He's just one example and perhaps not typical, but he's not the only person I've seen express similar reservations.

[jae]

If you read further in the conversation, it becomes clear that the "different languages" comment wasn't a reference to subtitles at all, actually. (The rest of the conversation might help clarify the answer to your original question, too.)

-J

[jae]

Just reread the conversation, and the tweet where he clarifies what he meant isn't in there, how annoying. It was something like "Probably making a joke about a show being broadcast in two languages isn't a good idea when said show is actually broadcast in two languages." He was making a reference to the differing impact of the show's content on different people, in any case (which does become clearer later in the conversation as posted), not the literal bilingualism of the show.

-J

[wendelah1]

I read through the comments. I didn't see the clarification.

That was supposed to be a joke? I guess if you only have 40 characters and a lousy sense of humor...

This is why I am not on the Twitter.