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

[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.