Fan community for FX's The Americans

First things first: let me just make a plug for that official podcast again. It is really just so wonderful, just every single week, and if you're a geeky The Americans fan who enjoys our conversations here and who isn't making time for the podcast, you're really missing out on something special. The distribution seems to be only through iTunes (link goes to the U.S. site, but it should forward you to your own country's site), but it's worth it, I swear, even for iTunes haters. (The podcasts are also available at the Soundcloud site for those who are iTunes-allergic.)

Noah Emmerich has been making the rounds doing interviews about his television directing debut and stuff going on with his character, and he's really been wonderfully eloquent about it all. Here's the gamut: Esquire, TVLine, the New York Daily News, Yahoo, Variety.

This interview with Alison Wright (Martha) goes into some detail about what she sees her character as suspecting and why.

Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post argues that The Americans is one of the most beautiful shows on TV, and Rolling Stone argues that it's television's best drama (also noteworthy here: the CEO of FX tweeted this article with the comment "Yes it is"). And Entertainment Weekly tells us why we should be watching.

A bit of fun: conspiracy theories that The Americans and the new comedy The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are secretly connected.

The staunchly left-wing Jacobin Magazine argued that the show "uses Soviet characters to valorise austerity". (and here's a critical response to that piece from a reader of the magazine).

And finally, some good ratings news: we have apparently bounced back to season-two levels.

I meant to post this Tuesday or at least yesterday, but things have been nuts, and it didn't happen. Better late than never?

Two interviews with Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields: from Entertainment Weekly and from IGN. The pair also have an exclusive video commentary on that "intimate and excruciating" scene from this week.

Two interviews with Keri Russell: from Hitfix and from the LA Times.

Two interviews with Matthew Rhys: from Starpulse and from Collider.

One interview with Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys from Paste Magazine.

Two interviews with Alison Wright (Martha): from Instyle and from HNGN

One interview with director Tommy Schlamme about the "intimate and excruciating" scene from this week.

The New Yorker has a piece on the "Afghanistan baggage" from this season.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a piece on spy shows that turn old plots on their heads, of which The Americans is one.

Headline Planet has some bad news about recent episodes' ratings.

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.).

A Forbes interview with the David Madden, president of Fox Television Studios, about an executive's look at producing The Americans.

A Vulture interview with Alison Wright (Martha) on Martha's chances of survival and other matters.

An Esquire interview with South African actor Cliff Simon, who played Yossi-the-Mossad-agent in "The Deal" (episode 205).

A Shape interview with Avital Zeisler, the self-defense expert who trained Keri Russell (Elizabeth) how to fight using something that could pass as systema.

TV Guide's piece "Underneath the Wigs," based on an interview with hair and makeup artist Peg Schierholz.

A Greencastle Echo-Pilot interview with makeup artist Lori Hicks.

An FX-produced mini-documentary takes a look at the KGB Rezidentura and what it took to build the set.

The official description has been released for episode 210.

Columnist Blake Rutherford from Arkansas Business makes a comparison between the show's political stories and the real-life politics of today.

There are some new spoilers from TV Guide's Ask Ausiello column.

The fashion blog Into the Gloss has a piece on how to replicate Elizabeth's early 80s look.

The Americans is now airing in Israel, with each episode airing the Sunday after it aired in the U.S. and Canada.

And there are two new 8tracks.com fanmixes for the show: Sorry I Didn't Kill You and Party At Ground Zero.

I'll start with two recent pieces that really get into some detail about the show and the making of it: a great interview with the The Americans editors from Editors Guild Magazine, and a piece with a focus on Keri Russell from Capitol File Magazine. Both have very (very very!) minor spoilers for storylines in season two.

Next, a satisfying "guide to the TV galaxy" from the Weekly Wonk (a U.S.-based political magazine) that focuses primarily on awesome non-U.S. shows, but pays tribute to our show as well. :)

And finally, some tiny tidbits from Twitter:

Non-spoileriffic: a cute photo of a cat on Matthew Rhys' chair, a shot of the actors who play Martha, Nina, and Sandra together at a recent fundraiser, and a picture of showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg together on set while filming.

Mildly spoileriffic: a shot of a prop from a corner of a set, a shot of the filming of an outdoor scene, a shot of Keri Russell in disguise, two tweets from writer Angelina Burnett about the shooting of an episode that she wrote (including one very intriguing spoiler!), and a photo of a script that reveals the title for season two, episode four.

(Heads-up to the spoilerphobes: there may be discussion of the spoilers linked to above in the comments.)