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jaeCongratulations to The Americans for finally breaking through into the Emmy big leagues! Five total nominations, including Drama, Actor (Matthew Rhys), Actress (Keri Russell), and Writing-Drama (Joe Weisberg/Joel Fields).
jae
Some summer links
Aug. 18th, 2015 11:08 amjaeI dropped the ball on link-posting for most of the summer, but not on link-collecting. So that means a whole load of incoming links!
Arguably most importantly for the continuing presence of the show on North American screens, The Americans won this year's Outstanding Achievement in Drama award in the annual Television Critics Association awards. (The award was even presented by two critics who dressed up as "Clark" and "Jennifer" from the show!)
And not to leave out the Brits, the most important piece of news for the presence of the show on their screens: a deal has been made with ITV Encore to bring the show back to the UK after it was cancelled between seasons two and three.
The show didn't end up getting nominated for any significant Emmys, but there was a bunch of buzz around the possibility over the summer, and some of it is still worth reading and listening to in retrospect (mostly because it's not just about the potential for awards). Here are some links in that vein:
Indiewire interviewed co-showrunners Joel Weisberg and Joe Fields, and Goldderby interviewed Matthew Rhys (Philip) in advance of the Emmy nominations.
If you've got a bit of time to kill, here's critic Todd van der Werff (from Vox) making a case prior to the nominations for why the show actually did have a chance at some Emmy attention this year (audio, starting at around 29:00 and coming back to it around 38:00).
Of course, lots and lots of publications had stuff to say about the Emmy snub. I won't try to link to all of the mentions, but here are three pieces that focused specifically on The Americans: Decider, the New York Post, and Goldderby.
Entertainment magazine Vulture had its own alternate awards in its own categories this year, and The Americans won for best scene, best child actor, most improved show, and best drama.
There have also been a number of pieces about (or partly about) the show this summer that don't focus on awards:
Paul Sonne from the Wall Street Journal: "An ex-Russian spy on the accuracy of The Americans"
Alyssa Rosenberg from the Washington Post: "The economics that explain why more people aren't watching the best show on TV"
Emma Fraser from Flavorwire: "Talking TV underwear: ‘Masters of Sex,’ ‘The Americans,’ and ‘You’re the Worst’ costume designers on working from the inside out"
Kelly Schremph from Bustle: "How many The Americans seasons will there be? This Russian spy thriller could go on indefinitely
Philip Gould from the Providence Journal: "What's American about The Americans?"
Andrea Morabito from the New York Post: "Long live TV's female anti-heroes"
The show also made TIME TV critic Joe Poniewozik's list of the best shows of 2015 so far.
And finally, a new German spy show debuted this summer called "Deutschland 83" that has a lot of the same superficial premises. The co-creators and the star of that show talk about what they know about The Americans.
Arguably most importantly for the continuing presence of the show on North American screens, The Americans won this year's Outstanding Achievement in Drama award in the annual Television Critics Association awards. (The award was even presented by two critics who dressed up as "Clark" and "Jennifer" from the show!)
And not to leave out the Brits, the most important piece of news for the presence of the show on their screens: a deal has been made with ITV Encore to bring the show back to the UK after it was cancelled between seasons two and three.
The show didn't end up getting nominated for any significant Emmys, but there was a bunch of buzz around the possibility over the summer, and some of it is still worth reading and listening to in retrospect (mostly because it's not just about the potential for awards). Here are some links in that vein:
Indiewire interviewed co-showrunners Joel Weisberg and Joe Fields, and Goldderby interviewed Matthew Rhys (Philip) in advance of the Emmy nominations.
If you've got a bit of time to kill, here's critic Todd van der Werff (from Vox) making a case prior to the nominations for why the show actually did have a chance at some Emmy attention this year (audio, starting at around 29:00 and coming back to it around 38:00).
Of course, lots and lots of publications had stuff to say about the Emmy snub. I won't try to link to all of the mentions, but here are three pieces that focused specifically on The Americans: Decider, the New York Post, and Goldderby.
Entertainment magazine Vulture had its own alternate awards in its own categories this year, and The Americans won for best scene, best child actor, most improved show, and best drama.
There have also been a number of pieces about (or partly about) the show this summer that don't focus on awards:
Paul Sonne from the Wall Street Journal: "An ex-Russian spy on the accuracy of The Americans"
Alyssa Rosenberg from the Washington Post: "The economics that explain why more people aren't watching the best show on TV"
Emma Fraser from Flavorwire: "Talking TV underwear: ‘Masters of Sex,’ ‘The Americans,’ and ‘You’re the Worst’ costume designers on working from the inside out"
Kelly Schremph from Bustle: "How many The Americans seasons will there be? This Russian spy thriller could go on indefinitely
Philip Gould from the Providence Journal: "What's American about The Americans?"
Andrea Morabito from the New York Post: "Long live TV's female anti-heroes"
The show also made TIME TV critic Joe Poniewozik's list of the best shows of 2015 so far.
And finally, a new German spy show debuted this summer called "Deutschland 83" that has a lot of the same superficial premises. The co-creators and the star of that show talk about what they know about The Americans.
Critics' Choice Awards and other links
May. 31st, 2015 08:13 pmjaeCongratulations to The Americans for winning Best Drama in the 2015 Critics' Choice Awards tonight! Co-showrunner Joe Weisberg gave the speech, and Annet Mahendru (Nina), Alison Wright (Martha), and Holly Taylor (Paige) were also in attendance. [Edited to add: here's a video of the win and Weisberg's speech for Americans or non-Americans with a good VPN.]
And speaking of awards, Goldderby seems to think they have a shot at an Emmy or two this year, too (though I'll believe it when I see it, personally).
An interview with co-showrunner Joe Weisberg, but one that's different from anything we've seen before: a dialogue with Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov about Soviet illegals and why countries spy. Only part of the interview is about The Americans, but it's still really fascinating.
Slate Magazine has an interview with showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg
And travel magazine The Pursuitist also has an interview with Joe Weisberg.
IGN was better late than never with their season three review.
And finally, TIME magazine included The Americans in a piece on How TV Sex Got Real.
And speaking of awards, Goldderby seems to think they have a shot at an Emmy or two this year, too (though I'll believe it when I see it, personally).
An interview with co-showrunner Joe Weisberg, but one that's different from anything we've seen before: a dialogue with Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov about Soviet illegals and why countries spy. Only part of the interview is about The Americans, but it's still really fascinating.
Slate Magazine has an interview with showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg
And travel magazine The Pursuitist also has an interview with Joe Weisberg.
IGN was better late than never with their season three review.
And finally, TIME magazine included The Americans in a piece on How TV Sex Got Real.
Some pre-episode-11 links
Apr. 7th, 2015 06:34 pmjaeAn interview with the showrunners following last week's episode.
Two interviews with Holly Taylor (Paige): From the Hollywood Reporter and Yahoo.
An interview with Matthew Rhys.
An interview with Annet Mahendru (Nina).
An interview with Costa Ronin (Oleg).
And finally, one with Alison Wright (Martha).
Todd VanDerWerff at Vox wrote a piece on last week's episode and builds a case for the notion that the current run of episodes is following the structure of a Shakespearean five-act tragedy.
Entertainment Weekly has a piece on Paige and her Christian faith, and nominates Holly Taylor as a runner-up for Most Valuable Player last week.
Salon talks about the way the show tests our limits.
Mother Jones has a little piece trying to get people to watch the show.
Sound on Sight nominates Nina as among its six TV characters worthy of a spin-off.
And finally, a little video with a bunch of the cast from the show's Emmy Magazine cover shoot.
Two interviews with Holly Taylor (Paige): From the Hollywood Reporter and Yahoo.
An interview with Matthew Rhys.
An interview with Annet Mahendru (Nina).
An interview with Costa Ronin (Oleg).
And finally, one with Alison Wright (Martha).
Todd VanDerWerff at Vox wrote a piece on last week's episode and builds a case for the notion that the current run of episodes is following the structure of a Shakespearean five-act tragedy.
Entertainment Weekly has a piece on Paige and her Christian faith, and nominates Holly Taylor as a runner-up for Most Valuable Player last week.
Salon talks about the way the show tests our limits.
Mother Jones has a little piece trying to get people to watch the show.
Sound on Sight nominates Nina as among its six TV characters worthy of a spin-off.
And finally, a little video with a bunch of the cast from the show's Emmy Magazine cover shoot.
jaeAs predicted, The Americans-related links have slowed to a trickle for the summer, but here are a few:
From Entertainment Weekly, a piece on why Philip Jennings is the best character on the show (and a smaller blurb on the same topic here).
The Emmys air tonight, and the show has been mentioned in a number of pieces that deal with what should have been nominated but wasn't: from Entertainment Weekly again, from the Boston Globe, from the Kansas City Star, from Vulture, and from Wall Street Cheat.
cathexys is an academic whose work centres around popular culture, and she's working up something for a conference in Austin in September called Complex Negotiation of National Identity in The Americans. The post where she talks about it is access-locked, as all of her posts are, but she always adds people who want to be added (just drop her a note either in a comment or in a private message).
From Entertainment Weekly, a piece on why Philip Jennings is the best character on the show (and a smaller blurb on the same topic here).
The Emmys air tonight, and the show has been mentioned in a number of pieces that deal with what should have been nominated but wasn't: from Entertainment Weekly again, from the Boston Globe, from the Kansas City Star, from Vulture, and from Wall Street Cheat.
cathexys is an academic whose work centres around popular culture, and she's working up something for a conference in Austin in September called Complex Negotiation of National Identity in The Americans. The post where she talks about it is access-locked, as all of her posts are, but she always adds people who want to be added (just drop her a note either in a comment or in a private message).Post-Emmy nominations linkspam
Jul. 13th, 2014 08:56 amjaeThere has been a lot of outrage from critics about The Americans not getting much "Emmy love"--enough that I'm not even going to try to link to all of it. But here are the best pieces I could find that mention the show as having been snubbed: from Grantland's Andy Greenwald, from TIME's James Poniewozick, from Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall, and from Vox's Todd Vanderwerff (formerly of the AV Club).
In better news, co-showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields have signed a long-term development deal with FX that probably means not only more seasons of The Americans, but also additional co-productions between the two of them in the future.
Keri Russell has been doing some interviews to promote her new movie, and is sometimes getting asked about The Americans as well (or bringing it up herself): in an interview with MTV, and in another with the Miami Herald.
Forbes talks in some detail about binge-watching The Americans in an article about the difficulties of binge-watching.
The Americans has made Rolling Stone's list of the best TV of 2014 so far, and Forbes' 14 best moments on TV in 2014's first half.
Only sort-of related to The Americans, but still potentially interesting: the Windsor Star is reporting on the recent declassification of a large store of files about the Soviet illegals. (The Americans is mentioned as having been inspired by the historical events surrounding that information.)
And finally, a German fan is blogging about the show at the blog "Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen" (in German).
In better news, co-showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields have signed a long-term development deal with FX that probably means not only more seasons of The Americans, but also additional co-productions between the two of them in the future.
Keri Russell has been doing some interviews to promote her new movie, and is sometimes getting asked about The Americans as well (or bringing it up herself): in an interview with MTV, and in another with the Miami Herald.
Forbes talks in some detail about binge-watching The Americans in an article about the difficulties of binge-watching.
The Americans has made Rolling Stone's list of the best TV of 2014 so far, and Forbes' 14 best moments on TV in 2014's first half.
Only sort-of related to The Americans, but still potentially interesting: the Windsor Star is reporting on the recent declassification of a large store of files about the Soviet illegals. (The Americans is mentioned as having been inspired by the historical events surrounding that information.)
And finally, a German fan is blogging about the show at the blog "Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen" (in German).
This week's links
Jun. 24th, 2014 12:06 pmjaeA little later than usual, so you get an extra-large dose!
Deadline and Hollywood Reporter both have interviews with Matthew Rhys (Philip). Deadline also has an interview with Keri Russell (Elizabeth).
Goldderby continues its series of Skype interviews with an interview with the show's composer, Nathan Barr. TVgoodness.com also reports on an evening with Barr and fellow television composer Jeff Russo.
Indiawest features a short interview with Annet Mahendru (Nina).
The two-punch hit of the The Americans season opener and the season finale made Indiewire's list of the most shocking TV moments of 2014 so far. Three of the show's episodes also made the list of Goldderby's top thirty drama episodes of the Emmy season.
The Critics' Choice Awards have been and gone. The show may not have won any of the things it was nominated for, but Matthew Rhys (Philip) was a presenter. The Hollywood Reporter also talks about what the show's nominations for those awards could mean for potential Emmy nominations.
Speaking of the Emmys, Alan Sepinwall from Hitfix has been putting out "if I had an Emmy ballot" columns, and representatives of the show have made his lists for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Hitfix's Daniel Fienberg also picked the show itself for Outstanding Drama Series.
TV Guide is also choosing folks from The Americans for Emmy nominations for Supporting Actress in a Drama and Lead Actor in a Drama.
TV.com also has the show represented in its picks for the Supporting Actress in a Drama category, and Brian Tallerico from RogerEbert.com has it represented in the Lead Actress in a Drama and Supporting Actress in a Drama categories, as well as Outstanding Dramatic Series.
Finally, Vulture is also putting out its own TV "awards," and the show has representatives in those with Philip and Elizabeth as Television's best couple and Matthew Rhys as Best Drama Performer.
Deadline and Hollywood Reporter both have interviews with Matthew Rhys (Philip). Deadline also has an interview with Keri Russell (Elizabeth).
Goldderby continues its series of Skype interviews with an interview with the show's composer, Nathan Barr. TVgoodness.com also reports on an evening with Barr and fellow television composer Jeff Russo.
Indiawest features a short interview with Annet Mahendru (Nina).
The two-punch hit of the The Americans season opener and the season finale made Indiewire's list of the most shocking TV moments of 2014 so far. Three of the show's episodes also made the list of Goldderby's top thirty drama episodes of the Emmy season.
The Critics' Choice Awards have been and gone. The show may not have won any of the things it was nominated for, but Matthew Rhys (Philip) was a presenter. The Hollywood Reporter also talks about what the show's nominations for those awards could mean for potential Emmy nominations.
Speaking of the Emmys, Alan Sepinwall from Hitfix has been putting out "if I had an Emmy ballot" columns, and representatives of the show have made his lists for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Hitfix's Daniel Fienberg also picked the show itself for Outstanding Drama Series.
TV Guide is also choosing folks from The Americans for Emmy nominations for Supporting Actress in a Drama and Lead Actor in a Drama.
TV.com also has the show represented in its picks for the Supporting Actress in a Drama category, and Brian Tallerico from RogerEbert.com has it represented in the Lead Actress in a Drama and Supporting Actress in a Drama categories, as well as Outstanding Dramatic Series.
Finally, Vulture is also putting out its own TV "awards," and the show has representatives in those with Philip and Elizabeth as Television's best couple and Matthew Rhys as Best Drama Performer.
Post-finale linkspam
May. 28th, 2014 12:27 pmjaeFirst up, it's the beginning of awards season, and the future looks bright:
• The Television Critics Association (TCA) has nominated Matthew Rhys (Philip) for Individual Achievement in Drama and the show for Outstanding Achievement in Drama.
• The show has also received several Critics' Choice Awards nominations: for Best Drama Series, Matthew Rhys for Best Actor in a Drama Series, Keri Russell (Elizabeth) for Best Actress in a Drama Series, and Annet Mahendru (Nina) for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
• GoldDerby, which is in the business of predicting who's going to win various show business awards, warns that The Americans could ambush the Emmys as well, while Boston Globe columnist Matthew Gilbert includes the show on a list of shows that Emmy voters should make sure to "show some love" to.
• The UK's TV Choice Magazine is also holding its own web-based awards, with The Americans nominated as "Best International Series" (feel free to vote yourself, if you want).
And in other show-related news:
As predicted, The Americans was at the top of the Hollywood Reporter's "power rankings" in its last week of contention.
Rolling Stone featured the show on its list of eight TV shows you should be watching right now.
Flavorwire talked about the show in its summary of the week's top five TV moments.
Elizabeth and Philip made it to #11 on tvline's list of favourite television pairings.
Starpulse made a list of their top five favourite wigs that Keri Russell wore in season two.
IGN's "Channel Surfing" podcast featured the finales of The Americans and Hannibal.
Speaking of those two shows, here's a Salon piece that argues that The Americans and Hannibal are the two best love stories on television.
The blogger behind "Based on Nothing" wrote that the second season of The Americans made it FX's best show.
...and if you're after an oddly refreshing change from all of this praise from critics, here's your outlier--the guy who liked season one but disliked season two.
• The Television Critics Association (TCA) has nominated Matthew Rhys (Philip) for Individual Achievement in Drama and the show for Outstanding Achievement in Drama.
• The show has also received several Critics' Choice Awards nominations: for Best Drama Series, Matthew Rhys for Best Actor in a Drama Series, Keri Russell (Elizabeth) for Best Actress in a Drama Series, and Annet Mahendru (Nina) for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
• GoldDerby, which is in the business of predicting who's going to win various show business awards, warns that The Americans could ambush the Emmys as well, while Boston Globe columnist Matthew Gilbert includes the show on a list of shows that Emmy voters should make sure to "show some love" to.
• The UK's TV Choice Magazine is also holding its own web-based awards, with The Americans nominated as "Best International Series" (feel free to vote yourself, if you want).
And in other show-related news:
As predicted, The Americans was at the top of the Hollywood Reporter's "power rankings" in its last week of contention.
Rolling Stone featured the show on its list of eight TV shows you should be watching right now.
Flavorwire talked about the show in its summary of the week's top five TV moments.
Elizabeth and Philip made it to #11 on tvline's list of favourite television pairings.
Starpulse made a list of their top five favourite wigs that Keri Russell wore in season two.
IGN's "Channel Surfing" podcast featured the finales of The Americans and Hannibal.
Speaking of those two shows, here's a Salon piece that argues that The Americans and Hannibal are the two best love stories on television.
The blogger behind "Based on Nothing" wrote that the second season of The Americans made it FX's best show.
...and if you're after an oddly refreshing change from all of this praise from critics, here's your outlier--the guy who liked season one but disliked season two.
Another collection of links
Jun. 7th, 2013 08:46 amjaeNative Welshman Matthew Rhys has been doing a lot of UK and Ireland-based interviews lately now that our little show has started airing there. The first is a video interview with the Irish station RTÉ Two (nabbed from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lilypoppy):( cut for video )
...and the second is another video interview with tvline.com (with an American interviewer but talking specifically about the UK airing timeline):( cut for video )
...and here are three print interviews with Wales Online, The Telegraph, and Timeout London.
Both Stephen King and Rob Lowe have publicly stated that they think the Americans is the best thing on TV right now, and film director Bernardo Bertolucci specifically mentioned it as one of the TV series that's better than films these days.
Any of you who are also on Tumblr might want to be aware of the graphics blog FYeahTheAmericans.
Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell are on the cover of this month's Emmy Magazine (hopefully a good sign for future nominations?).
And last but not least, a great interview with the director of the CIA's Spy Museum from Business Insider about all of the ways the show's spy side is realistic and all of the ways it's not.
lilypoppy):( cut for video )...and the second is another video interview with tvline.com (with an American interviewer but talking specifically about the UK airing timeline):( cut for video )
...and here are three print interviews with Wales Online, The Telegraph, and Timeout London.
Both Stephen King and Rob Lowe have publicly stated that they think the Americans is the best thing on TV right now, and film director Bernardo Bertolucci specifically mentioned it as one of the TV series that's better than films these days.
Any of you who are also on Tumblr might want to be aware of the graphics blog FYeahTheAmericans.
Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell are on the cover of this month's Emmy Magazine (hopefully a good sign for future nominations?).
And last but not least, a great interview with the director of the CIA's Spy Museum from Business Insider about all of the ways the show's spy side is realistic and all of the ways it's not.
