jae: (theamericansgecko)
[personal profile] jae
I 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.
jae: (theamericansgecko)
[personal profile] jae
An interview with Matthew Rhys, two different ones with Holly Taylor (Paige), another with Annet Mahendru (Nina), another with Margo Martindale (Claudia), and one with Tracey Scott Wilson, a member of the show's writers' room.

And some pre-finale pieces on the show: one on the disguises, and one on the show in general.

The Americans has won one of this year's Peabody Awards! (What's a Peabody Award? This.)

Zack Handlen of the AV Club writes a review of the entire third season (complete with letter grade).

Sonia Saraiya from Salon has an analysis of why The Americans will never be "must-see TV".

And finally, season three is now airing in Australia! Here's a piece on the premiere.
jae: (theamericansgecko)
[personal profile] jae
The description for episode 302 has been released.

Bad news for UK-based fans: ITV will not be airing the third season. (If you're a UK fan who's stranded without a way to see the show now, please feel free to get in touch with the community hosts to brainstorm possibilities.)

There are a few new spoilers for season three: this piece contains overall story arc stuff with a few specifics, and this piece contains some different story arc stuff and some different specifics, and this one contains some duplicate spoilers and some new stuff.

Finally, this TV Ate My Wardrobe piece and this International Business Times piece dissect one of the season 3 promos and the new season 3 poster, respectively.
jae: (internetgecko)
[personal profile] jae
The official renewal for season three has come! Here is the official press release from FX and here is some insight from critic Alan Sepinwall as to why they've opted for renewal.

The New York Times talks about how Oliver North became a consultant for the show (and eventually even got a co-writer's credit on next week's episode).

Foreign Policy talks with a former spy about the things that are and aren't realistic about the show's spycraft.

An interview with Noah Emmerich (Stan) from the New York Observer, another from Entertainment Weekly, and yet another in critic Andy Greenwald's podcast this week (audio, ~55 minutes).

Costa Ronin (Oleg) gave an interview to Fox LA (video, ~4 minutes).

The New York Daily News reports on the shows filming in Brooklyn, and The Americans is among them.

The Washington Post talks about a piece of local pop culture history that led this past week's episode.

Wales Online has Matthew Rhys' top five moments from the show.

The official description for episode twelve has been released.

FX has released a featurette on the show's spy gear (only viewable to viewers inside the U.S.).

More news on international broadcasts! Season two begins airing in Poland on April 25th. It has also been airing in France (episode 207 debuts there on April 19th), in Ireland (episode 206 debuts there on April 19th), and in Spain (episode 203 debuted there last Tuesday).
jae: (theamericansgecko)
[personal profile] jae
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.
jae: (theamericansgecko)
[personal profile] jae
There's a promo for cut for title of season two, episode three ) up over here at youtube and there's also a scene from the episode both at the show's Facebook page and embedded over here (the second video).

The episode description for season two, episode six has been released.

Noah Emmerich did an interview about the show on The Couch (video, 6.5 minutes).

Matthew Rhys did an interview about the show with The Huffington Post live (video, 1.5 minutes) and a print interview for Two Cents TV.

All-new spoilers are out! The best come from YahooTV, where some of the cast and creatives did a two truths and a lie sort of thing. Just deliciously done. And there are more, too, from TVLine's Ask Ausiello column and from Natalie Abrams at TV Guide.

The Pacific Standard Magazine has a piece out that's asking Why Isn't The Americans More Popular?

ComplexMag is also touting "How The Americans Keeps Analog Cold War Spy Drama Riveting in the Digital Age."

Metacritic is a site that quantifies and summarizes all critic reviews of a show or movie, and gives it a number ranging from zero (worst) to 100 (best). In the first season, The Americans had a 77, while in the second season, it has an 88.

It is now confirmed that the second season of The Americans will begin Saturday the 15th of March at 9:20pm on the UK's ITV.

The episode recaps from "Cardinal" (season two, episode two) are rolling in and being posted over at the episode discussion post.

And look, it's a rare bird these days: a bad review of the latest season! Poor Dave Delisle from Untiedmag, all alone in his dissenting opinion. *g*

And last but not least, I know I'm not the only one in the comm who reads French, so I'll link to this interview with music supervisor PJ Bloom from the French source DailyMars.
jae: (theamericansgecko)
[personal profile] jae
The interviews with cast and creatives continue unabated (all five of the following contain spoilers for season two):
• FX has released an "Inside the Secrets" youtube interview with showrunner Joel Fields (video, 1.5 minutes long), in which he answered fan questions from last year.

• U.S. National Public Radio's show Studio 360 also had an interview with showrunner Joe Weisberg (audio, 12 minutes long).

Esquire also has an interview with Joe Weisberg about the spy techniques in "Comrades."

• And NPR's Leonard Lopate had a Noah Emmerich interview (audio, 18 minutes long).

• Keri Russell also did an interview (a print one), this time with the Sioux City Journal.
Good news about the ratings for the season two premiere: viewing rose a whopping 81% in the show's key demographic when "time-shifted viewing" was taken into account.

UK's Geektown is suggesting (unconfirmed) that season two will begin in the UK on the 28th of March, based on speculation that season two will run straight through after they finish repeating the season one episodes. The Daily Mirror also suggests that it's likely to return "in the spring". What is confirmed, though, is that it will return, and that it will continue to air on ITV.

Grantland's Hollywood Prospectus podcast with Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald deals with The Americans (starting from 41:36).

FX sponsored a "training day for spies" to promote The Americans and invited journalists on it. Buzzfeed's Alan White reports on the event.

And freelance journalist Jonathan Frochtzwajg has written a piece on medium.com called "Mirror, Mir: Why Cold War Piece The Americans is TV's Most Relevant Spy Show." No spoilers in this, in part because it seems to have been written partway through last year.
jae: (theamericansgecko)
[personal profile] jae
Get ready for a ludicrous number of links this time!

First off, there's a great interview with Keri Russell (Elizabeth) and Matthew Rhys (Philip) in Entertainment Weekly that's sadly behind a paywall, but [tumblr.com profile] jenningscomrades posted a series of readable screenshots over at Tumblr.

And speaking of Tumblr, the full set of promotional pictures for season two was posted by [tumblr.com profile] theamericanstv there too: 1, 2.

In further interviews, writer/showrunner Joe Weisberg was interviewed at the Writers' Guild of America Awards (the bit with Weisberg starts at 8:05), including at least a couple of things he hasn't already said a thousand times. :)

The show's costume designer Jenny Gering was also interviewed in Elle.

Episode 201 hasn't yet aired, of course, but we now have the plot description for episode 202.

According to writer/showrunner Joel Fields on Twitter, the script for the season two finale was finished this week, and the title for episode ten has been released.

And in the vein of "better late than never," the first season of our favourite show starts airing in Finland today on MTV (there's a trailer at the site and also a wonderful promotional campaign there) and in Germany on ProSieben Maxx (here's a trailer--dubbed, as is par for the course in Germany and a review from the Spiegel for those of you who speak German).

Any of you who are in New York or can get there easily can buy raffle tickets to join cast and crew in style at the season premiere (and get to see the first episode two days early!).

Bad news for anyone who was hoping to see The Americans on Netflix someday: Fox (which owns FX) and Amazon have signed a new distribution agreement granting Amazon Prime's Instant Video subscribers exclusive rights to the show.

There have been a few voices in the media that are hyping the season one DVD/Blu-Ray release in the hope of snagging new viewers before season two: The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Rotten Tomatoes (which chose The Americans as their Weekly Binge show last week).

And last but not least, here's a shot of Matthew Rhys checking out the timeline in the writers' room. (16 days!)
jae: (theamericansgecko)
[personal profile] jae
A terrific, authentic video interview with Margo Martindale (Claudia).

Award-winning critic Matt Zoller Seitz of Vulture has dubbed The Americans one of the five best TV dramas of the year so far, and Noah Emmerich (Stan) the year's best dramatic performer.

Our show is now airing in Dubai as well.

The first spoilers for season two have emerged (if you don't want to be spoiled, don't click--and don't hover on the link, either!).

And last because it's only tangentially related: the house in New Jersey where the SVR illegals were found in 2010 (thereby providing the original inspiration for our show) is now for sale.
jae: (televisiongecko)
[personal profile] jae
Our little show will soon be airing on Australia's Network Ten and the UK's ITV. Wikipedia gives first-airing dates of May 27th for the Australian broadcast and June 1st for the British.

The British promo trailer is over here (can't find a way to embed it), and here's the Australian one:

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