4 ms·
“The Americans” doesn’t get enough love as one of the top shows of the past decade. The darkness sneaks up on you. The people who start out seeming like James
by pavlov 2y ago
“The Americans” doesn’t get enough love as one of the top shows of the past decade.
The darkness sneaks up on you. The people who start out seeming like James Bond characters end up carrying the full intolerable weight of their lies and destructive actions. People who looked like side characters are followed up with entire life stories in the shadows.
- aaronbrethorst 2y agoThe Americans also has the advantage of being done. It's six seasons long and, imho, manages to the stick the landing.
- simonw 2y agoOne of the best endings of any show I can remember. It answered the biggest question of the show (concerning Stan) so well, and the ending was both surprising and fully earned. Masterful television.
- myvoiceismypass 2y agoI never finished The Americans but The Shield had the most perfect ending possible for that show and it was amazing! Worth checking out for anyone who has not already seen it.
- aaronbrethorst 2y agoFor someone clearly interested in Cold War era espionage movies ("my voice is my password"), you should definitely go back and finish The Americans...
- aaronbrethorst 2y agopassport not password. ugh, been too long since I watched Sneakers
- hwestiii 2y agoagree totally. Shane…OMG, Kenny….
- edanm 2y agoFWIW I absolutely love The Shield, one of my favorite shows. The Americans is better. But it was also hard to get into, and I stopped a few episodes in the first time. It gets much better the more the story goes on. As a fellow The Shield-lover, I highly recommend you try to finish The Americans.
- defrost 2y agoKeep an eye on The Diplomat with Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell. Two short seasons down, it's tight, it's sharp, it could go far.
- SideburnsOfDoom 2y agoI'm enjoying The Diplomat, but it's silly, popcorn stuff. Not "one of the best of the last etc".
- stana 2y agoGot introduced to Rufus Sewell in 'The Man in The High Castle'. He played an SS commander. Most intimidating and frightening presence on the screen - without raising his voice and no (direct) acts of violence. Great actor.
- defrost 2y agoHe is indeed an extremly good actor .. wasted in some earlier US productions that bought him in for the Shakespearean Gravitas (pissed away by poor scripts in Eleventh Hour) .. but a shining light in various UK productions such as Petruchio in ShakespeaRe-Told. https://thetvdb.com/series/eleventh-hour-us https://thetvdb.com/series/eleventh-hour-us https://thetvdb.com/series/shakespeare-told/episodes/375791 https://thetvdb.com/series/shakespeare-told/episodes/375791
- RationPhantoms 2y agoI knew of his villainous presence as being the baddie in Knight's Tale. He exuded privilege and eliticism so perfectly. Fantastic actor!
- edanm 2y agoI couldn't agree more. It was masterful, and had an enormously shocking ending emotionally - in multiple ways, including the Stan ending, though I'm sure we're both talking about something else. Btw, funny enough, on rewatches, I actually focus more on the one big Stan question that isn't answered (and, in fact, is actually asked to him for the first time). I'm happy it was never resolved, though I keep wondering if there's some clue that they are hiding in there that will resolve it for real one of these days :)
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago>and, imho, manages to the stick the landing. That last part is the miracle. So many shows start out strong, and are just dogshit for the finale. Does anyone really believe that Severance will manage this trick? Would love to be surprised and mistaken, but they're just throwing crap at the wall to see what will stick, and that only lasts so long.
- mintplant 2y agoAnna Ouyang Moench is involved, and she wrote the best play my friends and I ever saw (Birds of North America), so that gives me hope.
- teej 2y agoYou’ve sold me, I’ll check it out.
- UncleOxidant 2y agoYep. Recently I've been enjoying "Slow Horses" which is also a spy thriller, though it doesn't hit quite like "The Americans" did.
- strix_varius 2y agoSame, it's not quite Americans caliber but it scratches a similar itch.
- konart 2y agoToo "Bondish" if not grotesque in my opinion. It started pretty well, but after some events in the show it feels caricaturistic.
- sidibe 2y agoThe Bureau is an even better spy show IMO though I loved both. Something about how low key and realer The Bureau feels makes it more intense. It felt like The Wire to me though completely different shows.
- Dotnaught 2y agoThe Bureau is excellent. One of the few shows where the hacking is relatively realistic (as opposed to magic to advance the plot). The Wire is an apt comparison.
- nanomonkey 2y agoLe bureau des légendes was a great series from start to finish! I honestly enjoyed all of the characters, even when they seemed a bit manipulative or cold.
- reaperman 2y agoThe 2009 English-language series or the 2015 French-language series? Both share the same title.
- sidibe 2y agoThe French one there's an English language remake happening now called The Agency but I've heard mixed reviews
- cududa 2y agoThe Americans absolutely gets enough love as one of the top shows of the past decade. People say that all the time
- albedoa 2y agoYeah what a bonkers comment. "The Beatles are never recognized for their cultural influence!"
- zemo 2y agocritics say that, but its viewership is low compared to other dramas. Usually when I tell people that it's one of my favorite shows, their response is that they've never seen it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Americans_episodes#Ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Americans_episodes... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prison_Break_episodes#Ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prison_Break_episodes#... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lost_episodes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lost_episodes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_of_Thrones_episodes#Ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_of_Thrones_episod... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us_(TV_series)#Ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us_(TV_series)#Rat... ^ compare the viewership. The Americans was getting fewer than a million viewers in its final seasons, Lost regularly got over ten million. You can't easily chalk it up to just the fact that Lost was on network; The Last of Us was getting more than 10x the viewership of The Americans and it was on HBO. While The Americans is very critically acclaimed, it is not as widely watched as it really should be.
- chelical 2y agoThere must be a disconnect between viewers and critics, because viewership declined over its entire run. Compare that with a true masterpiece like Breaking Bad which saw viewership consistently increase over the course of its run.
- Capricorn2481 2y agoPretty rare for any show to increase in viewership year over year. Breaking Bad had monumental word of mouth towards the end. Better call Saul dropped year over year but was still fantastic.
- spopejoy 2y agoSince Severance is a "comedy" -- I really liked Preacher and never see any love for it. Incredibly funny