Do you know about "The Americans"? Well now you do.

It's a new FX show. It's a period piece set in the 1980s. It's a cold war deep cover authentic spy fictionstory. It's got great lead actors, and Kerri Russell'skicking ass and taking names. It's full of amazing 80s music like Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight". If you aren't sold on it yet, you have no soul. Anyways - here's a trailer off youtube, that's vaguely informative. Consider yourself in-the-know now. No excuses left to miss out on "The Americans".

The more you know.

I'm shattered to see that this isn't the sequel to The American.

I thought the 1st episode was pretty bad.

...except for the excuse that I don't have and don't want cable TV?

That show looks absolutely horrible. Fucking American Cold War nostalgia.

You pretty much had me sold until I saw that promo. Holy crap that looks terrible.

First episode was alright. Curious to see how the season goes.

You people are silly. Pilot was pretty great and lays the foundation for a (hopefully) great show.

This looks absolutely no different than any other hour long drama out there.

I caught it. it was pretty damn good.

Kerri Russell is the worst.

If there's no tactical espionage action then I'm not interested.

Looks interesting enough, not because of Keri Russell though. 
Also, I like how you call her Kerry Russell yet link to her Wikipedia page where it's spelled with an I and not a Y :P 
 
But yeah, I guess I'll check it out at some point. 

@believer258 said:

...except for the excuse that I don't have and don't want cable TV?

I don't understand what you're saying? Do I understand you correctly that that's your reason to dismiss the TV show format entirely? That's a really weak reason to not being into TV shows.

TV shows are the best they've ever been. As an entertainment format, the TV show has made tremendous strides towards quality, and the efforts that HBO AMC FX Showtime and such have been doing in this field in the last decade or so rivals - and even surpasses - the classic movie format more often than not. British TV shows too are damn impressive these days.

Buy a Blu Ray boxset of "Game of Thrones" or "Breaking Bad", and you'll forever hate yourself for dismissing TV shows so nonchalantly. Your loss.

@NinjaBerd said:

Kerri Russell is the worst.

Not in this she isn't. The male lead, Matthew Rhys, was even stronger in my opinion, but he's got little name recognition at this point - so I just namedropped the obvious choice with Kerri Russell. What did she ever do to offend you anyways?

@Seppli said:

@NinjaBerd said:

Kerri Russell is the worst.

Not in this she isn't. The male lead, Matthew Rhys, was even stronger in my opinion, but he's got little name recognition at this point - so I just namedropped the obvious choice with Kerri Russell. What did she ever do to offend you anyways?

I simply have never cared for her in anything I have seen her in.

My local movie theater keeps showing an ad for that show for some reason. I'm not particularly interested.

@NinjaBerd said:

@Seppli said:

@NinjaBerd said:

Kerri Russell is the worst.

Not in this she isn't. The male lead, Matthew Rhys, was even stronger in my opinion, but he's got little name recognition at this point - so I just namedropped the obvious choice with Kerri Russell. What did she ever do to offend you anyways?

I simply have never cared for her in anything I have seen her in.

Well - she's a Russian spy in deep cover in America during the cold war-era, living an American life and raising American kids with her covert ops partner and arranged marriage spy husband, and she's and not some cupcake baking cutesy Felicity-character in a chick flick - she's a whore and an assassin and soldier and whatever else she needs to be. For Mother Russia!

I don't care for most of her body of work either, but that's due to the subject matter - her acting is not bad at all - this however is right down my alley.

That honestly doesn't look too good to me either. And I hate Phil Collins. I guess I have no soul.

I'll wait a year or two till it's in its eighth season and everyone is recommending it to me ad nauseum like every other TV show these days.

Might give it a shot, but right now I only care about Archer and Justified. AND THIS YEAR'S JUSTFIED IS SO GOOD HOLY SHIT

@Everyones_A_Critic said:

I'll wait a year or two till it's in its eighth season and everyone is recommending it to me ad nauseum like every other TV show these days.

Pretty sure everyone was on Game of Thrones from episode 1. Breaking Bad was being hyped big style by the end of the first season (though it has only gotten bigger). The Sopranos was a thing from day 1.

Really the only show that meets your description is The Wire.

The show was pretty solid, but for my money, nothing beats The Company by Robert Littell. Great book.

@Seppli said:

@believer258 said:

...except for the excuse that I don't have and don't want cable TV?

I don't understand what you're saying? Do I understand you correctly that that's your reason to dismiss the TV show format entirely? That's a really weak reason to not to be into TV shows.

I don't want cable TV because it's expensive and because:

Buy a Blu Ray boxset of "Game of Thrones" or "Breaking Bad",

I can do this and never have to worry about advertisements in the middle of my show. I'm not dismissing the TV show format (and even if I did, I wouldn't "hate myself" for it), I just don't want to pay for cable TV to assault me with ads and expect me to catch shows on their time when modern technology makes it where I don't have to do that and can get the show in question in a better quality picture. Most every TV show gets released on DVD anyway, so if I really have that much desire to watch it, then I'll watch it on a DVD. Or over the internet. But I am not watching it on cable TV.

By the way, I ultimately think that, given the budget and time, TV shows could probably be the best way to tell a story if they'd stick to one story instead of "plot of the week" type things. I know, every episode ends up being a subplot within a larger overarching plot, but one of the reasons I like anime is because in many of them, the overarching plot is front and center. I've never been a huge fan of "Here's a new thing happening every week that's going to be resolved by the end of the episode." That never grabs me the same way that, say, Full Metal Alchemist's or Baccano's plots did. Not that I dislike "plot of the week" - MASH is great, and Cowboy Bebop did that same thing - I just don't like it as much.

@believer258 said:

@Seppli said:

@believer258 said:

...except for the excuse that I don't have and don't want cable TV?

I don't understand what you're saying? Do I understand you correctly that that's your reason to dismiss the TV show format entirely? That's a really weak reason to not to be into TV shows.

I don't want cable TV because it's expensive and because:

Buy a Blu Ray boxset of "Game of Thrones" or "Breaking Bad",

I can do this and never have to worry about advertisements in the middle of my show. I'm not dismissing the TV show format (and even if I did, I wouldn't "hate myself" for it), I just don't want to pay for cable TV to assault me with ads and expect me to catch shows on their time when modern technology makes it where I don't have to do that and can get the show in question in a better quality picture. Most every TV show gets released on DVD anyway, so if I really have that much desire to watch it, then I'll watch it on a DVD. Or over the internet. But I am not watching it on cable TV.

By the way, I ultimately think that, given the budget and time, TV shows could probably be the best way to tell a story if they'd stick to one story instead of "plot of the week" type things. I know, every episode ends up being a subplot within a larger overarching plot, but one of the reasons I like anime is because in many of them, the overarching plot is front and center. I've never been a huge fan of "Here's a new thing happening every week that's going to be resolved by the end of the episode." That never grabs me the same way that, say, Full Metal Alchemist's or Baccano's plots did. Not that I dislike "plot of the week" - MASH is great, and Cowboy Bebop did that same thing - I just don't like it as much.

Okay - glad we clarified that.

The first episode was decent. The final scene is the garage was pretty sweet. Might have sold me on watching the rest.

Currently updating XBMC now. Once that is done, I'll fire up the pilot and give it a shot. The trailers weren't very enticing, but the fact it is an FX show increases its chance of being good.

Saw the ad for it while watching the pilot for The Following (great episode, looking forward to more). I'll be sure to take a look at this over the weekend.

@Ghostiet said:

Might give it a shot, but right now I only care about Archer and Justified. AND THIS YEAR'S JUSTFIED IS SO GOOD HOLY SHIT

Hey then question for you. I like shows that have an overarching plot that is more important than the episode plot. For example, Crime Scene Navy & Order? not for me...i really don't care for one hour wrap ups. Or take Person of Interest - it has an overarching plot, sort of, but each episodes individual 1-hour wrap plot is more important so it wasn't really my thing.

Then there's stuff like 24, Lost, Rubicon, Breaking Bad, SOA, Walking Dead and all the HBO/Showtime dramas - where the story is told over a season instead of just a series of stories told in each episode. That's what I like.

What category does Justified fall into? I started it, but after a few episodes it seemed to be more like Person of Interest than Deadwood in terms of story progression, so I quit. Is that true, or does it just start out that way and eventually get better?

@forkboy said:

@Everyones_A_Critic said:

I'll wait a year or two till it's in its eighth season and everyone is recommending it to me ad nauseum like every other TV show these days.

Pretty sure everyone was on Game of Thrones from episode 1. Breaking Bad was being hyped big style by the end of the first season (though it has only gotten bigger). The Sopranos was a thing from day 1.

Really the only show that meets your description is The Wire.

Oh I know. I was being sarcastic 'cause I tend to completely miss out on all the good TV shows until they're over.

@believer258:

P.S. Pretty much all reknown cable TV shows are in fact serial in nature, and not procedural - so they should be right in your ballpark. Let's just list a couple here...

• Game of Thrones
• Boardwalk Empire
• Shameless
• Breaking Bad
• Californication
• Homeland
• The Walking Dead
• Dexter
• Spartacus
• The Killing
• Sons of Anarchy
• Damages
• True Blood

...and that's just stuff that's been recently on the air, or is still on-going. This type of TV show, older similar stuff like "The Sopranos", one-off mini-series of the ilk of "Band of Brothers" - they are top shelf entertainment in my book. Outside of videogames and books, high quality serial TV shows - that are written for a mature audience - are my favorite format of entertainment, way before movies for sure.

I wasn't interested until you said it is set in the 80's for some reason, SOLD!

Also this feels like a reaction to Homeland, but that's American TV for you.

I have very little faith in TV shows to emulate 'real life' espionage situations. They have a way of exaggerating it to the point of unbelievability. Too many bodies, things move too quickly and too easily. A le Carre style is much more believable to me and obviously that will never get the ratings that even a cable network wants.

I hate the fact that EVERY trailer using the Inception BAAWWWMMM BAAWWWWMMM BAWWWWMMM thing with lots of action cutting each time the sound plays. It's an old trick now...

@Veektarius said:

I have very little faith in TV shows to emulate 'real life' espionage situations. They have a way of exaggerating it to the point of unbelievability. Too many bodies, things move too quickly and too easily. A le Carre style is much more believable to me and obviously that will never get the ratings that even a cable network wants.

Ever seen an AMC show? Most often glacial pacing, but the tension they build - you can cut it with a knife. Breaking Bad for example - it has been a notoriously slow paced show for most of its run - despite that, it's been a phenomenal global success.

It's a mix. Every season has an overarching plot with many callbacks to previous episodes and seasons, but about half of the episodes focus on Raylan doing his Marshal business. The main arc normally kicks in full force around the halfway point, maybe a bit later. However, there are no filler episodes, since every episode moves and contributes to the main story in some way and there are normally at least two subplots going on.

The overarching story is really good, so far every season was better than the previous one and even if you don't care for the procedural-like bits, you will still be immensely entertained. A lot of the enjoyment of the show comes from watching a cowboy super-cop be a badass around stupid, Fargo-esque criminals - especially since it makes the real villains of the season much, much more imposing. Give it a shot. Right now, it's my second favorite TV series after Breaking Bad and I'd say third overall (with The Wire on top).

Just finished watching it. Not bad. I can see myself watching it here and there just to see what happens, but nothing super special about it. I see it only getting better. Plus this was a pilot after all so it had to build up on some back story. The next episodes will hopefully start to get some suspense going as it builds up the season's plot.

I liked it, and plan to keep watching.

Another show to follow? Yeah why not.

Not to really change the subject, but since this is kind of related in terms of new shows -- I just watched the first episode of The Following and that shows seems pretty damn awesome.

I watched the first episode and it's far better than the commercials suggest.

Trash.

First episode was good. I don't say that very often.

I give it a nice try on trying to be different from other shows on television. Honestly I'm tired of all these damn cop shows crowding up every single channel. There isn't any innovation in it anymore and I wish other people realised it. I like the Joe Schmo Show, I don't watch it reguarily though, but it makes fun of reality t.v. and I love that. I wish there were more genres of shows other than Crime shows, cop shows, bidding shows, and follow these people around shows (Jersey Shore, The Southies, Kardashians) I'd rather tune in to my own life than watch some celebrity act like a god damn retard humping door knobs for half an hour. This turned into more of a rant than expected. I apoligize duders and OP

I watched the first episode and loved it. I thought it was a really solid first episode and will start watching it on a regular basis.