DownIsTheNewUp
Well-Known Member
I think I've said so in this thread before, but The Americans is my second favorite TV show of all-time (after the Wire). It is an exceptionally written and acted character study within a world full of compelling, complex characters. That said, the first season is simply good. S2 is very good and then S3-6 are exceptional.
"While the spy genre is often “broadly commercial,” said FX Networks CEO John Landgraf, FX’s take on the show, which returns for its sixth and final season on March 28, was much more nuanced, focusing on the complexity of lying for a living, and how that affects a marriage and family. “It’s like a very nutritious, complex meal.”
But ratings for the first season were lukewarm, and critics at the time were positive about the series but not yet rapturous. So after Season 1 wrapped in 2013, Landgraf and his team spoke with showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields about where to take the show from there.
“We were sitting there saying, ‘What do we do? Do we make it more sexy? Do we put more action sequences into it? Do we lay back a bit on the sadness that underlies the story?’” recalled Landgraf.
Their decision: “Anything we could do that would make it broader would make it less specifically what made it great. Essentially, we couldn’t reconcile making it better, with making it broader,” said Landgraf. “So we decided instead of trying to make it broader, to actually lean harder into what made it great, even know that would probably narrow its appeal."
FX Considered Making The Americans a Broader Show. Instead, It Became a Better One
John Landgraf decided the best way to save the drama was by making it even more unique.
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