The Americans in the Media

[caitmcg]

In the Guardian: The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies. The sons (then in high school and college) of the illegals arrested in 2010 who inspired The Americans, talk about what it was and is like to have their North American world upended à la Paige, but not quite.

ETA: I now realize that this week-old article is old news for the more completist among us, though I just discovered it this morning (not, obviously, via these forums).

Edited May 15, 2016 by caitmcg

[Umbelina]

http://flavorwire.com/576634/the-americans-tony-award-winning-ruthie-ann-miles-on-young-hee-tvs-favorite-mary-kay-consultant

Interview with Ruthie Ann Miles about playing the character of Young Hee, getting the role, etc.  Wow, they wanted Chinese or Korean! Hmmm
 

Quote

 

What did you know about the character at the outset?

They didn’t give me any idea of what the storyline was going to be. I started going through the news from 1983, about ’83-’85, because they were very specific — they wanted either Korean or Chinese, [they were looking] for people who could speak either of those languages. I thought, well, it’s gotta be about communism. Towards the beginning of shooting, I still didn’t know who this character was going to be, so I kind of left things open — just in case she ends up being a spy or just in case she ends up being a civilian. If I had given a look to [Elizabeth] here, that could pay off in episode 10 or whatever. It was like detective work.

 

No really spoilers, just a guess of hers at the end, but it's a sweet little interview.

[SlovakPrincess]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/arts/television/richard-thomas-of-the-americans-on-agent-gaads-fate-john-boy-and-jimmy-carter.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&_r=1

"Do you feel like “The Americans” has put John-Boy a little more in the rearview mirror for you?

The only things that put something in the rearview mirror are time and distance. I’ve never been interested in obliterating John-Boy. I loved that character and show. Families come up to me now with very young children who watch the show, and it thrills me. I’m very happy that John-Boy is still up in his room writing on his tablets for a lot of people. The important thing as an actor is to do things that are satisfying to you, and that’s never been in short supply for me. So I have no complaints."

 

I love Richard Thomas.   I love that he is always adamant he doesn't want to put John-Boy behind him.  I loved that character, too (and John-Boy was very different from other roles he's played -- so the guy has range!).   

I saw him years ago in a touring theater production of Twelve Angry Men, and he was quite good in that, as well.  There was an interview in the playbill where he was asked whether he minded people calling him "John Boy" on the street, and he was like "No, not at all."

I'll miss him as Gaad!

[Domestic Assassin]

I always feel bad calling him John Boy, but I just can't not do it.  Blows my mind he's 64 years old.

[stagmania]

The Americans has been picked up for two more seasons, set to end in 2018 with a six season run. Great news, IMO. They get two more years and they get plenty of time to build toward the ending they envision.

[CarpeDiem54]

4 hours ago, stagmania said:

The Americans has been picked up for two more seasons, set to end in 2018 with a six season run. Great news, IMO. They get two more years and they get plenty of time to build toward the ending they envision.

Great news!

[SunnyBeBe]

They have time to be very thoughtful with the resolution.  I hope it's done well as they have thus far. I also hope they allow us to see how things are in 1991.

[scartact]

I'm very excited the show is going to six seasons! Earlier today I was wondering if they had burned through enough plot that the fifth season would be its last. I'm really curious to know what year they plan to end the series now; plus, it will be very exciting to do a pre-final season rewatch!

[gwhh]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3605902/Eat-like-Cold-War-spy-Favorite-restaurant-KGB-operatives-relaxed-recruited-opens-falling-rack-ruin-decline-Soviet-Union.html

[Umbelina]

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/jennings-and-stan-and-tim-and-alice-and-deliciousl-237344
 

Quote

 

To quote a peculiar dinner from a film that’s probably in Stan Beeman’s home-video library: This means something. This is important.

The Americans isn’t the type of show to telegraph huge, tide-changing moments, but the titular scene of “Dinner For Seven” is an exception. While watching the episode, I was overcome by screener-induced impatience, and IM’ed The A.V. Club’s own Joshua Alston in order to all-caps shout about the scene’s merits and its implications. Joshua, in his characteristically sensible, unerringly correct manner, had this to say: “That dinner scene is pivotal. We’ll be talking about that dinner scene two seasons from now.” Our conversation took place after news of the show’s renewal and endpoint broke; still, FX sure timed that announcement to the right episode, didn’t they?

In the here and now, let’s just focus on the dinner. There are so many parts in motion, so many dynamics at play, so many things to talk about. Big kudos to director Nicole Kassell for wrangling the tone of the scene, which is edge-of-your-seat exhilarating for something that amounts to seven people politely chatting over dinner. In the long history of Stan Beeman near misses, he’s never been in the company of so many people who know Philip and Elizabeth’s secret. (Just another thing he and Henry have in common.) The topics of conversation would give Emily Post a coronary: Religion is unavoidable with Pastor Tim, but Henry’s bragging about Tim and Stan’s accomplishments puts politics on the table, too.

In one fell swoop, The Americans’ current roster of major players gets acquainted. And all this in an episode that connects some crucial dots:

 

More at link of course!http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2016/05/25/the-americans-recap-season-4-episode-11-dinner-for-seven/

Quote

 

The night of the dinner arrives, and everything appears to be going as smoothly as the jazz on the stereo – until Stan shows up with a copy of “Silver Streak” for Henry, and the clueless Jennings son invites his neighbor pal to join them for the meal. Paige looks the most uncomfortable at this prospect, while Philip and Elizabeth, backed into a corner, have no choice but to insist Stan stick around. Forget Stan’s lame joke about Elizabeth not being the only one “with a roast in the oven” – that’s the least awkward moment of the entire evening. When Tim asks Stan what he does for a living, Henry doesn’t even let his friend answer for himself, cheerfully stating how good ol’ Stan the Man is an FBI agent. (You know, maybe now would be a good time for Philip and Elizabeth to let their other kid in on their big secret before he really starts screwing things up.)

Tim could not be more flabbergasted by this revelation – though it’s Philip and Elizabeth who have the best identical reactions here (they look squarely at their laps). But don’t worry, things get even more uncomfortable when Henry continues his streak of bad decisions by announcing that Tim once chained himself to a fence at a “ban the bomb” rally TO AN FBI AGENT.

 

One more.
http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/article/the-americans-recap-season-4-episode-11-dinner-for-seven

Quote

 

In effect, then, the episode articulates a contrast between faith and doubt, between the idealism of the Golden Rule and the pragmatism of politics, only to destabilize it, returning to one of The Americans's central premises: Chaos is a symptom, not a cause, of the unwavering conviction. Though one works from the assumption that the appearance of randomness is no more than a failure to grasp the larger pattern, and the other sees randomness as the proof there's no pattern at all, Tim and Elizabeth share in the supposition at the heart of both fate and chance, which is that the course of events is beyond our command. After all, Elizabeth's notion that “we didn't choose each other” echoes no one so much as her most formidable adversary. “None of us are in control,” Tim says. “Not really. Not ever.”

As in the blood-soaked surprise of its final minute, which witnesses Elizabeth, leaving the food pantry with Paige, fend off two menacing men in a dimly lit parking lot, “Dinner for Seven” doesn't imagine a world shaped by providence, but it also resists the temptation to reduce the individual experience to a series of accidents, a redux of the existential absurd.

--------------------------

Each new obstacle Philip and Elizabeth face in The Americans is, in one sense, an unforeseen consequence, an unexpected development, but each also presents a choice. To send Martha into exile, to poison the potential witness, to accept the Centre's command to spoil Young Hee and Don's “perfect little life”: These are moments of decision, loci of control, subject to “something greater” only insofar as the characters fail to recognize that the Cold War is the result of human actions, a response to crises and exigencies that involve no grand design.

This is what Stan is trying to say, I suspect, when he drifts into mournful reverie during his clandestine meeting with Oleg (Costa Ronin), remembering Chris Amador, Nina, and Gaad. As The Americans's fourth season approaches its end, the most hushed moment in tonight's quiet masterpiece focuses on the one person for whom the larger pattern is now clear: not fate, nor chance, but choice, a corpse-strewn conflict that offers the pretense of method, of meaning, but produces only madness.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Umbelina

[scartact]

@Umbelina I love that you always link post-episode reviews. By any chance to you also read the Vox reviews? Those are actually often my favorite ones, especially because VanDerWerff, Framke, and Nelson will often point out different themes, ideas or aspects of the episode I may not have picked up on, as well as confirm or assist me in further fleshing out my thoughts. My favorite is in their review of Chloramphenicol when VanDerWerff said unlike many prestige dramas, The Americans is "the most motherhood-obsessed drama of its cailber in the current TV canon, by far." I especially loved this observation and this is something I want to eventually come back to by the end of the series run. Anyway, this is neither here nor there, and a bit outdated, but just thought I should give those reviews a shout out! They usually come out the morning after each episode, so I may edit this post later to link it.

[Umbelina]

Yes, I love Vox too!  Sepinwall's on HitFix as well, I just feel silly doing a long list of reviews too often.  I hope others, like you, add other good ones you find.

Quote

 

Libby: I found what Elizabeth and Philip did to Don almost unbearable to watch — more disturbing than the two bare-handed murders we've witnessed. The only analogue I could think of was the death of the old woman in the warehouse where Mail Robot was repaired. And then a reference to her turned up in this episode, via Aderholt flagging her death as unusual!

Caroline: The way season four keeps bringing in threads I thought were surely left behind in previous seasons is so smart.

It not only reminds us that everything has consequences, but it makes the "walls closing in" sentiment so much more urgent. How many bodies can possibly pile up before someone finds Philip and Elizabeth at the bottom of them all?

In that vein, one thing I especially appreciated about "Dinner for Seven" was the way it reminded us that Stan’s had a rough go of it this season, too. Bodies and mysteries are piling up all around him, and for a great detective, his inability to solve them is becoming more frustrating than he can bear.

Noah Emmerich is so consistently good in what’s often a lower-key role that I sometimes forget just how good he is. But in that scene with Oleg (Costa Ronin, also excellent as always), Emmerich laid Stan’s exhaustion bare. It was like his very face was too tired to keep up.

As Stan talked to Oleg about why he didn’t want to keep meeting and exploiting him anymore, he was steadily wilting — a fact that didn’t escape Oleg.

 

http://www.vox.com/2016/5/26/11774354/the-americans-episode-11-dinner-for-seven-elizabeth-paige

Edited May 26, 2016 by Umbelina

[hellmouse]

Good article in the NYT about the show ending. The last sentence cracked me up. 

'The Americans' Finished? Thank You For Killing My Favorite Show

Good news, everybody! The best drama currently on television is going off the air!

FX announced Wednesday that “The Americans,” its resonant Soviet spy drama set in 1980s suburban Washington, has signed a deal for two additional and final seasons. If you love the show like I do, this is — like so many things on “The Americans” — sad but perfect, because it will have the chance to end well.

[TimWil]

It's looking like The Americans might be losing its soundstages. With studio space at a premium in NYC I wonder if the show will either have to postpone its start date for next season or shoot in another city.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/brooklyn-eastern-effects-stage-close-eminent-domain-gowanus-canal-environment-clean-up

[hellmouse]

This article made me laugh. 

How to Help Your Friend Who Recently Discovered The Americans

The situation is all too common. You have a close friend (“BFF”). You spend lots of time together. You adore one another. And then a major life change occurs: she discovers The Americans. Suddenly, you’re no longer her number one.

This can be a difficult time, but don’t worry – you’re not alone. As many as 75% of us will at some point have a friend who has recently discovered The Americans, according to a study conducted by a group of people. So how do you help your friend? Here’s exactly what she needs from you.

[scartact]

So on top of the two season renewal this past week, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys apparently just had their baby! http://m.eonline.com/news/763770/keri-russell-gives-birth-to-first-child-with-matthew-rhys

I just adore how low key and private they are about anything concerning their relationship.

[jjj]

Another article about the new baby, with photographs of Matthew/Keri:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3616859/They-moon-Americans-stars-Keri-Russell-Matthew-Rhys-welcome-child-together.html

Also, many pictures here from today, with baby in wrap carry:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3617009/Keri-Russell-cradles-wraps-new-baby-beau-Matthew-Rhys-seen-family-outing-together.html

Edited May 31, 2016 by jjj

[BW Manilowe]

Congrats to Matthew & Keri (& her older kids) on their new arrival! But way to let the birth news leak over a (US) holiday weekend, with just the general announcement that the baby arrived (last week), & no publicist(s) available to release what I consider the "really important" info: the baby's name & gender. But if Matthew & Keri wanna keep that in their family, that's OK too (don't laugh, but I actually dreamed, while Keri was pregnant, it would be a boy & they named it Matthew Russell Rhys--a combination of both their names, with Russell being the middle name & not, like, part of a hyphenated/otherwise combined last name).

A Tweet on my Twitter feed, from Entertainment Tonight (aka ET), linked to their birth story which referred--based on the Daily Mail pics showing Keri carrying the baby in what looks to be a light blue carrier--to the baby as a "he". But you can't tell anything about the gender from the pics other than that possible clue... Which may not be accurate at all. I mean, the media's talked about plenty of pregnant celebs who were supposedly giving a "clue" to their expected baby's gender by often wearing either blue or pink in public during the pregnancy & then the baby ended up being the opposite gender to that which is normally signified by the color the mother wore most during the pregnancy (like: they wore a lot of pink while pregnant, perhaps implying they were expecting a girl, but then they had a boy, or vice-versa).

I really hope that someone will either "leak" or officially announce the name & gender details soon. I'm just curious about it. And I hope it's a reasonably normal name & not something "out there" like "Dweezil" or something.

[hellmouse]

I wonder if the baby's last name would be Evans, not Rhys, since that's his real last name. Or did he change it officially?

I feel bad for them that they have some pap snapping pictures right outside their house. I don't know how you'd ever get used to that. 

[AliShibaz]

Keri is adorable. A real beauty.

[scartact]

Yeah, as curious (nosy) as I am about the details, I felt a tad weird overall just even bringing it up. But I sorta appreciate the lack of fanfare. They technically didn't even do a press release when it was announced Keri was pregnant, did they? I can't envision them doing like a new baby photoshoot, but it doesn't seem like they'll shy away either from details (after all, Keri did mention the baby on Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers - it would have been hard to avoid the topic anyway, given how far along she was during those interviews!).

[BW Manilowe]

1 hour ago, hellmouse said:

I wonder if the baby's last name would be Evans, not Rhys, since that's his real last name. Or did he change it officially?

I feel bad for them that they have some pap snapping pictures right outside their house. I don't know how you'd ever get used to that. 

I forgot Matthew had a different legal last name! Now that you mention it, isn't Rhys really Matthew's middle name? I have no idea if he legally changed his last name to Rhys or not. But, yeah, if he didn't then I suppose the baby's legal last name would be Evans instead of Rhys--or some sort of hyphenate of Matthew & Keri's last names unless they also pulled off a wedding nobody knows about yet.

Yeah, I feel badly too that the baby's only a week old, or less, & somebody's already following them for pics of them with it. Not to mention being camped out basically on the family's front stoop (doorstep). If it took us a week to find out the baby arrived, when did they find out to be able to get those pics this weekend/today? Did they have some kind of source in Maternity at whichever hospital Keri delivered it at?

Whatever... They've had paps following them around since people got a whiff they might be together in real life, like they were doing something wrong although I'm pretty sure Keri's divorce was already in the works before at least the public knew anything. So I assume they may be used to it now--& I bet it would be just as bad if they lived/shot the show in LA. Even if they're in any way used to it, it doesn't mean they have to like it. And I'm not sure I would.

At least I wouldn't like someone I don't know trying to take/actually taking a pic of any of my minor kids, newborn or not, without my permission (& there was a borderline stalkery problem with this in another TV fandom of mine this week, so I'm probably especially riled up about this issue [strangers taking pics of celebrities'--in particular--minor children without parental permission] right now). The parents are famous, so they're "fair game", basically; the kids just happened to be born into it, so leave them alone unless/until the parents give their permission for photographs or the kids are old enough to consent to them.

[jjj]

I even felt bad about posting the links to all the pictures, but they are already out there.  Completely agree about how intrusive it is to have photo-stalkers.  Especially now that seasons 5 & 6 are assured!  It's not like they need to build the fan base to keep the income stable.  Hopefully some more famewhore celebrity will draw away the photographers.  Some stars do a great job keeping secrets -- Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore) only announced the birth of her child (with husband and "Mad Men" star Victor Kartheiser half a year later, a week or two ago.

But talk about keeping out of the news -- Beth Howland (from the sitcom "Alice" and of Broadway fame) died last December, and did not want her death announced for several months; it is finally public.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/arts/television/beth-howland-accident-prone-waitress-from-the-sitcom-alice-dies-at-74.html (You might not know her, but she was well regarded in theatrical circles -- and NPR did a lovely segment on her yesterday, narrated by Linda Holmes, formerly "Miss Alli" of TWoP.)

[BW Manilowe]

15 hours ago, jjj said:

I even felt bad about posting the links to all the pictures, but they are already out there.  Completely agree about how intrusive it is to have photo-stalkers.  Especially now that seasons 5 & 6 are assured!  It's not like they need to build the fan base to keep the income stable.  Hopefully some more famewhore celebrity will draw away the photographers.  Some stars do a great job keeping secrets -- Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore) only announced the birth of her child (with husband and "Mad Men" star Victor Kartheiser half a year later, a week or two ago.

But talk about keeping out of the news -- Beth Howland (from the sitcom "Alice" and of Broadway fame) died last December, and did not want her death announced for several months; it is finally public.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/arts/television/beth-howland-accident-prone-waitress-from-the-sitcom-alice-dies-at-74.html (You might not know her, but she was well regarded in theatrical circles -- and NPR did a lovely segment on her yesterday, narrated by Linda Holmes, formerly "Miss Alli" of TWoP.)

Don't feel bad about posting the links from yesterday. Like you said, they were already out there. So they're fair game, as far as I'm concerned. Besides, Keri had the baby so well bundled up all we saw was the blue "sling" carrier she had it in; we didn't see anything of the baby.

So far, there haven't been any updates to the birth announcement--as in no announcement of the name, gender, actual birthdate, or anything else pertinent. If either or both are on a talk show again soon (which may happen since the season finale is on the 8th), maybe they'll spill the beans there.

I saw both of the other celebrity announcements you referenced. More power to them/their families for keeping those secrets that long, although I'm not sure I see the "value" in keeping someone's death quiet for 6 months in the second case you referenced. I used to watch Alice too.

[madam magpie]

15 hours ago, jjj said:

I even felt bad about posting the links to all the pictures, but they are already out there.  Completely agree about how intrusive it is to have photo-stalkers.  Especially now that seasons 5 & 6 are assured!  It's not like they need to build the fan base to keep the income stable.  Hopefully some more famewhore celebrity will draw away the photographers.  Some stars do a great job keeping secrets -- Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore) only announced the birth of her child (with husband and "Mad Men" star Victor Kartheiser half a year later, a week or two ago.

But talk about keeping out of the news -- Beth Howland (from the sitcom "Alice" and of Broadway fame) died last December, and did not want her death announced for several months; it is finally public.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/arts/television/beth-howland-accident-prone-waitress-from-the-sitcom-alice-dies-at-74.html (You might not know her, but she was well regarded in theatrical circles -- and NPR did a lovely segment on her yesterday, narrated by Linda Holmes, formerly "Miss Alli" of TWoP.)

I hear you. It must be so intrusive for them to have people following them around with cameras...not to mention scary with a brand-new baby...not to mention infuriating and incredibly uncomfortable for a woman who just had a baby a week ago. I wish the paparazzi could be outlawed, honestly, but alas, no luck there. Your not posting the links wouldn't have actually saved them any headaches, though. 

RIP Vera

[scartact]

Interview with the J's that went up yesterday: http://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/the-americans-season-4-joseph-weisberg-joel-fields-interview-consider-this-1201682789/

I thought it was interesting how they viewed Gabriel trying to get Elizabeth to ask him if he could have the Centre find another way around the Young Hee operation as really coming from a place of kindness.

[madam magpie]

9 minutes ago, scartact said:

Interview with the J's that went up yesterday: http://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/the-americans-season-4-joseph-weisberg-joel-fields-interview-consider-this-1201682789/

I thought it was interesting how they viewed Gabriel trying to get Elizabeth to ask him if he could have the Centre find another way around the Young Hee operation as really coming from a place of kindness.

That is an interesting article. I liked the stuff about marriage.

I'm not, however, going to comment on the fact that the reporter starts "at the top" with Matthew Rhys...no matter that Keri Russell actually has top billing in the credits. I'm not going to say how typically and subtly sexist that is...oh hell, yes I am.

[sistermagpie]

On 5/10/2016 at 3:21 PM, scrb said:

 

21 minutes ago, madam magpie said:

I'm not, however, going to comment on the fact that the reporter starts "at the top" with Matthew Rhys...no matter that Keri Russell actually has top billing in the credits. I'm not going to say how typically and subtly sexist that is...oh hell, yes I am.

 

That reminds me of that video someone did where they made an 80s style opening to the show. It was great, but I was surprised that Matthew Rhys was suddenly first in the credits when coverage of the show in general even occasionally goes far in the other direction and refers to it as a Keri Russell show because she's the biggest star.

[scartact]

Sexism, thy name is media.

[madam magpie]

1 minute ago, sistermagpie said:

That reminds me of that video someone did where they made an 80s style opening to the show. It was great, but I was surprised that Matthew Rhys was suddenly first in the credits when coverage of the show in general even occasionally goes far in the other direction and refers to it as a Keri Russell show because she's the biggest star.

Oy. If I had to pick a protagonist, Elizabeth would be it because of the depth and evolution of her character. Philip seems to facilitate that in her much more than she does in him. But even if we don't look from a story angle, Keri Russell was the bigger star (she probably still is), and she's billed first. The reporter made a lame comment, but it's like...really, dude? Really?? 

At least, they're likely paid the same, Given their personal relationship, it would be hard to slight her that way.

[hellmouse]

2 minutes ago, madam magpie said:

At least, they're likely paid the same, Given their personal relationship, it would be hard to slight her that way.

I'd bet that she makes more. She is a bigger name than he is and has more high profile credits, so I'd expect her to have gotten a higher salary from the start. 

[sistermagpie]

5 minutes ago, madam magpie said:

Oy. If I had to pick a protagonist, Elizabeth would be it because of the depth and evolution of her character. Philip seems to facilitate that in her much more than she does in him. But even if we don't look from a story angle, Keri Russell was the bigger star (she probably still is), and she's billed first. The reporter made a lame comment, but it's like...really, dude? Really?? 

Yes, I notice whenever they talk about the upcoming season there's always an Elizabeth arc that goes through the whole thing. Her character's just made for it because she's so straightforward and her emotions are relatively clear. Almost every season she goes from one very specific emotional state/pov to another. Philip is more reactionary and Elizabeth often propels with the action more. 

In S3 we started with an Elizabeth flashback, in S4 with a Philip one, but Elizabeth's flashback set the tone for a whole season about that theme with her changing. 

Edited June 2, 2016 by sistermagpie

[madam magpie]

Just now, hellmouse said:

I'd bet that she makes more. She is a bigger name than he is and has more high profile credits, so I'd expect her to have gotten a higher salary from the start. 

"I like your optimism," says Jennifer Lawrence. But seriously, I hope that's true, though I also think it's OK if they're paid the same. At this point, they both contribute pretty equally to the show and storyline. It would be nice if a show this feminist paid the female star more, though. That would be icing on an already awesome cake.

[hellmouse]

1 minute ago, madam magpie said:

"I like your optimism," says Jennifer Lawrence. But seriously, I hope that's true, though I also think it's OK if they're paid the same. At this point, they both contribute pretty equally to the show and storyline. It would be nice if a show this feminist paid the female star more, though. That would be icing on an already awesome cake.

My understanding is that actors have quotes for work, largely based on what they've made in previous jobs. Right off the bat, her quote would be higher than his. He was on an ensemble drama (B&S) and some movies, but was hardly a household name. She is Felicity, for goodness' sake! ;)

That being said, it's entirely possible that the difference is not as great as it would be if the roles were reversed. If a man was the lead, with the bigger name and larger quote, he might make X+50 to the female co-star's X. Whereas maybe Keri makes X+25 to Matthew's X. That would all come down to how hard her agents negotiated.

But who knows.

[madam magpie]

25 minutes ago, hellmouse said:

My understanding is that actors have quotes for work, largely based on what they've made in previous jobs. Right off the bat, her quote would be higher than his. He was on an ensemble drama (B&S) and some movies, but was hardly a household name. She is Felicity, for goodness' sake! ;)

That being said, it's entirely possible that the difference is not as great as it would be if the roles were reversed. If a man was the lead, with the bigger name and larger quote, he might make X+50 to the female co-star's X. Whereas maybe Keri makes X+25 to Matthew's X. That would all come down to how hard her agents negotiated.

But who knows.

Felicity deserves all the money!! :)

That's interesting. I have no idea how actors negotiate base salaries, but I've read that Gillian Anderson was offered less money (half, I think she said) than David Duchovny for the latest X-Files, no matter that she'd fought to be paid equally early on. Also Felicity ended in 2002, so whatever Keri was making then might be low compared to salaries today. I'm not saying you're wrong. I hope you're not! Just that it seems totally possible that she doesn't make more. I make no positive assumptions when it comes to women, pay, and business...

ETA: I also don't mean to make Keri Russell a symbol for equal pay if she doesn't want to be. I just can't help but wonder.

Edited June 2, 2016 by madam magpie

[hellmouse]

Okay, I did a little googling and I found this article from TV Guide's 2013 annual salary report.  TV's Highest Paid Stars

It lists Keri Russell at $100k/episode, Matthew Rhys at $75k/episode and Noah Emmerich at $50k/episode. Since the article is from 2013, I suspect they each earn slightly more now, assuming some standard % raise each year. If The Americans were on a big network like CBS, etc, they'd probably earn more. But a big network would have probably cancelled it long ago. 

I also found an interesting article about salaries in all areas of Hollywood, from actors to agents to wig makers:  Hollywood Salaries Revealed

For TV stars, it said: "TV STARS $150K-$1M AN EPISODE: It used to be when movie stars did a TV show, it was seen as slumming. Now it's considered moving on up. Just this summer, Oscar winner Halle Berry debuted on CBS' Extant, and this fallKatherine Heigl stars on NBC's State of Affairs, while Tea Leoni plays a better-dressed version of Hillary Clinton on CBS' Madam Secretary. Each of these actresses is being paid $150,000 an episode, the going rate for luring big-screen names to TV (for a 22-episode season, it adds up to $3.3 million). That's a far cry from the $15,000 to $25,000 per episode an unknown actor is offered for a series regular role. But established TV actors with virtually no big-screen experience can do very well. Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting now will make $1 million an episode on The Big Bang Theory (up from $350,000). Then there's Mark Harmon, who makes north of $500,000 per episode of NCIS, and Ashton Kutcher, who earns $750,000 per episode of Two and a Half Men — or about $34,000 a minute. With paychecks like that, who needs a film career?"

Edited June 2, 2016 by hellmouse

[madam magpie]

If that's true, that's awesome! Go, Felicity!!

P.S. Though now I'm suspicious of Madam Secretary and hope Tim Daly doesn't make more than Tea.

Edited June 2, 2016 by madam magpie

[SunnyBeBe]

Does anyone know when the new season starts filming?

[Umbelina]

http://www.goldderby.com/article/2016/holly-taylor-interview-the-americans-season-finale-video-news-1357924680/?sf28188658=1

Edited June 8, 2016 by Umbelina

[SunnyBeBe]

That's pretty funny.

[hellmouse]

Interesting article (no spoilers for S4ep13) about their process and how they approached the season. 

'This Has Been Brewing For A Long Time': An Interview with The Americans' Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg

Speaking with the showrunners ahead of the spy drama’s season-four finale about building to big narrative payoffs, allowing themes to emerge subconsciously, and when the show surprises even them.

[Umbelina]

Dylan Baker on ‘The Americans’ Finale

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/arts/television/dylan-baker-on-the-americans-finale.html

Quote

William Crandall, the undercover K.G.B. agent played by Dylan Baker on FX’s Cold War drama “The Americans,” is not now, nor has he ever been declared dead. But it didn’t look good for him at the end of the Season 4 finale after he was exposed to an incurable virus, and Mr. Baker delivered a bravura presumed deathbed scene. Still, “you never know — next season could hold all kinds of surprises,” Mr. Baker said with a laugh in a recent phone interview. “It’s like with ‘The Good Wife.’ People always ask me if my character was really a killer. This is a thing called fiction. Did William really die? I don’t know.”

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Did you do any kind of medical research on how to portray someone who’s melting from the inside out?

A fellow like this, who has been exposed to all these germs and horrible bio-contained viruses, has to take a lot of vaccines. We decided from reading a book about a guy who worked in the Russian biocontainment business and later defected that your immunities go way down, and pretty soon you’re just ready to accept any germ that comes along. Your skin loses the ability to produce any kind of moisture. The guy was so dry, and his skin was just peeling away. Once he’s exposed to Level 4 toxicity, it really starts to mess with his mind. In terms of doing research, I didn’t want to go too far into what it’s like when all your organs melt and leave through the closest orifice.

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Umbelina

[Umbelina]

‘The Americans’ Season 4 Finale: What Lies Ahead

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/arts/television/the-americans-season-4-finale-recap.html?action=click&contentCollection=arts&module=NextInCollection&region=Footer&pgtype=article&version=column&rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fthe-americans-tv-recaps

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In his summation of this season, my colleague James Poniewozik called it masterly and melancholy, and the finale, “Persona Non Grata,” stayed true to that spirit right through to the end. As William lay dying — the putrefaction of his insides probably sped by his violent laughter when Agent Aderholt, exhibiting well-meaning American cluelessness, asked if he wanted a Coke — he coughed up, in his delirium, one tiny bit of information to add to Stan and Dennis’s hazy picture of the Jenningses. He wished he could be “like them” — a pretty wife, a lucky husband, a couple of kids, living the American dream. (Looking back to the end of Season 1 again, Stan will certainly connect this to the sketch of the married couple who forced a cleaning lady to bug Caspar Weinberger’s office.) The final scene captured the grim paradox of William’s description: the Jenningses dream home looming over Philip and Paige in the dark, a repository of secrets, lies and deadly peril.

‘The Americans,’ in Its Melancholy Fourth Season, Was ‘Breaking Sad’

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/arts/television/the-americans-in-its-melancholy-fourth-season-was-breaking-sad.html?version=meter+at+2&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F06%2F09%2Farts%2Ftelevision%2Fdylan-baker-on-the-americans-finale.html&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click

Quote

 

All this adds a note of gloom even to the tensest moments in this drama: Pursuer or pursued, no one’s heart is entirely in this spy game. Philip, always ambivalent, finally says this to himself flat-out through the coded message of his EST session, where he vents about work at the “travel agency”: “You don’t want to make arrangements for people you don’t know and don’t give a [expletive] about.”

The EST meetings, which seemed like a quirky period detail at the beginning of Season 3, have grown into a kind of “Americans” equivalent to Tony Soprano’s sessions with Dr. Melfi. But there’s a sense that, while it may make Philip feel better to talk, Western self-help doesn’t have any concrete answer for him. Like Dennis’s offer of a Coke to the dying William, it’s a palliative better suited to first-world problems.

 

Quote

 

The parallels between the Jenningses’ story and Walter’s in “Breaking Bad” have been on my mind this season. When FX announced that “The Americans” would end after two more seasons, I thought that setting an end date was a good idea, partly because, much like “Breaking Bad,” it involves an intimate cat-and-mouse game and has a sense of compounding dread that can’t be spun out endlessly.

There is, however, a core difference between the two dramas. “Breaking Bad” explored the idea that Walter’s crimes, however costly and evil, brought him for better or worse to his authentic self. “I liked it,” Walter confessed to Skyler in the finale. “I was good at it.”

“I liked it” describes pretty much no one’s relationship to his or her job on “The Americans,” no matter how good he or she is at it. American or Soviet, they are weighed down by their work, tired of the compromises, resentful of systems that use them in the name of a larger cause.

“The Americans,” the masterly, melancholy fourth season proved, is more like “Breaking Sad.”

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Umbelina

[Umbelina]

The Americans Season 4 Finale Proves the Series is Still at its Best

http://screenrant.com/the-americans-season-4-finale-review-persona-non-grata/

Quote

To look at what The Americans has done with its narrative over the course of four seasons is to see a remarkable case of progression in storytelling. The series has gone from being a spy thriller to the most thrilling and engaging domestic drama on television today. There is nothing else that comes close to reaching the emotional highs and lows The Americans does with startling frequency. Nothing else has such competence with regard to how the series handles tension, let alone doles it out consistently without desensitizing the audience to its potent effects. Case in point: season 4 was another high-wire act of international intrigue and family drama that began a slow, methodical process of pushing away from the espionage angle of the series’ original conceit to better embrace a deeper exploration of the lives within the four walls of the Jennings’ household.

Quote

To see Stan and Agent Aderholt descend upon William, following Oleg’s admission of an asset inside the U.S.’s non-existent (but totally existent) biological weapons program, the concern never lingers on William for long, shifting instead to Philip and Elizabeth. William’s end via his own hand (literally) is his implicit knowledge and acceptance of this; he is cognizant of the role he plays in the Cold War and in The Americans: a cog in the Great Red Machine and a bit player in the story of the Jennings’ life. The realization is made more significant by William’s deathbed admission that his life was one of loneliness and isolation; his importance tied to the ever-open hand of a country to which he no longer belonged but remained reflexively devoted to. “They always wanted more,” William tells Stan and Aderholt, an assertion likely felt by so many in any number of professions lacking the high stakes of international espionage. No matter what you accomplish, how much blood, sweat, and tears you put into your work, it’s never enough; the job – the machine – still needs to be serviced, it still needs to be fed. William’s understanding of his role – that he isn’t the hero of his own story or that his story outside the procurement of dangerous biological samples never even got off the ground – makes the taking of his own life to protect his secrets and keep from naming Philip and Elizabeth, in exchange for some enticing offer from the US government, a painful admission that he was a casualty of the Cold War a long time ago. For this leak to come along with the surge of essential fluids escaping his body ranks high among the most painful and gripping moments of the series.

The Americans Ends Season 4 With a Death and a Major Decision

http://www.eonline.com/uk/news/771394/the-americans-ends-season-4-with-a-death-and-a-major-decision
 

Quote

 

How does The Americans just keep getting better? This is a very serious question. Because every week for four seasons now, the FX Cold War spy drama has been churning out A+ episode after A+ episode. They're gonna have to falter eventually, right?

Well, not yet, and especially not in this excellent fourth season finale. The bioweapon storyline came to a head when Dylan Baker's William was caught by the FBI—and administered the deadly poison to himself, ensuring a slow, gruesome, lonely death for himself while quarantined in custody. As we've learned over the past four years, the spy life is lonely, y'all.

 

Review: 'The Americans' just closed its best, darkest season yet
http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/review-the-americans-just-closed-its-best-darkest-season-yet

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With two seasons to go — and with Philip's son Mischa on his way to America to search for his father — It doesn't make sense for the series to reboot itself to a degree where Paige will finally learn if her parents can still be Russian spies if they're living in Russia. But the fact that things have gotten so dire that Gabriel would even suggest such a thing, coupled with most of the show's other Russian characters on the verge of permanent exit from America (or, in William's place, from life itself), casts a sense of apocalyptic doom over Philip and Elizabeth's entire fake existence. To us, it seems unlikely that they'll soon be huddled into a cold flat in Smolensk, but to them, it's entirely reasonable to feel like their world is coming to an end.

For now, the only person truly gone is William, who dies in the kind of ugly, painful fashion he always feared, choosing to inject himself with Lassa when cornered by the FBI agents. He goes out terribly, and technically sealed off from the rest of humanity, but there's a sense that, physical horribleness of the virus aside, he's okay with his fate. The sample doesn't get out into the world to play a role in killing many more than just him, he dies before revealing too much to the Americans, but he still has Stan and Aderholt to talk to as his body falls apart. The writers and Dylan Baker did an excellent job of establishing the ways in which this job had metaphorically liquified William's insides and hollowed him out: he had nothing left to give, and great difficulty even relating to other humans after so many years alone. Gabriel promised him a hero's welcome in Moscow, but that transition would in many ways have been even more difficult for him than it likely is for Martha. This isn't the specific way he would have liked to go out, but he seemed pretty used up by life and the Centre even before we met him.

Interview with the show runners here:

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/americans-bosses-on-endgame-we-hope-theyll-still-trust-us-two-years-from-now

Quote

The last time we spoke, you said you were breaking the final stories of the show, and you didn't know if you'd need one or two to do it. How and when did you realize you'd need two?

Joe Weisberg: Joel and I took our usual series of walks, and the main thing we realized was we had this very very full story that we wanted to tell in season 5, which meant that the ending we had, we weren't ready to start telling it. That's when we realized it was 6.

Joel Fields: It also felt like the ending we had would feel falsely accelerated if we tried to tell it next season as opposed to wading into six.

Philip and Elizabeth seem stunned by the idea of going home when Gabriel pitches it. In their minds, was there ever a chance they were going to return to Russia?

Quote

Joe Weisberg: It's a complicated question. They have lived with that question, as well as certain questions we've been exploring in our new season, in a kind of funny denial. I don't think that they were given the impression that this was a lifelong mission. I think they understood that this was a mission that possibly had an end. But once you're here for a really long time, and raising kids, it was just easier to never really focus on it, and try to live their lives. So when it becomes very concrete, very fast, that's a real struggle.

You certainly have enough characters either in Russia now, or going to Russia, that you could just reboot the show and try to answer Paige's question about how her parents can be Russian spies in Russia. Was this ever even half-seriously discussed?

(a very long silence follows)

Joel Fields: I think we're both being silent because we're trying to decide how much of a spoiler it would be to even answer that question.

 

[hellmouse]

WSJ: The Americans' Season 4 Finale Recap - Persona Non Grata

As “The Americans” wrapped up yet another outstanding season tonight, viewers were left with an anticipated series of open-ended story lines that ensure our wait for the Cold War drama’s final two installments will be more than worth it.

Probably the biggest cliffhanger facing “Americans” fans now is the question of where exactly the Jennings family will be living in season 5. After the FBI captured Williamearly in the episode, titled “Persona Non Grata,” Gabriel strongly advised Philip andElizabeth to return “home” to the Soviet Union, with their children in tow. While the veteran handler didn’t technically “order” them to leave the United States – he ultimately left the decision up to the couple – the danger that William’s arrest puts Philip and Elizabeth in makes early retirement a very tempting option.

 

WSJ: The Americans' Showrunners on the Season 4 Finale's New Plotlines, Cliffhangers

some highlights:

How long had you been planning to introduce the Philip’s son plotline?  

Joe Weisberg: It’s funny, because we were reminiscing about season 1, when, in fact, [you didn't know] whether or not Philip actually had a son. It was ambiguous. Was Irina making that up? Or was it true? And we didn’t have an answer to that, ourselves. We liked that ambiguity. We thought that was really interesting. So, introducing that plotline meant making a final decision that that was a real person and a real character, which is probably more satisfying.

Have you two started mapping out the next two seasons? Or, I guess the better question here is where are you in that process?

JF: We’ve written the first two scripts for season 5, and we’ve written the next five stories. So we have about half the season plotted out, as well as done a lot of detailed work on the rest of season 5. We also have some specific ideas for the shape and big moves for the conclusion of the show over the sixth season. Which is why we are going to enjoy our summer!

[Umbelina]

http://www.vox.com/2016/4/14/11411564/how-tv-gets-made-americans-fx-production

This may have been posted before, but...

It's so interesting, concept to wrap working on The Americans.

[hellmouse]

Short review of the finale that I thought captured the energy of this season, and the show as a whole, really well. It's on the site The Ringer, which is basically the new Grantland.

How Can 'The Americans' Possibly Last Two More Seasons?

This show is a jumbo jet dumping fuel, a browser clearing its history every 10 minutes, a jittery traveler packing his bags and leaving them all on the front porch just in case. Every episode feels like a potential series finale now; however exquisite the tension, it feels impossible to sustain another two-dozen times.

 

Another interesting piece on Vulture. I don't know if I agree with the author's conclusions, but it's food for thought.

Paige Jennings and the Future of The Americans

The central issue of The Americans comes down to a single, key question: Is it possible to be a Russian spy and still raise a quintessentially American family? The answer to that question has always hinged on Paige Jennings, and every single Americans season finale, including the one that aired Wednesday night, has made that clear. Slowly, in tiny increments, Paige has been moving farther away from defining herself as an American daughter and closer to defining herself as the daughter of Russian operatives. That trajectory can practically be plotted on a graph, using the final moments of all four seasons of The Americans as the coordinates. That arc proves that, at least so far, Paige is the key to understanding what lies ahead on The Americans, because her choices dictate her whole family’s future.

Edited June 9, 2016 by hellmouse

[Umbelina]

I loved the Vulture article!  Thanks for posting it.

Quote

But now it’s January of 1984, and Paige Jennings is no longer completely in the dark. She knows exactly who her parents are, what they do, and, to an extent, how dangerous their work can be — 0nly to an extent. Philip — aware that Paige feels an increasing sense of responsibility to report back to her parents on what’s happening at the FBI agent’s house across the street, and also aware that his daughter has been getting it on with the FBI agent’s son — can see the transformation she’s undergone. He knows that Paige, a young woman now interested in self-defense and slowly learning she can use her sexuality to get men to open up to her, is inching ever closer to becoming her mother. And he doesn’t like it. “Don’t do this, Paige,” he tells her. “You have no idea. No idea.”

Exactly.  That was such a powerful scene!

Also, I really hope that Henry is more involved next season.  The actor's broken foot will be healed by then, so it's time.
 

Quote

 

Just as she doesn’t appreciate Philip’s insistence that she stop seeing Matthew, Paige probably won’t be thrilled about uprooting her life and settling in the land of borscht. But given her maturity, her growing interest in her parents’ work, and the fact that she’s had some time to accept their true identities, she has a shot at adjusting. Henry is another story. Now that we know there are only two seasons left of The Americans, perhaps the Jennings’ narrative will start being driven more actively by the most overlooked member of the family, a kid who has no clue what’s going on with his parents and will have zero interest in leaving behind his video games, Washington Redskins football, and thoroughly American boyhood.

Paige has always been her parents’ focus and the determiner of the Jennings’ fate, and I believe she’s the key reason they will decide it’s best to go to Russia. But once they arrive, if they still wind up feeling unsafe, even thousands of miles from the U.S. of A., I’m betting it will be because of the two sons — Mischa, the one seemingly on his way to hunt down the father who, once upon a time, shared his name, and Henry, the boy most likely to be Stan Beeman’s secret pen pal after his parents force him to settle into a place that feels nothing at all like home.

 

[hellmouse]

A look at how Paige's role is written differently from the typical "surly teen" in TV shows. NPR: How 'The Americans' Solved the Eternal TV Problem of The Surly Teen

Family dramas often center on parents as the protagonists, so the Surly Teen exists to offer emotional conflict. As in life, the Surly Teen challenges, it frustrates, it makes demands that keep parents from doing what they want to do.But one TV drama has cleverly, and completely, cracked the perennial problem of the Surly Teen. Its solution is ingenious, albeit not readily generalizable to other family shows that are more preoccupied with things like infidelity than, say, the constant looming threat of nuclear annihilation.

A look at how religion is portrayed in the show. This is from around the S4 premiere, so doesn't reflect whatever happened in this season. I'd be interested in what the author makes of Pastor Tim's comments to Elizabeth about what matters most is how we treat other people. Christianity Today: The Christians, the Soviets and the Bible

'The Americans' has handled Christianity in a way unlike almost any other show. What's going on? ...teenage daughter Paige’s storyline in particular—thanks in no small part to Holly Taylor’s superb performance—has taken on a gravity rarely afforded child characters on these sorts of shows (think of poor, irritating Dana on Homeland). Moreover, Paige’s storyline has allowed the show not only to explore generational conflicts with sometimes comic tenderness, but to pick up on a geopolitical conflict far more interesting than the one between Americans and Soviets. Call it the war between the kingdom of Machiavelli and the kingdom of God.

[ebk57]

FYI, I've read that Keri Russell will be introducing the Waitress number at the Tonys tonight.

Edited June 12, 2016 by ebk57