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Entertainment

Is TV’s New Cold-War Spy Thriller Anti-American? Producer Admits ‘We Want You to Root for the KGB’

Feb. 18, 2013 2:40pm Liz Klimas

For the last few weeks, Americans watching “The Americans” on the FX Network might have found themselves rooting against their own country — and that’s what the series executives want.

Executive Producer Joel Fields told The Hollywood Reporter, “It might be a little different to believe and get used to, but we want you to root for the KGB.”

FXs The Americans Has Viewers Rooting for Anti Hero Russian Spies During Cold War

(Image: Facebook)

Fields said he realizes this will be hard for some to accept but the producers feel enough time has passed for it to be successful as a concept for the series.

“If you tried to tell a story like this about al-Qaeda now, it would be impossible; no one would want to hear it,” Fields said according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I feel even the same could have been said up to 10 years after the Cold War ended.”

The main characters, played by Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, are Russian spies planted in Washington, D.C., during the Cold War era at the time of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. They fit into American society perfectly, living a facade with two children who know nothing of their undercover operations to steal information about America for the KGB.

Keri Russell plays Elizabeth in “The Americans” (Photo: FX)

Watch this trailer for the show:

Viewers might find themselves on their edge of their seat during certain scenes though, hoping the spies aren’t caught in the act. At one point in the first episode, which premiered Jan. 30, Russell’s character, Elizabeth, also laments what her children are learning in school and says she believes they could still grow up to be socialists.

“This place doesn’t turn out socialists,” Rhys retorts back to Russell.

Matthew Rhys as Phillip in “The Americans” (Photo: FX)

Given the theme of rooting for the anti-hero, which is nothing new to movies or television, Dave Martindale for the Star Telegram wrote that “our loyalties are sure to be challenged,” between the sleeper cells and the FBI agent who recently moved into their suburban neighborhood.

The New York Times reported actor Noah Emmerich, who plays the FBI counterintelligence agent that finds his new neighbors a bit “off,” saying the series questions what we think of patriotism, the concept of the “enemy” as it highlights the “ambiguity about who you’re supposed to be rooting for.”

Or as Andy Greenwald for Grantland wrote as part of his positive review of the show, ”Despite its clever, propaganda-themed promotional art, The Americans doesn’t turn our flag upside down; it merely replaces the red, white, and blue with an intoxicating shade of gray.”

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Comments (138)

coldarkstare
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 7:08pm
just another reason i do not watch t.v. , the shows all SUCK !

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Konjurer
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:57pm
Common people. Think for yourselves. This is hardly the most controversial show on TV. I’ve watched all episodes and it rocks! The story is a bit more complex than Reds = Good. That is hardly the case. The KGB are shown to be ruthless and evil. The Russian’s have never been portrayed in a positive light on the show…ever!

On the other hand, the FBI is shown to be the good guys. US society and our economy is also shown to be a good thing. In fact…slight spoiler…this is the fundamental struggle of the spy couple. The husband is realizing that he loves “arranged” wife and kids. You can see the evolution of his character as someone who likes America…as he states “the lights are always on and the food is pretty good.” His wife, who is more loyal and brainwashed to socialism, is starting to show cracks in her belief system.

I think the producers of the show are probably saying these stupid comments to create controversy and get people watching. Give the show a chance…it’s some of the best TV in a sea of garbage. Yes, there is some sex but less that the ABC Family Show called the Secret Life of The American Teenager!

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- DarkCurrent
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 1:18am
  Well said!
  
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DennisNJ
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:55pm
Never will watch this. It’s shows like this that make TV so horrible.

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Spitfire1938
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:44pm
Want to know how propaganda really works? The Coen Brothers produced “A Serious Man” in 2009. Watch it! I guarantee, unless your past a certain age, you will not ‘get’ how masterfully you have been manipulated by the
Coen’s.

Then read the reviews! The MSM critics either deliberately misrepresent the film or were completely taken in by it’s duplicity. It was nominated for best picture… I believe out of ignorance and for the wrong reasons. In a sane Nation it would have won! Indeed, If Hollywood actually got the films message they’d have given it “Zero Dark Thirty” treatment.

The story is not about Jews, thats the setting! It’s not about the trials of “JOB” or the Randomness of Fate or Victimization or being “unfairly” dumped on. It’s about Faith, Maturity, Duty, Obligation…
The first parable of the film contains real ‘truth’ and a Roadmap for understanding the films protagonist Larry Gopnik. Virtually none of the critics understood what they were watching because masterfully devious scripting left the stories Moral under pinnings, unexposed and unexamined, to be simply… intuited. The films “truth” is hidden by assumptions and “Questions” never asked!

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- Spitfire1938
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:51pm
  Part 2
  To get the Coen’s message, you must know right from wrong; you must know what it MEANS to be a father; what a fathers DUTY to himself and his family IS and how a REAL father ‘ACTS’ in the face of evil. The Coen’s, throughout the film, demand answers to morally revenant questions NOT explicitly ASKED. Their slick characterization of thoroughly evil protagonists as sympathetic heros is Genius. Suffice it to say Gopnik “always” does the wrong thing and most viewers never look past Gopnik’s “surface” Positive Characterization. Very few people therefore, “thought” to ask the Culturally pertinent questions about honor, duty, loyalty, sacrifice that would give them the key to the films message. A morally deficient person cannot understand this film… even when it’s explained to them.
  
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Obanger
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:40pm
Great series. All you commie-phobes, lets not forget who won this cold war. And the story line involves the husband wanting to defect to a “great country” that doesn’t turn out socialists…so we thought. Well worth the time to view.

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Hank919
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:39pm
JEFFERSONSPEN… lived through it…fiction *******!

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look73
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:26pm
http://youtu.be/1i_XqV7t7sY

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JeffersonsPen
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:24pm
Will the Media/Hollywood ever be held accountable for there blatten Anti-American, Anti-Constitutional stance? Our forefathers new that individuals and politicians ran the risk of judgement by thier communities……….Most never venture more than a few miles from home. In todays time they all hide behind the 1st Amendment which was created as a watch dog of goverment…………………Now they advertly support factions who’s intent is destroy this country………………………….Vengence is the Lords !

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- JeffersonsPen
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:26pm
  I apologize Blazers but this Sh&$#&T has got my blood boiling!
  
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- Konjurer
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 12:03am
  Watch the show before you freak out for no reason. It’s a great show so far. There is not glorification of communism at all. The communists are portrayed as the bad guys.
  
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zoro51
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:20pm
what a complete WASTE it shall BURN N CRASH may the producer be fired

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GoodStuff
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:18pm
More Hollywood garbage…who watches this crap?

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DonaldH
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:12pm
Gee!! who didn’t see being pro Soviet Union coming? I didn’t need to read this, watch the show or read the reviews of it– just from the advert I could tell what angle they would be coming from– The U.S. Flag behind the Soviet and America spelled with a K pretty much is the proof in the pudding of the agenda about to be pushed— now the dumb white folks in the US will have another reason to hate their country after watching this….

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tothepoint
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:57pm
There is so much good material about our country and its citizens that could be produced, yet they feed us this nonsense.

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- truthnstuff
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 7:32pm
  That is the point. Instead of uplifting shows with decency and morality, old time American values, they are continuing to engineer a society devoid of values that can be molded and controlled.
  
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kenndeaux
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:55pm
Guess old Joel Fields forgot that Vladimir Putin, an old school KGB man, is back in power and is reintroducing a cold war feeling between the USA and the Russian Federation..

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Hank919
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:49pm
It’s fiction. Thinking adults know the difference. Children…leave the room.

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- JeffersonsPen
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:28pm
  Fiction based on a real and present threat numbskull!…………..those who don’t understand conditioning or have read a history book…………………….leave the country!
  
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codec
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:48pm
I read all the comments here and laughed. I bet most commenters haven’t even seen the show. Im an independent libertarian and I hate socialists/communists but I like this show. Interesting insight to what could have happened during the cold war. I’m not finding any indoctrination here, just entertainment. It’s told from the point of view of the KGB so it’s sort of the point to watch the show from that aspect. Some folks just need to lighten up. Watch the show or don’t watch the show. Who cares.

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- JeffersonsPen
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 5:42pm
  Codec Buy all means enjoy your entertainment…………………………while scores of uneducated people in this country have there brain slowly turned to vodka……………this is trash and reaks of the progs !
  
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dsm
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:45pm
I have watched the first two episodes. Doesn”t make me root for the KGB. Doesn’t turn me against the US.

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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:38pm
Why would Americans want to “get used to” rooting for the KGB? Maybe a hundred years from now when they have proven that kind of accolade, but now? Exciting shades of grey? What is this, the Matrix, no colors alllowed?

Americans don’t have time to root for Russians, building anti-aircraft (missile) batteries in Brazil by licensed proxies, or the fact that the media is screaming North America has more fuel reserves then the rest of the world combined, now, Americans, give up your guns?

We don’t need the KGB or look under rocks, all you have to do is “read the bill” to see what’s in it? If you need the KGB to explain to you President Obama, Nancy Reid, Mr. Kerry, or the Clintons, just move over to Russia for a few months? You might have to install cameras on your cars to combat insurance fraud and other crime, but what the hay, that makes it all the more exciting?

There’s probably a bunch of people in the KGB who are saying to themselves, if we only had Twitter, Facebook, and a drone on every cell phone tower, we would have won the cold war? Americans did not loose the cold war, they surrendered?

This must be the greatest time in history to be a KGB agent, all you have to do is send monthly success stories of how the press in America is doing your job?

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summitday113
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:27pm
I’m enjoying the series. It’s obvious that the object is to get us to root for the KGB- or at least for the main woman character, since it seems to focus primarily on her. However, I find myself rooting for the husband who seems to be enamored with American and even suggested defecting. And I wonder how it will play out when the couple learns that KGB leadership didn’t extract their comrade’s wife to Cuba as they were told… seems like there is room for the main true believer to feel betrayed.

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borfo
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:22pm
Yet another waste of time i will not be watching. TV is Satan! Kill your TV. use your computer instead. Its much more acurate and truthful. :-)

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jungle J
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:05pm
The ignorant will die first.

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CONSERVATIVE SUMMER
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 3:58pm
I’m not sure why everyone is surprised. Almost every movie or TV show made these days glorifies the bad and vilifies the good. It’s a sad state of affairs, but it’s nothing new. TV and movies have gone to crap for the most part. It sickens me that prime time shows on the basic networks seem to have more and more cursing every time I watch. But, unfortunately, people will continue to watch and the entertainment world will continue to push the envelope.

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Stu D. Baker-Hawk
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 3:53pm
Up is down, black is white, good is evil… THIS is what our nation has come to. It’s funny but Senator Joe McCarthy was right all along: the communists in Hollywood ARE the enemy. I have to admit, I wanted to watch this new TV series, but no more.

Oh, and by the way, the KGB was bad… VERY bad.

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- barber2
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 6:54pm
  And Putin was a KGB honcho….
  
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seeds12
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 3:50pm
It is good to see Hollywood and the Narrative Support Organizations i.e. CBS,NBC,ABC, et al are on the same page.

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Patriot760
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 3:43pm
I watch it, but root for the FBI! I hate commies and socialists! It doesn’t surprise me that Hollywood put out a show like this. It was evident from the first episode that they want you to root for the Soviets. Having them portrayed by attractive actors, helps that goal.

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- checkingbothsides
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 4:05pm
  You have to admit though, that the way they’re setting the show up, it’s not like the spies are going to live happily ever after right? I think it’s intriguing, and I’m also rolling my eyes and the insecure ideological idiots here who can’t handle a challenge to their idea of a different POV. I mean, c’mon! This stuff happened over 30 years ago!
  
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Endyr
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 3:37pm
I served in the US Army and with two tours in Germany, I was there when the wall came down. My first tour, in the early 80s involved working with the Pershing Missile System. We had a 4 minute timetable to put 3.6 megatons of “no” on them. I was taught the difference between Americanism and Communism. I was and still am convinced we are on the right side of that argument. I do not condone or promote for any reason the euphemistic dramatization of our former enemy, (and according to certain experts still our enemy).

This show is just another example of Socialist desensitization, imho.

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- look73
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 6:51pm
  http://youtu.be/J1XeQM8xeGA
  
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