Author Topic: The Americans (Read 3431 times)

mr_lou · « **on:** 14:35, 21 July 16 »

So I'm rather picky about what to watch. The last great show I watched was "Battlestar Galactica". It's been virtually impossible to find another show equally exciting, but "The Americans" comes close.

I've now seen the first 4 seasons of "The Americans", and just gotta recommend this one.
3 seasons on Netflix at the moment.
It starts in 1981, and moves forward from there, tells the story about the secret russian spies living in the US in that period, written by former CIA employed.
The occasional glimpse of an arcade-machine and retro-gear is almost worth it alone, but acting and the story is great too.

Here's a trailer that doesn't reveal too much. (Don't go to YouTube to watch more).

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zuOA1-Esoo[/youtube]

EgoTrip · « **Reply #1 on:** 15:08, 21 July 16 »

Battlestar Galactica was THE last great show.

Unless something drastically changes, which I doubt, there will be nothing worth watching ever again.

Grim · « **Reply #2 on:** 15:21, 21 July 16 »

Not as biblically epic as BSG, but try watching The Expanse.

Zoe Robinson · « **Reply #3 on:** 17:57, 21 July 16 »

Am I alone in finding BSG to be one of the absolute worst-written, worst-directed shows ever? The whole thing is a shitshow from episode 1 onward.

mr_lou · « **Reply #4 on:** 17:59, 21 July 16 »

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 17:57, 21 July 16

Am I alone in finding BSG to be one of the absolute worst-written, worst-directed shows ever?

Yes....
Yes you are.

CraigsBar · « **Reply #5 on:** 18:30, 21 July 16 »

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 17:57, 21 July 16

Am I alone in finding BSG to be one of the absolute worst-written, worst-directed shows ever? The whole thing is a shitshow from episode 1 onward.

Well it was OK, but Babylon 5 was much better overall IMHO.

MaV · « **Reply #6 on:** 00:17, 22 July 16 »

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 17:57, 21 July 16

Am I alone in finding BSG to be one of the absolute worst-written, worst-directed shows ever? The whole thing is a shitshow from episode 1 onward.

No, you are not.

And how much of a trite shit series this was, especially the ending.
It had a couple of good episodes at the start, and that was it. I watched every episodes thereafter hoping that this was a short lump in the creativity of the writers, and finally just gave up hope and watched it to the last episodes just for completeness' sake. The main plot is stretched so thin, it's difficult to find it. I don't know for how long they go on never even seriously trying to find earth (or heck just giving it up.) The pseudo-religiousness of it all made me puke; especially the "scientist" Baltar going prophet crap. And finally Starbuck leading the people to the "promised land"; what a nightmare. Incoherent, badly written, religious crap; certainly not science fiction, not by far.

seanb · « **Reply #7 on:** 12:54, 22 July 16 »

Both remakes of BSG and V were glossy but bland and boring modern interpretations of classic 80s shows that tried too hard to be clever despite lacking ideas.
It took the force awakens to make me feel that level of disappointment in a Sci fi series I love.

mr_lou · « **Reply #8 on:** 13:14, 22 July 16 »

I agree about V.
Not even watching the other seasons of that one. Major disappointment.

Maybe it matters whether or not you saw the old version? I never saw the old version of BSG.
I mean, I tried watching it after seeing the new one, but ended up finding the old version silly and boring.

Munchausen · « **Reply #9 on:** 23:15, 22 July 16 »

Looks interesting, will give it a go.

If you like sci fi TV try the expanse, best thing I've seen in a long time.

MaV · « **Reply #10 on:** 02:02, 26 July 16 »

Quote from: mr_lou on 13:14, 22 July 16

Maybe it matters whether or not you saw the old version? I never saw the old version of BSG.
I mean, I tried watching it after seeing the new one, but ended up finding the old version silly and boring.

I was giving this a thought, and personally I'm undecided whether this has to do with the nostalgia factor. I do watch other series because of nostalgia (U.F.O., Space 1999).

I watched the old BSG when it aired back in the days, but not anytime thereafter, so my memory of it is probably very hazy. I liked the Cylons; they looked badass with their chrome finish and the menacing red eye that moved from side to side. Lorne Greene felt out of place as by then everyone had him typecast as Ben Cartwright and it took some effort to ignore that and accept him as the leader of the humans in a sci fi story. The search for earth was always present. And that's about as much as I remember about it.
The religious undertones from what I've read now were present as well, so I might give it an equally low score now, if I'd ever watch the old series again.
In the end, I don't think the old series influences my judgment on the new BSG.

Carnivius · « **Reply #11 on:** 14:10, 26 July 16 »

I couldn't get into the BSG reboot. I'm not a big fan of heavy sci fi and it just lacked fun for me. I have some fondness for the original.

Bizarrely the PS4 game LittleBigPlanet3 recently got a a costume pack of the original. I'm not sure what caused it but it's cool and also fun to mix them up with all the other LBP costume parts too (most of which also come from popular franchises like Ghostbusters, Garfield, Marvel, DC, Doctor Who, Judge Dredd and loads of others).

seanb · « **Reply #12 on:** 14:40, 26 July 16 »

It was because of the original series of BSG and V that I watched the new ones.
Knowing they would be different but fully willing to give them a go and not have the attitude that the original was better so I refuse to see any good points of the new shows.

The new shows for me was just bad through and through

mr_lou · « **Reply #13 on:** 19:30, 26 July 16 »

Well, we obviously can't all like the same things.
Luckily, my girlfriend and I always seem to agree on what's good and what's not.
We've tried to figure out exactly which elements it is that makes it click for us, but we can't seem to put a finger on it.
I suppose it has to be a bit deep, so it makes you think. The new BSG is deep. The old one didn't feel that way. "The Americans" touches certain serious topics in the 80s, based on a true story. Makes it interesting.
Great acting is a must. Good story, and decisions that makes sense. But special effects doesn't matter that much. That's just a bonus.

Executioner · « **Reply #14 on:** 01:17, 29 July 16 »

Although I quite liked the new BSG, I found it to be more of a soapie than a Sci-Fi, especially since most of the aliens were basically humans (I suppose that's a good way to keep your production budget down). Although the original is somewhat dated now, I prefer it to the reboot.

mr_lou · « **Reply #15 on:** 08:18, 29 July 16 »

Quote from: Executioner on 01:17, 29 July 16

Although I quite liked the new BSG, I found it to be more of a soapie than a Sci-Fi, especially since most of the aliens were basically humans (I suppose that's a good way to keep your production budget down). Although the original is somewhat dated now, I prefer it to the reboot.

I agree that the new one contains much more drama than the old one. I'd say the new one is about 75% drama and 25% sci-fi. What this means, however, is that you can watch it with the girlfriend.

There's no way she'd want to watch the old one with you.

TFM · « **Reply #16 on:** 23:37, 29 July 16 »

Well, not all girl-friends are the same - obviously.

EgoTrip · « **Reply #17 on:** 19:14, 30 July 16 »

Quote from: mr_lou on 08:18, 29 July 16

There's no way she'd want to watch the old one with you.

That's because its absolutely terrible though. Not because of the sci-fi:drama ratio.

MaV · « **Reply #18 on:** 00:01, 31 July 16 »

Quote from: mr_lou on 19:30, 26 July 16

Well, we obviously can't all like the same things.

And that's good because the world would be quite boring if everybody had the same tastes.

Thanks for the tip, BTW. I'll be keeping an eye out for 'The Americans', it has promise.

GeoffB17 · « **Reply #19 on:** 02:14, 31 July 16 »

Saw some episodes of 'The Americans' - I think just the first season - when it was on normal UK TV some time ago. Looked pretty good, problem was there was something else on at the same time that I was watching too.

Did anyone see any of the old BBC series 'Sleepers' with Nigel Havers and Warren Clarke? Quite some time ago. Similar theme, but MUCH lighter, in this one the two 'agents' had been 'sleeping' so long, they'd thought they were forgotten, and had become FAR more 'English' than they were supposed to be, so went into a panic when they thought they'd been 'activated' (which had actually happened by accident).

Interesting sub-plot (among others) about the disputed goal in the 1966 World Cup final!!

Geoff

mr_lou · « **Reply #20 on:** 19:17, 03 August 16 »

Just finished "Continuum" now.
Yet another one that sounded great. Awesome idea, and also started out good. But then it just completely loses.... well basically everything.
So annoyingly sad.

It's such a shame when this happens. So many people's time goes into a production like that. I feel the writers should seriously shape up.

1024MAK · « **Reply #21 on:** 22:42, 03 August 16 »

Quote from: mr_lou on 19:17, 03 August 16

Just finished "Continuum" now.
Yet another one that sounded great. Awesome idea, and also started out good. But then it just completely loses.... well basically everything.
So annoyingly sad.

It's such a shame when this happens. So many people's time goes into a production like that. I feel the writers should seriously shape up.

Continuum - the first series was great. But it's like the writers ran out of ideas, then it went and got silly.

Mark

Gryzor · « **Reply #22 on:** 11:19, 05 August 16 »

I -and the missus- love The Americans. It's very nicely done, and very authentic. Still haven't watched the latest series, but I'm looking really forward...

Concerning BSG and the rest, first of all can we stop calling them 'sci-fi'? That's space opera, not sci-fi. Yes, space opera is a sub-genre of SF, but as a huge fan of SF since the tender age of 7 I find there's a huge, huge difference between a space opera series/movie/book and a real sci-fi one. It's like calling a western movie "crime drama".

Anyhow, I loved BSG (the reboot, never saw the old one) despite the space opera stuff. Yes, the religious overtones were a bit too american for me, but the essence wasn't half bad. Oh, and I did love the ending.

1024MAK · « **Reply #23 on:** 16:49, 05 August 16 »

My thoughts:

Original BSG - produced as if children were the audience, but it still had some good moments (but then, I was young when I watched it!)
BSG reboot - very good, but yes some elements were OTT. Agree about the religious overtones, would have been better with less of this.

Have not seen the Americans yet, recorded to hard drive to watch when I get around to it.

I did enjoy the latest Star Trek film - "Beyond". A little bit different to the other two reboot films. Maybe not as good as the first one, but then the wait between films was a lot less, so different expectations...

Looks like a new TV Star Trek series will now be made. Broadcast expected in 2017.

Meanwhile, I'm watching Dark Matter, the second series, And also the second series of Killjoys. Earlier in the year, I watched all the Firefly episodes followed by the film. Fun to see Firefly again even though I had already watched them when first broadcast.

Best I stop now

Mark

Gryzor · « **Reply #24 on:** 14:20, 08 August 16 »

Speaking of series, a couple of retro ones: I watched Stranger Things this past weekend and we loved it. Set in 1983, it's a horror one, very nicely done and with great 80s atmosphere.

Which reminded me of another 80s series I've mentioned in the forum before, Halt and Catch Fire. Has to do with computing, too

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Author Topic: The Americans (Read 3431 times)