From 2013 to 2018 — six seasons in all — FX aired the rich, frequently shocking saga of Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, a pair of KGB agents working undercover as married middle-class travel agents in Reagan-era Washington. By the end of the show’s run, this sprawling tale of nuclear anxiety and anti-Soviet hysteria had taken on a new resonance, as the Russians and the U.S. opened up a new, 21st century version of their old Cold War. And yet beyond its enduring sociopolitical significance, “The Americans” was great TV because of its characters and performances, led by Keri Russell as a dogged ideologue, Matthew Rhys as her more morally conflicted husband, and Noah Emmerich as a well-meaning FBI agent literally living next door to his enemy.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 02, 2019 16:30 UTC