Watching the Americans

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WTA 112- Feedback for Urban Transport Planning Apr 18, 2018

Show notes

Can Philip have a sadder face? He outdoes himself this week! Plus, Elizabeth gets to kill someone. Wha? And the Oleg-Stan bromance recommences! It awaits us in The Americans Season 6 Episode 3 “Urban Transport Planning” which aired April 11, 2018. It was written by Tracey Scott Wilson and directed by Dan Attias.

This is Episode 112 and contains our history, tech of yesteryear, and feedback segments. Please check out Episode 111 to get the news and our episode breakdown and analysis.

We had to really cull all the history and tech again! We take a trip to The Forum to meet up with our pals authors Napoleon Hill and William Clement Stone who are coincidentally experts on The Strategic Defense Initiative! We get a hankering for some Russian taste treats and hit the kitchen to pile on the smetana, solyanka and zharkoye! Fortunately our buddy George Shultz helps us finish the grub while explaining why he is such a fan of Gorby and his plans for Perestroika and Glasnost, all while humming the tune of Dance Me to the End of Love” by Leonard Cohen! Then we put the leftovers down the garbage disposal, leaving no smorg to put away in the Handi-Wrap left on the kitchen counter! We then take a look at the Wigs of the Week before hearing more feedback than ever!

And we do love to hear your thoughts about The Americans so please keep sending them to us! You can email text or audio feedback to watchingtheamericans@gmail.com or signal us (we have replaced the operator!) at 919-907-0542. Follow us on Twitter @WatchAmericans. Please like us on our Facebook page Watching The Americans. And if you do enjoy the show, kindly rate us or better yet rate and review us in iTunes or Stitcher!

WTA 111- Season 6 Episode 3 Urban Transport Planning Apr 16, 2018

Show notes

This is Episode 111 and contains the news and our episode breakdown and analysis. To hear our history, tech of yesteryear, and feedback segments stay tuned for Episode 112.

We have three great items in the news this week. First up a terrific interview in Vulture with Noah Emmerich who says he won’t miss playing Stan! Next we have Paste’s opinion that The Americans is reaffirming its status as one of TV’s best portraits of marriage, and we wind up with Film School Rejects’ deep dive into the tragic score of The Americans.

Then it’s time for the Elizabeth body count to begin! (Spoiler: one tonight. That we know of!) Apart from Elizabeth mayhem, she and Philip have radically different approaches to dealing with Paige. Stan continues his new role as marriage counselor along with his political asylum offerings. We learn all about Russian cooking at Chez Claudia! The bromance we all wanted to see, Oleg and Stan, fires up! Bonus points for Haskard and his baseball jacket! And Henry checks in!

Remember that we do love to hear your thoughts about The Americans so please keep sending them in! You can email text or audio feedback to watchingtheamericans@gmail.com or signal us (we have replaced the operator!) at 919-907-0542. Follow us on Twitter @WatchAmericans. Please like us on our Facebook page Watching The Americans. And if you do enjoy the show, kindly rate us or better yet rate and review us in iTunes!

WTA 110- Feedback for Tchaikovsky Apr 11, 2018

Show notes

The fast-paced opening of Season 6 shifts into a more deliberate and devolving state for poor overworked Elizabeth! Philip loses a client, and Paige gets musical! We also get Stan: marriage counselor? Plus: FBI Mailbot makes his triumphant return! It’s all in The Americans Season 6 Episode 2 “Tchaikovsky” which aired April 4, 2018. It was written by the showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, and was directed by Matthew Rhys.

This is Episode 110 and contains our history, tech of yesteryear, and feedback segments. Please check out Episode 109 to get the news and our episode breakdown and analysis.

History and tech have a musical flair this week as we meet Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky who just happens to be toying with our emotions in None but the Lonely Heart, which makes us want to START making sense with Talking Heads who are Speaking in Tongues about Slippery People. Then we visit the ever-dapper Don Regan who throws doubt on Reagan’s Alzheimer’s onset timing. Thank goodness we have a calculator to figure out how much to charge for a vintage lithium-based radiation sensor – they ain’t cheap! We then take a look at the Wigs of the Week: just before hearing all your terrific feedback!

WTA 109- Season 6 Episode 2 Tchaikovsky Apr 09, 2018

Show notes

This is Episode 109 and contains the news and our episode breakdown and analysis. To hear our history, tech of yesteryear, and feedback segments stay tuned for Episode 110.

For your listening pleasure we have 2 fun stories for you in the TASS-approved news! First up is a great piece in Vulture talking with the folks on the show for their favorite disguises. Then

thanks to Maggie C on Facebook we found Uproxx’s ‘The Americans’ Anxiety Report: Paige And Mail Robot Are Not Gonna Be Okay! Too funny!

We then break down the brain-splashing craziness! The situation continues to unravel for Elizabeth this week. Her multiple operations are a drain on her. She is almost caught meeting with her State Department contact. She attempts to use an asset from 1981 who is resistant to helping her. Philip loses an important customer and Henry gives him advice. Stan and Dennis have to deal with the deterioration of Gennadi and Sofia’s marriage. FBI Mailbot! Paige gets a classical music lesson from Claudia. She later comes upon the shocking outcome of Elizabeth’s attempt to extract tech from her old asset.

WTA 108- Katie Irish Interview Apr 06, 2018

Show notes

Season 6 of The Americans is finally here! What are the Jennings wearing? Katie Irish, Costume Designer for the show knows all! Katie returns to answer our questions about the costumes in Season 6, fashion in the 1980s, and more! And of course she answers your wardrobe questions!

We love to hear your thoughts about The Americans so please send them to us! You can email text or audio feedback to watchingtheamericans@gmail.com or signal us (we have replaced the operator!) at 919-907-0542. Follow us on Twitter @WatchAmericans. Please like us on our Facebook page Watching The Americans. And if you do enjoy the show, kindly rate us or better yet rate and review us in iTunes!

WTA 107- Feedback For Dead Hand Apr 04, 2018

Show notes

And so it begins…the last Season of The Americans! What a debut for us this week – we jump back to the future three years and enter a world familiar yet changed. We check in with the gang – Stan & Dennis, Oleg, and of course the Jennings. Plus we have surprising returns including Claudia and Arkady! And things aren’t looking so hot for Philip and Elizabeth who have diverged over the interim. It took a plus-sized show to set us up and we get one in The Americans Season 6 Episode 1 “Dead Hand” which aired March 28, 2018. It was written by the showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, and was directed by Chris Long.

This is Episode 107 and contains our history, tech of yesteryear, and feedback segments. Please check out Episode 106 to get the news and our episode breakdown and analysis.

With three years gone, there is so much history to cover, but first we take a moment to sneak into the theater and check out out the Oscar-winning Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears. That’s just before we head to DC and try to get a peak at the Washington Summit featuring Ronnie and Gorby! We wonder if Gorby can keep control of the Strategic Rocket Forces who have a tight grip on the Dead Hand, which is pretty much what Robert Bork will be playing soon thanks to the U.S. Senate. To calm us down, we turn up some Crowded House because we could swear we just saw a Soviet SS-20 outside the window! No doubt we will flee in our Camaro and alert the media with our awesome floor-mounted Car Phone! Then it’s time for more incredible feedback than we have ever gotten!

WTA 106- Season 6 Episode 1 Dead Hand Apr 02, 2018

Show notes

This is Episode 106 and contains the news and our episode breakdown and analysis. To hear our history, tech of yesteryear, and feedback segments stay tuned for Episode 107.

There were so many stories out there that it was really hard to choose the news! We head to the Big Apple via The New York Times’ terrific interview with the artist who helped with a new storyline. Next up we have the always reliable Uproxx and Alan Sepinwall’s take as the show begins its ominous endgame, and we have a cool chat in (again) The New York Times as we find out if Holly Taylor will inherit the family business?

Then we proceed to our usual annotated deep dive into the show. Elizabeth has been working alone for quite some time, and the strain is apparent. Paige has become a budding operative under Elizabeth’s and Claudia’s guidance. Philip is now very successful as a full-time civilian running the travel agency. And dancing! Henry has gone off to boarding school and is quite the hockey player. Arkady returns and convinces Oleg to help reform elements in the government, while Elizabeth is recruited to stop those same elements. And after five seasons of becoming closer, Philip and Elizabeth are now worlds apart.

WTA 105- Seasons 4-6 Roundtable! Mar 29, 2018

Show notes

Tovarischi! The debut of the final season of The Americans is here at long last! Before we start our regular shows, we have finished our rewatch of the entire series and asked some of our long-term audio contributors to help us break down Seasons 4 and 5 and speculate about Season 6! Joining us this time are our friends and co-hosts Kathleen (aka alternakat), Roland, & Barb who help us go through themes. characters and major plot points from the first three seasons of our favorite show!

WTA 104- Kelly AuCoin Interview Mar 28, 2018

Show notes

We are getting so close to the debut of the last season of The Americans, tovarischi! To prepare, we reached out to the man who gave us our first interview, our good friend Kelly AuCoin aka Pastor Tim! Kelly reveals nothing (don’t worry J’s!) about Season 6, and he does so in such entertaining fashion that you won’t mind a bit! Plus, he responds to your questions and comments and teases us a bit for his role as the nefarious Dollar Bill on Season 3 of Showtime’s “Billions”!

WTA 103- Seasons 1-3 Roundtable! Feb 22, 2018

Show notes

Tovarischi! We are closing in on the debut of the final season of The Americans! So we started a rewatch of the entire series and asked some of our long-term audio contributors to help us break down Seasons 1-3! Joining us this time are our friends and co-hosts Kathleen (aka alternakat), Roland, & Chris who help us go through themes. characters and major plot points from the first three seasons of our favorite show!

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