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"Americans" TV Show

sherwoodsherwood Senior MemberPosts: 1,215 Senior Member
in Clubhouse #1
I see where there is to be a new TV show about some Russian KGB agents in the USA. From what I read the show writers want the viewers to feel sorry for the agents. As one who has spent over 40 years working against these SPIES I feel disgusted about the premise of this show. How say you? I know the Boss and I will not be watching it.
I may be old but I ain't dead!
DPRMD

Replies

  • Fat BillyFat Billy Senior Member Posts: 1,813 Senior Member
    #2
    Sherwood, please watch because we need someone who knows the difference between bee feces and honey to critique the show. I'm going to watch just to see what's up but a knowledgeable input would be great. :popcorn: Later,
    Fat Billy

    Recoil is how you know primer ignition is complete.
  • centermass556centermass556 Senior Member Posts: 3,508 Senior Member
    #3
    You know Sherwood, when some of the 20 - 25 year statements you guys signed expire, you need to write books. I know a couple intercept guys that worked the Pacific in the early 80's...I am telling them to put some pen to paper. There is a lot that went on in the supposedly "cold" war that America has no clue about...
    "To have really lived, you must have almost died. To those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know."
  • Vic's ViewpointVic's Viewpoint Senior Member Posts: 1,126 Senior Member
    #4
    centermass556 wrote: »
    You know Sherwood, when some of the 20 - 25 year statements you guys signed expire, you need to write books. I know a couple intercept guys that worked the Pacific in the early 80's...I am telling them to put some pen to paper. There is a lot that went on in the supposedly "cold" war that America has no clue about...

    Amen to all the above posts! Unless the show is some sort of back-handed comedy, the subject matter seems absolutely perverse and perverted. I do want to know more.
    Member formerly known as "vlafrank."
  • sherwoodsherwood Senior Member Posts: 1,215 Senior Member
    #5
    Fat Billy wrote: »
    Sherwood, please watch because we need someone who knows the difference between bee feces and honey to critique the show. I'm going to watch just to see what's up but a knowledgeable input would be great. :popcorn: Later,

    Nope! Ain't happening. People who watch that kind of crap have no memory of the cold war and the effects it had on America.
    I may be old but I ain't dead!
    DPRMD
  • bisleybisley Senior Member Posts: 10,658 Senior Member
    #6
    During my 'reading years,' I read all the Cold War novels. I've always wondered if any of them came close to giving an accurate depiction of what really went on. Obviously, the heroes were usually way too good to be authentic, but I have always wondered about the tradecraft and agent-flipping techniques.
  • Fat BillyFat Billy Senior Member Posts: 1,813 Senior Member
    #7
    I remember the Cold War but wasn't into spy craft at the time. So far the best thing about the show is the 78 Olds. Haven't hit record series yet on DVR. :uhm: Later,
    Fat Billy

    Recoil is how you know primer ignition is complete.
  • alphasigmookiealphasigmookie Senior Member Posts: 8,744 Senior Member
    #8
    DVR'd last night's episode. Don't know much about it, but will give it a few episodes. The impression I got was it was going to be sortof like those Russian Spies caught a couple years ago, but no idea if that's true or not.
    "Finding out that you have run out of toilet paper is a good example of lack of preparation, buying 10 years worth is silly"
    -DoctorWho
  • Big Al1Big Al1 Senior Member Posts: 7,052 Senior Member
    #9
    I understand your aversion to watching something like this, since you are appartently envolved in protecting us from such activities. I watched it last night, solely as entertainment, it was well written and acted, and I enjoyed and will watch it again. It would be interesting to get a review from someone like you who actually LIVED it and get a critique on the historical correctness, or whether it is just hollywood fluff. I like the FX series, like SOA and Justified, it's so much better then the reruns for all the CSINCISSVU , ect. drivil.
  • bullsi1911bullsi1911 Moderator Posts: 9,731 Senior Member
    #10
    centermass556 wrote: »
    You know Sherwood, when some of the 20 - 25 year statements you guys signed expire, you need to write books. I know a couple intercept guys that worked the Pacific in the early 80's...I am telling them to put some pen to paper. There is a lot that went on in the supposedly "cold" war that America has no clue about...

    Yeah, I wish my father in law had been able to talk about some of the stuff he did back in those days. Now that he has passed, no one will ever know what happened. He made some oblique comments about it over the years.
    To make something simple is a thousand times more difficult than to make something complex.
    -Mikhail Kalashnikov
  • 1965Jeff1965Jeff Senior Member Posts: 1,611 Senior Member
    #11
    A few years ago I read an account of a similar "family" placed in the USA by way of Canada by the KGB. I wonder if the series will follow the same story line as the book, whose title I can't remember right now. I watched the show and didn't get the feeling I was supposed to feel sorry for the poor russkies sent to spy on the USA.
  • centermass556centermass556 Senior Member Posts: 3,508 Senior Member
    #12
    on another note...I can understand Sherwood's aversion to this. Everytime I see a new Iraqi war movie or Afghan war movie trailor, I get the urge to kick the TV....
    "To have really lived, you must have almost died. To those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know."
  • Make_My_DayMake_My_Day Senior Member Posts: 7,148 Senior Member
    #13
    Who the hell needs to worry about Russian spies when the U.S. government is packed with communist traitors already? We're being slowly destroyed from within!
    JOE MCCARTHY WAS RIGHT:
    THE DEMOCRATS ARE THE NEW COMMUNISTS!
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Moderator Posts: 15,072 Senior Member
    #14
    Make_My_Day wrote: »
    Who the hell needs to worry about Russian spies when the U.S. government is packed with communist traitors already? We're being slowly destroyed from within!

    Now we know where all those sleeper agents kids ended up....
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • EliEli Senior Member Posts: 3,074 Senior Member
    #15
    centermass556 wrote: »
    on another note...I can understand Sherwood's aversion to this. Everytime I see a new Iraqi war movie or Afghan war movie trailor, I get the urge to kick the TV....

    Except for that documentary The Hurt Locker.....very good info in that one.

    :tooth:
    https://www.instagram.com/eli.farmer/
  • bisleybisley Senior Member Posts: 10,658 Senior Member
    #16
    I watched it last night. My wife had recorded it, thinking I might like it. As a fictional 'story' targeted at an audience that is mostly ignorant about the Cold War, it is possible to enjoy it, provided you regard it as you would one of those 'alternative history' stories. It has an interesting story line, and is well-acted and written. I'm capable of enjoying a book or movie that is well done, knowing that it is total fantasy, although I don't want a steady diet of them.

    But, I can't really approve of a TV series that tries that hard to humanize the KGB, because it gives too many people false notions about that part of our history. It uses attractive, likeable characters to portray some of the most deadly enemies to freedom this country has ever had. It gives a perfunctory view of how the KGB turned it's agents into sociopaths, but then humanizes them by making them good parents.

    I'll probably watch it, occasionally, just so I can point out whatever blatant falsehoods I can spot to anybody that seems to be taking it to heart.
  • Make_My_DayMake_My_Day Senior Member Posts: 7,148 Senior Member
    #17
    There seems to be a huge effort on the part of the left-wing media to portray former and present enemies of the United States as now being the "good guys" even if it is in the weakest way. They call Muslim terrorists "freedom fighters," so why not take a second look at commies and KGB agents?
    JOE MCCARTHY WAS RIGHT:
    THE DEMOCRATS ARE THE NEW COMMUNISTS!
  • bruchibruchi Senior Member Posts: 2,582 Senior Member
    #18
    Great? Not so when compared to "Justified", another FX show but still watchable.

    So they live in suburbia? That is their cover, they have no issues using sex, violence and getting their hands quite dirty to meet their ends and then go home to their kids who are in for a very rude awakening by being uninvited participating pawns to their trade, I don't find characters such as this likable at all. They also paint some Russians as very low humans.


    SPOILER...The perhaps likable part is the seed of hope they plant for them to "see the light" and become full Americans as half of the team already leans in that direction but seems that ship already sailed...
    If this post is non welcomed, I can always give you a recipe for making "tostones".
  • Fat BillyFat Billy Senior Member Posts: 1,813 Senior Member
    #19
    The pair in the show would be more believeable if both had one eyebrow and wore black socks with shorts. Sill like the Oldsmobile. :up: Later,
    Fat Billy

    Recoil is how you know primer ignition is complete.
  • alphasigmookiealphasigmookie Senior Member Posts: 8,744 Senior Member
    #20
    Make_My_Day wrote: »
    There seems to be a huge effort on the part of the left-wing media to portray former and present enemies of the United States as now being the "good guys" even if it is in the weakest way. They call Muslim terrorists "freedom fighters," so why not take a second look at commies and KGB agents?

    I think it's a backlash against the 60+ year trend of treating all traditional enemies as caricatures rather than true characters with depth and complexity. Sure the typical propaganda film/tv show has it's place (Rocky IV is still one of may favorite cheesy movies!), but most people demand more from their entertainment these days. Portraying all enemies as cartoonish personifications of evil just doesn't cut it these days.
    "Finding out that you have run out of toilet paper is a good example of lack of preparation, buying 10 years worth is silly"
    -DoctorWho
  • alphasigmookiealphasigmookie Senior Member Posts: 8,744 Senior Member
    #21
    I should add that my hockey team's name is "The Ivan Dragos"...

    IMAG0129_zps5d084ac2.jpg
    "Finding out that you have run out of toilet paper is a good example of lack of preparation, buying 10 years worth is silly"
    -DoctorWho
  • bisleybisley Senior Member Posts: 10,658 Senior Member
    #22
    Why does this not surprise me?
  • CHIRO1989CHIRO1989 Senior Member Posts: 10,940 Senior Member
    #23
    alphasigmookie wrote: »
    I should add that my hockey team's name is "The Ivan Dragos"...

    IMAG0129_zps5d084ac2.jpg


    Why this name?
    I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn away from their ways and live. Eze 33:11
  • alphasigmookiealphasigmookie Senior Member Posts: 8,744 Senior Member
    #24
    CHIRO1989 wrote: »
    Why this name?

    [video=youtube_share;ygQvB6OjHOU]
    "Finding out that you have run out of toilet paper is a good example of lack of preparation, buying 10 years worth is silly"
    -DoctorWho
  • breamfisherbreamfisher Senior Member Posts: 13,112 Senior Member
    #25
    Also gives you a chance to say, "If he dies, he dies..." when you skate past a fallen opponent.
    Overkill is underrated.
  • sherwoodsherwood Senior Member Posts: 1,215 Senior Member
    #26
    alphasigmookie wrote: »
    I should add that my hockey team's name is "The Ivan Dragos"...

    IMAG0129_zps5d084ac2.jpg

    Why am I not surprised!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I may be old but I ain't dead!
    DPRMD
  • alphasigmookiealphasigmookie Senior Member Posts: 8,744 Senior Member
    #27
    breamfisher wrote: »
    Also gives you a chance to say, "If he dies, he dies..." when you skate past a fallen opponent.

    Fun fact, my groomsmen and I were watching this movie right before my wedding. Those were the last words I heard before we left the hotel!
    "Finding out that you have run out of toilet paper is a good example of lack of preparation, buying 10 years worth is silly"
    -DoctorWho
  • 1965Jeff1965Jeff Senior Member Posts: 1,611 Senior Member
    #28
    Finally watched the whole show, not as good as Justified and find it hard to believe that a spy picked for penetrating the USA would quit so fast and flip to the evil USA just for $$$ but the show is a spy related soap opera. Also found the guy searching out the mall perv not likely as you want to keep as low a profile as possible.I will give it one more try and see what developes...
  • CHIRO1989CHIRO1989 Senior Member Posts: 10,940 Senior Member
    #29
    alphasigmookie wrote: »
    [video=youtube_share;ygQvB6OjHOU]

    I was familiar with the reference, I am just not linking it to hockey....
    I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn away from their ways and live. Eze 33:11
  • alphasigmookiealphasigmookie Senior Member Posts: 8,744 Senior Member
    #30
    CHIRO1989 wrote: »
    I was familiar with the reference, I am just not linking it to hockey....

    Not really any connection. We just liked the name for our beer league team.
    "Finding out that you have run out of toilet paper is a good example of lack of preparation, buying 10 years worth is silly"
    -DoctorWho
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