As others have said, it's a slow burn, but the character development is some of the best I've seen since Mad Men, if that helps. If you're just looking for action-packed spy stuff, there are better shows out there, but based on some of the stuff I've seen you post, I think the character depth will keep you interested. There's a constant tension between human beings who genuinely want to build relationships/connection but who also have a job to do, which means characters you'll start caring about get used/killed/screwed over and you get to see how much that affects everyone (if at all, which in some cases is pretty shocking).TCTTS said:
Before doing a quick search, I was about to start this exact same thread. I'm basically out of new TV to watch for the first time in I don't know how long. It's looking like HBO Sunday night programming is about the only new TV I'll have until season two of The Mandalorian in October and a couple of the Marvel series hopefully later this year as well.
In terms of the prestige and prestige-adjacent shows, The Americans is really the only big TV blind spot I have left. I never did Justified or Deadwood, but neither really interests me much. I watched the pilot for The Americans when it first debuted, and I wasn't a big fan. Like the OP said, it felt too much like network TV for my taste, and despite really liking the two leads in general, it wasn't a story that hooked me nor did it feel like one I wanted to continue devoting time to. The rest of this thread doesn't give me much hope, though it does sound it like it got better as it went along. Considering this thread existed before the final two seasons, how do people feel now? I heard the series finale was incredible?
There's one season where Keri Russell was pregnant in real life and things move VERY slowly because she couldn't do any action scenes, but other than that, I thought the plot moved along nicely for the most part (I think it was the next to last season, so if it frustrates you, know that the final season is fantastic and worth the wait). Definitely goes a lot deeper than a network series, and as others have said, the ending pays everything off very nicely. I believe there were two different points during the finale when I distinctly remember thinking "I just watched one of the greatest/most well-done scenes in television history" because of all the context behind what was happening. You'll likely spend the entire final season updating your list of who you think is going to die/get arrested/escape, and in that regard they do a great job building up a TON of suspense.
