FX's The Americans started production in New York in December and gets a speedy launch on the network later this month.
The thriller, which stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as embedded Soviet spies in 1981 Washington, DC, made an appearance during Wednesday's Television Critics Association winter press tour -- and producers were quick to emphasize who viewers should be rooting for.
"It might be a little different to believe and get used to, but we want you to root for the KGB," said EP Joel Fields. "They're going to try to get the Soviets to win the Cold War."
History knows they're fighting a losing battle, but the creative team behind the high-profile launch expressed a confidence that more than enough time has passed for American audiences to not hold a grudge.
To be fair, much of Hollywood seemed to be rooting for the Soviets throughout the Cold War, so this isn't actually difficult to believe.
I was thinking this might be an interesting series to watch from the commercials. But I simply will not watch a series based on the premise that we are supposed to root for the lying, evil, murdering communist bastards who are the good guys who should win. No amount of time should allow us to let that grudge pass.
Or did I miss the warm and fuzzy Nazi series? Or the misunderstood Ku Klux Klan series? Oh, right, communists are different. They cared.
The Soviet Union is mercifully defeated and gone. But their fans persist in trying to paint them in a friendly light.
Obviously, if the Soviet agents are the good guys in the story, the Reagan-era American government must be the legion of bad guys.
A series on the Cold War and this is what our entertainment industry gives us? May this series die a quick death.
Eдешь к черту, FX.
