FX’s new series which debuted Wednesday night, The Americans [1], is centered around husband and wife KGB sleeper agents who live with their kids as ordinary Americans in suburban Washington, DC when Ronald Reagan becomes President. Joe Weisberg [2], the creator and executive producer conceded to TV Guide [3] that “this series, to a large extent, is told from the perspective of the KGB and the Soviets. We’re making them the sympathetic characters. I’d go so far as to say they’re the heroes.”
Yet, in the 95-minute pilot aired January 30, there were scenes which should hearten conservatives who believe in Reagan’s righteousness and the superiority of the United States.
(Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell play “Philip and Elizabeth Jennings,” Soviet agents who speak perfect English without hint of an accent.)
Audio: MP3 clip [4]
> In a scene set in 1981 at a KGB safe house in Bethesda, Maryland, “Elizabeth Jennings” meets with her KGB superior whose attack line against Reagan sounds remarkably similar to that of Reagan’s left-wing domestic critics:
The American people have elected a mad man as their President. He’s expanding their military forces on a massive scale. He’s against nuclear arms control agreements. He makes no secret of his desire to destroy us. Our war is not so cold anymore, Elizabeth. What happens behind enemy lines will determine the outcome of this struggle.
> During a meeting of the FBI’s counter-intelligence unit to address the kidnapping of a Soviet defector, the Deputy Attorney General walks in to announce Reagan’s desire to thwart the Soviets:
The Attorney General and I have just come from the White House. President Reagan is outraged that the KGB thinks it can kidnap someone with impunity on American soil. The President has signed top secret executive order 2579 authorizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation counter-intelligence office to take all necessary measures to neutralize Soviet Directorate S sleeper cell agents in the continental United States. Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to war. It is a war that will be fought quietly by the men and women in this room. It will not be short and it will not be easy, but we have truth and justice on our side and we will prevail.
> In a flashback scene set at a Northern Virginia motel in 1965 when the couple first arrive in the U.S., they marvel over the cool air blowing from an air conditioner, with “Elizabeth” exclaiming “oh my God!”
-- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here [5] to follow Brent Baker on Twitter.