The Americans Season 4 finale airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday on FX. Have you found yourself feeling sorry for the married KGB spies whose job it is to bring America down?
Let's face it, Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys, Keri Russell), have killed people in the name of Mother Russia while hiding in plain sight in deep cover of suburban Washington during the Reagan administration.
They have also thoroughly warped their teenage daughter Paige (Holly Taylor) and, no matter how sincerely they believe they are achieving peace through the balance of power, they are on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.
And yet we still have sympathy for these Cold Warriors. I credit outstanding writing and extraordinary acting.
Perhaps this is the same sort of sympathy we felt for Walter White (Bryan Cranston) in Breaking Bad, or even Michael C. Hall in the title role in Dexter.
The former was a vicious methamphetamine dealer and the latter was, at the end of the day, a serial killer.
Some of the sympathy for Phillip and Elizabeth stems from the drama that ensues as they begin to doubt their mission and the pressure grows unbearable.
At least Phillip seems to be doubting their mission as he warms to traditional American values. It makes for a complicated marriage, made all the more tense by Paige's confiding in her pastor (Kelly AuCoin) that her parents are spies.
In addition, the Jennings' neighbor, FBI Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), is one careless slip away from discovering their identities. Beeman hates the KGB ("They're animals.") It would be nasty.
In tonight's episode, "Persona Non Grata," Phillip and Elizabeth "face a tense race against the FBI to recover a dangerous package." As usual, it's rated TV-MA for language and violence. There may even be the occasional FX nudity (which is fairly chaste, but there nonetheless).
Here's the good news for fans of the series. FX has picked up The Americans for two more seasons. A 13-episode Season 5 will air next year, then a 10-episode sixth and final season will follow in 2018.
In addition, FX has inked a deal with executive producers Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields to develop their next series, whatever that might be.
It'll be hard for them to top The Americans, one of the finest dramas on television. Among other honors, the series won a 2015 Emmy for Margo Martindale (guest actress in a drama series), a Peabody Award, and outstanding achievement in drama from the Television Critics Association.
Full disclosure: I belong to that last organization and voted for the series.
• Meanwhile ... In other FX news, the channel has ordered Feud, a new anthology from prolific producer Ryan Murphy.
Murphy, for those out of the loop, is the fellow who gave us Popular (1999--2001), Nip/Tuck (2003--10), Glee (2009--15), American Horror Story (2011--present), The New Normal (2012--13), Scream Queens (2015--present) and American Crime Story (2016--present).
The first installment of American Crime Story was The People v. O.J. Simpson.
Murphy, who has the reputation for pushing boundaries, has had particular success with the anthology format in attracting A-list talent. American Horror Story, for example, has won 13 Emmys.
In Feud, each season of the anthology will focus on legendary personality battles. The first season goes inside the epic backstage fight between What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
A-listers? Oscar winners Jessica Lange (Tootsie, Blue Sky) will play Crawford, and Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking) will portray Davis.
The cast of the first eight-episode season will also include Alfred Molina as the film's director Robert Aldrich, Stanley Tucci as studio mogul Jack Warner, Judy Davis as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper and Dominic Burgess as Crawford and Davis' co-star Victor Buono.
The tale will will follow how Crawford and Davis collaborated in 1962 in the film that they hoped would revive their careers. The result was a critical and box office success that received five Oscar nominations and became a cult classic.
The leading ladies, however, did not get along. Not in the least. To fuel the fire, Davis was nominated for an Oscar for Baby Jane; Crawford was not.
The component parts are there for some juicy drama. I can't wait to see the sparks fly when Lange and Sarandon take the stage.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 06/07/2016