Digital Spy presents The Best TV Shows You Might Have Missed - a celebration of television's underrated gems, undiscovered wonders and future hits.
The Americans
On the surface, the Jennings look like any other all-American family. They live in a nice home, go out to work every morning and have two polite and respectful children.
However, they say appearances can be deceiving and that saying has never been more true than in the case of Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell), who are really KGB spies posing as US citizens.
The Americans centres around the everyday lives of these two KGB agents, during the Cold War in the 1980s. Two of the KGB's most trusted agents, they are often called upon to undertake missions that could end in their death or capture.
Interestingly, the FX series was inspired by the real-life story of Richard and Cynthia Murphy, who were exposed back in 2010 as Russian spies, just 2 of 11 sleeper agents sent to the US by the KGB years before. However, the writers decided on a 1980s setting rather than present day to tell their story.
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The mastermind behind the series is Joe Weisberg, who absolutely knows his stuff as a former CIA officer himself. Through his work, he is able to base some of what we see in The Americans on real-life stories - the show explores his fascination with the tales he heard from his fellow agents, serving as spies out of the country, while raising families themselves.
The Jennings' marriage was put together by the agency and their children, Paige (Holly Taylor) and Henry (Keidrich Sellati), were born to make their all-American lifestyle seem more legitimate. But while their job takes high priority in their lives, the Jennings are actually head-over-heels in love - despite their attempts to fight their feelings.
What is so fascinating about the Jennings' working relationship is Philip's discomfort with the life they lead. While Elizabeth is in no way an ice queen, she believes more in the cause and that what they are doing is for the greater good, while Philip finds it easier to adapt to the American lifestyle.
Through a series of flashbacks over the two seasons, we explore the backstories of both Elizabeth and Philip through their eyes, from their training to become agents to their arrival and first meeting in America.
These characters are shown to be more than just killing machines - there's an emotional aspect to the show, and it also poses a moral dilemma for the viewers, as they are essentially rooting for the bad guys.
The Americans has often been compared to Homeland, being in the similar sort of gritty spy mould, but compared to Homeland, The Americans does not remain hung up on certain characters, as has been the case with Brody (Damian Lewis) and his family – particularly daughter Dana (Morgan Saylor).
The writers of The Americans keep viewers hooked with fresh storylines each season - on current quality, it is the far superior spy show.
The latest round of Emmy nominations saw some heavyweights in the category, but with Matthew Rhys pulling off arguably the performance of his career, it was disappointing to see him miss out on at least a nomination, with the show only receiving credit for Margo Martindale's guest starring role.
The series has recently been renewed for a third season set to air in 2015, and while many shows are guilty of filler episodes in their later seasons,The Americans remains a thrilling ride, made all the more fascinating by its basis in real-life stories of Russian spies.
The show, while not receiving the recognition it deserves, has developed something of a cult following and is well worth delving into.
