I meant to post something yesterday about the premiere of The Americans, but I was evidently so consumed with questions about disturbing commercials that I completely forgot. My apologies. I can and will do better in the future. Anyway, the ratings are in and it looks like FX may have another hit on their hands.
The initial broadcast of The Americans premiere at 10 p.m. grabbed 3.22 million total viewers, 1.57 million of them in the advertiser-preferred 18-49 demographic. Those numbers narrowly edge out the series premiere of Sons of Anarchy in the key demo (the Son premiere drew 1.55 million viewers 18-49) and the American Horror Story series premiere in total viewers (AHS drew 3.18 million total viewers with its maiden episode.) [The Wrap]
Personally, I thought the premiere was really solid, albeit a little forced at times. (The FBI agent/neighbor thing, especially. I don’t know if that was necessary.) And dark. Hoo boy was it dark. I mean, (uh, spoiler alert) Felicity got raped. I really was not prepared for that. I know they gave the usual TV-MA disclaimer coming out of the commercial, but I feel like there should have been a more specific warning before that scene. Something like “Due to mature themes, viewer discretion is advised. Also, if you watched The WB in the late-90s, you are about to be traumatized.” I’m just spitballing here.
What did y’all think? Are you going to keep watching? Feel free to chime in below the GIF of Keri Russell kicking a dude’s head through the wall. (That was a fun sentence to type.)
