WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.805 FX's regularly-Emmy-nominated drama The Americans 2 00:00:02.805 --> 00:00:05.760 is a show about spies during the Cold War. 3 00:00:05.760 --> 00:00:08.851 Or, if you ask showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, 4 00:00:08.851 --> 00:00:12.966 it's a show about complications with family and marriage. 5 00:00:12.966 --> 00:00:14.987 Uh, actually, if you ask Reddit, 6 00:00:14.987 --> 00:00:17.112 I think it might be a show about wigs. 7 00:00:17.112 --> 00:00:19.240 But at ARS, the reason this has become 8 00:00:19.240 --> 00:00:20.492 a slack-channel favorite is that someone 9 00:00:20.492 --> 00:00:23.206 on that writing staff is clearly obsessed 10 00:00:23.206 --> 00:00:25.196 with tech in the same way we are. 11 00:00:25.196 --> 00:00:27.620 And through five seasons of DC drama, 12 00:00:27.620 --> 00:00:29.266 The Americans has openly and often 13 00:00:29.266 --> 00:00:32.012 let its IT forum nerd flag fly. 14 00:00:32.012 --> 00:00:35.095 [upbeat retro music] 15 00:00:42.660 --> 00:00:45.632 Let's start with the show's bread and butter; spy tech. 16 00:00:45.632 --> 00:00:48.557 The Americans' writing staff is relentless about research. 17 00:00:48.557 --> 00:00:51.313 And they strive to depict an accurate representation 18 00:00:51.313 --> 00:00:54.728 of KGB, FBI, and Sleeper Cell life at the time. 19 00:00:54.728 --> 00:00:57.634 They do this by tracking-down declassified documents, 20 00:00:57.634 --> 00:01:00.216 reading all of the best non-fiction about this era, 21 00:01:00.216 --> 00:01:01.825 and interviewing people directly 22 00:01:01.825 --> 00:01:03.327 involved with that lifestyle. 23 00:01:03.327 --> 00:01:04.544 Heck, the show has people from 24 00:01:04.544 --> 00:01:07.456 the 1980s intelligence community either advising the show 25 00:01:07.456 --> 00:01:09.221 or working directly as staff. 26 00:01:09.221 --> 00:01:11.099 There's Christopher Lynch, who's got thirty years 27 00:01:11.099 --> 00:01:13.323 of experience in the intelligence community 28 00:01:13.323 --> 00:01:15.691 and specializes in KGB history. 29 00:01:15.691 --> 00:01:19.033 Keith Melton literally started the spy museum in DC 30 00:01:19.033 --> 00:01:20.632 and show runner Joe Weisberg 31 00:01:20.632 --> 00:01:23.328 was directly in the CIA himself. 32 00:01:23.328 --> 00:01:25.150 So when you see that a KGB briefcase 33 00:01:25.150 --> 00:01:27.240 has an advanced concealment in it 34 00:01:27.240 --> 00:01:29.855 or that they're using wire-recording tech that's capable 35 00:01:29.855 --> 00:01:32.373 of twenty-four hours plus of eavesdropping, 36 00:01:32.373 --> 00:01:33.655 that stuff is real. 37 00:01:33.655 --> 00:01:36.738 [upbeat retro music] 38 00:01:38.463 --> 00:01:40.469 Spy stuff on screen has long been 39 00:01:40.469 --> 00:01:41.906 the home to excellent stunt work. 40 00:01:41.906 --> 00:01:43.714 And The Americans is no exception 41 00:01:43.714 --> 00:01:46.598 even if its action is a little bit less over the top. 42 00:01:46.598 --> 00:01:49.030 Yes, yes, yes; there are parkour-like foot chases 43 00:01:49.030 --> 00:01:52.259 and tense auto-getaways, but the most clever bit of action 44 00:01:52.259 --> 00:01:56.209 on the show so far is rooted in both science and history. 45 00:01:56.209 --> 00:01:59.292 [upbeat retro music] 46 00:02:00.535 --> 00:02:03.519 Back in Season Three, an anti-apartheid activist pal 47 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:05.403 of the Jennings gets his hands 48 00:02:05.403 --> 00:02:07.361 on a South African intelligence officer. 49 00:02:07.361 --> 00:02:10.317 Then, horrifically puts a tire around his neck 50 00:02:10.317 --> 00:02:11.872 and burns this guy alive. 51 00:02:11.872 --> 00:02:15.263 Now, this stuff actually happened in the 1980s down 52 00:02:15.263 --> 00:02:18.558 in South Africa between the anti- and pro-apartheid forces. 53 00:02:18.558 --> 00:02:20.653 But The Americans isn't some big-budget, 54 00:02:20.653 --> 00:02:22.730 Hollywood production with a ton of money 55 00:02:22.730 --> 00:02:24.855 able to do CGI whenever they want. 56 00:02:24.855 --> 00:02:27.169 How the heck do they make that look real? 57 00:02:27.169 --> 00:02:28.752 Two words: Zel Jel. 58 00:02:29.641 --> 00:02:32.342 Developed in the 1980s by a chemist named Gary Zeller, 59 00:02:32.342 --> 00:02:34.757 he originally envisioned this for FX work. 60 00:02:34.757 --> 00:02:36.674 Although it's since seeped into work places 61 00:02:36.674 --> 00:02:38.647 like firehouses and kitchens. 62 00:02:38.647 --> 00:02:42.092 Now, what Zel Jel does is allows productions to get 63 00:02:42.092 --> 00:02:44.795 a more realistic visual because a covered professional 64 00:02:44.795 --> 00:02:47.390 can last up to thirty seconds during a live burn. 65 00:02:47.390 --> 00:02:49.446 Previously, you would've only been able to achieve this 66 00:02:49.446 --> 00:02:51.699 through some clever post-production editing 67 00:02:51.699 --> 00:02:54.484 or by things like put a mask on a stunt dummy. 68 00:02:54.484 --> 00:02:57.567 [upbeat retro music] 69 00:02:59.450 --> 00:03:01.361 But even within the era that birthed us 70 00:03:01.361 --> 00:03:04.989 the Amiga and the Walkman, the true tech star 71 00:03:04.989 --> 00:03:07.603 of The Americans has been apparent from day one. 72 00:03:07.603 --> 00:03:09.236 It's the FBI mail robot. 73 00:03:09.236 --> 00:03:12.037 This vaguely Dalek-looking thing is essentially 74 00:03:12.037 --> 00:03:15.010 a set of cubbies on wheels, automatedly buzzing 75 00:03:15.010 --> 00:03:18.594 around the FBI offices so people can grab their mail 76 00:03:18.594 --> 00:03:21.059 without venturing too far from their desks. 77 00:03:21.059 --> 00:03:22.813 Over the course of its appearances during the show's 78 00:03:22.813 --> 00:03:25.259 five seasons, the mail robot has been woven 79 00:03:25.259 --> 00:03:27.200 into crucial plot points, it's inspired 80 00:03:27.200 --> 00:03:30.738 its own Twitter feed, and its genuinely generated letters 81 00:03:30.738 --> 00:03:33.713 of concern to the showrunners after an FBI agent 82 00:03:33.713 --> 00:03:36.209 may or may not have abused it a little. 83 00:03:36.209 --> 00:03:38.756 Mail robot, just like all the other tech on the show, 84 00:03:38.756 --> 00:03:40.092 is era-accurate. 85 00:03:40.092 --> 00:03:42.178 Weisberg told us that they came up with the idea 86 00:03:42.178 --> 00:03:44.057 when they read Christopher Lynch's book 87 00:03:44.057 --> 00:03:46.533 where he describes a FBI robot roaming 88 00:03:46.533 --> 00:03:48.775 around the offices during the eighties. 89 00:03:48.775 --> 00:03:52.260 Fields now looks at it as the perfect metaphor. 90 00:03:52.260 --> 00:03:54.855 "There's something perfectly beautiful about the mail robot 91 00:03:54.855 --> 00:03:57.519 "as an expression of the transition of technology. 92 00:03:57.519 --> 00:03:59.711 "There you are in the early eighties and they correctly know 93 00:03:59.711 --> 00:04:02.091 "that mail delivery wasn't gonna be controlled by humans 94 00:04:02.091 --> 00:04:04.288 "but they just had the tech backwards. 95 00:04:04.288 --> 00:04:06.357 "They eliminated the mail carrier instead of eliminating 96 00:04:06.357 --> 00:04:08.583 "the mail; how could they have known?" 97 00:04:08.583 --> 00:04:11.292 So if you're like us and you're dying for Season Six, 98 00:04:11.292 --> 00:04:13.751 you can fill some of that time in between by looking up 99 00:04:13.751 --> 00:04:15.685 videos of this thing on Youtube. 100 00:04:15.685 --> 00:04:18.692 They all closely resemble what ended up on the show. 101 00:04:18.692 --> 00:04:21.782 So, yes, The Americans has families and marriages. 102 00:04:21.782 --> 00:04:23.893 And, of course, viewers are always gonna latch on 103 00:04:23.893 --> 00:04:26.356 to things like that cool eighties soundtrack 104 00:04:26.356 --> 00:04:28.538 or the, "Wait, those actually fooled someone?" 105 00:04:28.538 --> 00:04:30.325 wigging costume combinations. 106 00:04:30.325 --> 00:04:33.428 But, behind the scenes, there are some true technophiles 107 00:04:33.428 --> 00:04:35.960 powering the most era-accurate tech 108 00:04:35.960 --> 00:04:37.771 you'll see on television. 109 00:04:37.771 --> 00:04:40.515 So when Season Six comes around, make sure to keep your eyes 110 00:04:40.515 --> 00:04:42.354 out for the gear of yesteryear. 111 00:04:42.354 --> 00:04:43.869 Just like we'll be doin'. 112 00:04:43.869 --> 00:04:46.952 [upbeat retro music]