The new spy series The Americans premieres on M-Net this Thursday (7 February 2013) at 21h30 in an extended whammy.
The pilot episode runs 68-minutes and M-Net has confirmed that they'll be airing the full pilot, as it aired in the US where it premiered last week Wednesday (30 January).
Right this moment the EPG on DStv's PVR hasn't been updated to reflect the extended episode yet - keep a lookout to see if it does and if it doesn't I'd recommend recording the movie afterwards to be certain that you don't miss anything because the show gets better and better as the action unfolds. Don't be put off if you find the start a bit slow because it becomes explosive.
I've seen the pilot and after the first 15-minutes I was like: "Okay, it's cool but not as wow as I was expecting," and then next thing ... wham! it turns
brilliant.
The story centres round Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings: Americans who are really Russian KGB spies. Felicity star
Keri Russell goes from American sweetheart to Ruskie as Elizabeth and Brothers and Sisters' star
Matthew Rhys plays Phillip.
The couple have two children who have no clue that their parents are spies and together they've worked their family into the fibre of American society. They live in suburbia, they have regular jobs, no-one suspects a thing.
Enter their new neighbour who happens to be an FBI agent and they start to suspect that they're in danger of being caught - which forces them to assess their loyalties to America versus The Motherland.
What I really like about it is that isn't stuffed with the usual anti-Russian propaganda that gets flung at us so often. One really gets to feel their points of view as Russians, why they became spies and the conflict they face about who they are.
A trailer: