Entertainment
'Allegiance' Vs. 'The Americans': All The Ways These Shows Are Different... And Exactly The Same
When NBC airs a drama this Thursday night about a seemingly all-American family where mommy and daddy are actually covert Russians spies, you'll be forgiven for thinking for a moment that the network is airing reruns of The Americans. After all, Allegiance does bear many striking similarities to FX's critically acclaimed Cold War drama series. The comparisons are inescapable, as evidenced by the multiple times The Americans is mentioned in every single review of Allegiance . "To get the obvious out of the way, the new NBC drama Allegiance clearly suffers from cable envy. [...] The basic Russian-moles-among-us plot sounds an awful lot like FX's Cold War homage The Americans ," says Variety's Brian Lowry.
These comparisons don't tend to be kind. The Denver Post: "If there were no The Americans on FX, then Allegiance on NBC would be a welcome new drama. But there is, so it isn’t, since there are so many quality dramas vying for attention these days." Cleveland.com: "One might be tempted to categorize Allegiance as The Americans -lite, because that's pretty much what is. The NBC newcomer doesn't have its cable cousin's depth in cast or storytelling." SFGate.com: "It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the success of the FX drama The Americans has begotten imitators — that’s the natural order of things in television. What’s rarely clear, though, is why the imitations rarely seem as interesting as the originals."
So what are the differences between Allegiance and The Americans? Are they really so similar? Or are these comparisons just scratching the surface? Does Allegiance deserve to stand on its own merits? Or should it be taken to task for so blatantly capitalizing on a successful show? Let's compare and contrast The Americans with what we know about Allegiance so far to determine whether or not it's really worth our time.
Image: NBCUniversal
DIFFERENT: 'Allegiance' Is An Adaptation
While The Americans is an original creation by former CIA operative Joe Weisberg, Allegiance is actually an adaptation of previously existing source material. This is something the series bears in common with another acclaimed cable spy drama: like Showtime’s Homeland, Allegiance is an Americanized version of an Israeli series. Called The Gordin Cell, the series ran for two seasons starting in January of 2012 — so while the Allegiance marketing department may be trying to capitalize on the timely success of FX’s show (more on that in the next slide), in point of fact, the source material for NBC’s show actually predates The Americans.
Image: Will Hart/NBC
SAME: They Both Have Russian Symbols In Their Titles
Given Allegiance’s pre-existing inspiration, perhaps the people most to blame for the incessant comparisons to The Americans are NBC’s marketing department. Instead of highlighting what’s unique about their show, they seem to have leaned into its similarities to FX’s series, like in that logo above, where St. Basil’s Cathedral is a stand-in for the letter ‘A’ — just like Soviet symbol of the hammer and sickle takes the place of the letter ‘C’ in The Americans promotional material.
Image: NBCUniversal
DIFFERENT: 'Allegiance' Takes Place Now
When Allegiance executive producer George Nolfi defends the originality of his show, the example he often points to is the time period. While The Americans takes place during the 1980s, NBC’s drama is set during the present day. ”Our show is… dealing with [an] imminent danger and it’s a post 9-11 generation,” Nolfi says, implying the contemporary setting lends the series a sense of relevancy and urgency that The Americans lacks.
Image: Joe Pugliese/NBC
SAME: They're Both About Russian Spies
Okay, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Both Allegiance and The Americans are about Russians spies living undercover in the United States. In the latter, it’s Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell), residents of Washington, D.C., and parents to two children. In the former, it’s Mark and Katya O’Connor (Scott Cohen and Hope Davis), residents of New York City, and parents to three children. The major difference? Philip and Elizabeth are active agents, while Mark and Katya have been deactivated for decades.
Image: Will Hart/NBC
DIFFERENT: 'Allegiance' Focuses On The Child, Not The Parents
While the Jennings parents are the focus of The Americans, Allegiance centers primarily not around Mark and Katya, but around their son, Alex (Gavin Stenhouse). He’s a CIA analyst who, judging by the promos, is another borderline-autistic Sherlockian genius who can detect clues and solve crimes no one else can. Guess what are Alex specializes in? Russian affairs, coincidentally enough.
Image: Will Hart/NBC
SAME: Both Plots Involve Recruitment
The main conflict of Allegiance comes from the fact that Mark and Katya have been tasked with recruiting Alex to the KGB. Neither of them is keen on the idea, not wanted to turn their son into a weapon, and also worried that he’ll turn them in if they reveal the the truth. But if they don’t recruit him, they run the risk of not only having Alex killed by the KGB, but that he might catch onto their Soviet shenanigans on his own. While the first two seasons of The Americans had nothing to do with recruitment, it’s ironic that Season 3, which just premiered last week, is all about Philip and Elizabeth’s decision whether or not to turn their daughter Paige at the KGB’s request. However, unlike Allegiance, both parents are not opposed to the idea: Elizabeth is quite keen to recruit Paige to their cause while Philip stands alone in his dissent.
Image: Will Hart/NBC
DIFFERENT: On 'Allegiance' The Secret's Out
While Paige only has one sibling, younger brother Henry, Alex has two sisters: younger Sarah (Alexandra Peters) and older Natalie (Margarita Levieva). The character of Natalie is perhaps the biggest difference between the two series. Played by Levieva, who herself is a Russian native, she is the only O’Connor child fully aware of her parents’ past as Russian spies. Initially resentful of them drawing her into their charade, she’s now involved in more ways than even her parents know — she’s carrying on affair with a fellow spy, Victor (Morgan Spector).
Image: Craig Blankenhorn/NBC
So, Are They The Same?
It is fruitless to pretend like the two shows have nothing in common. Given everything we know about it so far, Allegiance feels like what would have happened if The Americans had simply started with Season 3. Will the absence of two season’s worth of character development before the topic of recruitment is broached make Allegiance difficult to connect with? Or, like Nolfi claims, are they really different enough that it doesn’t matter? Given the fact that Allegiance is based on material that pre-dates The Americans, and the fact that I can spy a few compelling discrepancies between the two shows (see what I did there?) intrigues me enough to give NBC’s spy drama a chance.
Variety’s Brian Lowry did; the man who compared Allegiance to The Americans ’ “Russian-moles-among-us plot” went on to say in his review, “Putting those concerns aside, what emerges proves fast-paced and enjoyable in a check-your-brain-at-the-door kind of way. […] Allegiance certainly won’t win many points for originality, but the episodes do clip along on a serialized basis, keeping the principals constantly scheming to stay one step ahead of the two sides between which they’re caught.” Sounds good enough for an hours’ worth of entertainment on a cold Thursday night, no?
Image: Craig Blankenhorn/NBC
