The Americans

I fondly recall watching this series. It really left a great impression on me. I was raised in a family of 14 children. We could not afford a TV set. so I would go to a neighbors house to view TV. I have asked many people about this series, how ever not any recall it. This movie should receive more attention than it evidently gets. Should be of interest to anyone that has an interest in the Civil War.Would be nice if some of the cable channels would start airing some of those great shows of yester year.

I loved this show when I was a kid, and I remember being very disappointed when it was taken off the air. I remember that it was a gripping drama, and that it held my attention even though I was very young at the time and not too interested in anything other than comedies and cartoons. I also remember my mother complaining once that it was too violent, so maybe this had something to do with its appeal. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to have made much of an impression on anyone else, because I've never met anyone else who even remembers it, so I'm glad to see so many positive reviews of the show here. I would love to see this show again. It must have been a good show, because I haven't forgotten it in 44 years, and I was only 6 or 7 years old when it aired.

This show made such an impression on me that I dreamt about it and remember my mother having to wake me and ask me who Ben was. I was talking in my sleep and was worried about if Ben was going to be alright. Pretty strong stuff for an 8 year old. Nothing grotesque or scary. A great story line that left an impression on a kid just beginning to worry about the reports from Huntley and Brinkley and hoping he'd never have to fight against his own brother. For years I've remembered those dreams and couldn't remember the name of the show. I'd love to see it again. I sure hope A&E, TV Land, Nick@Nite or HistoryChannel see to it to run this series. Are you listening over there? Thanks to IMDb for helping solve the mystery of what the source of those dreams were.

I have remembered this TV series for nearly 40 years. It was a heart tugging series, about two brothers fighting the Civil War. One brother was in the Union Army and the other in the Confederate Army.

You just knew one day they would meet face to face on the battlefield, and you just didn't want that to happen. You drew yourself to each of the brothers, in their individual stories of the war.

Good history of times past, warm family feelings torn apart by war.

There is room for a new TV series based upon this story line, today. I hope some producer picks it up and goes with it.

I still remember as a kid seeing this shortlived, but highly acclaimed series that didn't find an audience.

The premise was the two Canfield Brothers, living in a border state, having an opposite political view of the issues that were shortly to divide America. When their father, John McIntire, is killed. Darryl Hickman responds to Father Abraham's call for men while Richard Davalos opts for the newly formed Confederacy.

It was like that in a whole lot of families back then. The famous Kentucky statesman John Crittenden saw two of his sons become generals in the opposing armies. Though Ben and Jeff Canfield never got to be higher than corporal in the series short run, the idea is the same. Each week the story alternated with a Union story involving Ben and a Confederate story involving Jeff. Kind of like the Maverick brothers.

This was obviously planned for a long term run, though not as long as MASH which lasted three times as long as the actual Korean War itself. It also treated the issues and incidents of the time with seriousness.

Those thirteen episodes dealt with some of the events and people of 1861. Dick Davalos got himself involved with the notorious Confederate spy, Rose Greenhow in an episode. Darryl Hickman did a stretch in Libby Prison when he was captured.

Besides the pilot the episode I remember best was the last where Ben Canfield testifies at a Congressional hearing. The Radical Republicans had a committee that oversaw Lincoln's conduct of the war and his critics in Congress used it as a vehicle for their own ambitions. It concerned the Battle of Ball's Bluff where a personal friend of Lincoln's, Edward Baker was killed leading his men in a charge. Robert Middleton played Senator Ben Wade of Ohio who has not come down in history with a sterling reputation. In fact Wade almost became president when Andrew Johnson fell one vote shy of impeachment. But that's another story.

Had this gone on for five years, The Americans would have been a remarkable educational tool and been frequently revived. Think of all the Civil War history that could have been made comprehensible and entertaining for the young. We had to wait 30 years for Ken Burns.

As with so many flop series, good and bad, The Americans if the tapes of the shows still exist is gathering dust somewhere. Pity.