The Americans, or Keep Your Audience in Mind

Last week I watched the great new FX show The Americans, starring Keri Russell. The show takes place during the 1980s, and is about two Russian sleeper agents in the Washington DC area who outwardly live as a normal American family with two kids. In fact, they spend most of their time in the first episode kidnapping defectors, beating people up, and avoiding the FBI. It's a basic cable series, so the sex and violence is greater than you'd find on broadcast, but not close to what you see on pay cable. The show received a lot of publicity, and achieved very respectable premiere ratings. Keri Russell is clearing trying to separate herself from her wholesome reputation. I almost didn't make it through the first episode because I had trouble understanding the story of the first two scenes. The producers used the technique of dropping us into the middle of the story without explaining who is doing what and why. The exposition comes in the middle of the episode rather than the beginning. That combined with the fact that the first two scenes took place in dark places where it was difficult to see what was happening even if you knew what was going on. Television shows are created in edit rooms. The room is kept dark to make it easier to see what's on screen, and the sound systems are state of the art. That's important, because the producers want to create the best quality work. However, they should not lose sight of the fact that most people are watching the show in their living rooms, with the lights on and inferior sound systems. Viewers can also be distracted by phone calls, internet searching, and of course, other members of their family. I wonder how they would have cut the show together had they edited it in a living room, as opposed to an edit room. I'm sure they would have made the show easier to follow. When you're creating your content, keep the audience in mind. How are they going to see your show, watch your movie, or read your book? After all, we're creating our content to reach the audience. Let's make it as easy as possible for them.