Stephen King is known for his particular taste in television, and his favorite TV show of all time is a spy thriller on Hulu that not many fans would necessarily associate with him. After all, the series lacks the supernatural elements we typically find in King’s own work, and doesn’t have anything to do with the horror genre, either.

Yet, anyone who’s seen it will likely concur with the literary great that this show is a small-screen masterpiece that’s not to be missed. Back in 2013, King was asked directly to name his favorite TV series, and he didn’t hesitate in his response. The author answered definitively that The Americans is the series he loves the most.

Quite simply one of the best spy shows the United States has ever produced, this smoldering modern TV classic gives us six seasons behind the curtain of Cold War espionage in a way that no other screen drama ever has. It follows the lives of undercover KGB agents Nadezhda and Mischa in the U.S. during the 1980s.

They’re living under assumed identities as an American married couple, in a quiet suburban town on the outskirts of Washington D.C.. The contrast between the two sides of their dual lives creates profound psychological tension, which plays out with a suspenseful slow burn that even the best Stephen King TV shows would do well to match.

The Americans Is A Six-Season Spy Thriller Masterpiece

It isn’t overstating things to call The Americans the perfect spy thriller series, although it’s markedly different from anything else in the genre. Rather than shroud its plot in a veil of mystique and intrigue, the show essentially tells two very grounded stories at the same time, using the same central characters.

On the one hand, it immerses us in the world of cold-blooded KGB espionage, unflinchingly depicting the acts of extreme violence and personal betrayal routinely committed by Nadezhda and Mischa in the cause of their country’s interests. On the other, the series depicts these two protagonists as ordinary human beings, carrying on a life of domestic normality.

As their American aliases Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, they even have two children of their own, and grow to love each other deeply despite entering into their marriage as a cover for their spy operations. Yet, the cognitive dissonance required to live this way puts a profound strain on their relationship, as well as their psychological well-being.

The Americans is an intimate study of intelligence work from the inside, which takes its entire genre to new heights of authenticity. It’s also one of the best examples of sticking the landing in prestige television. The show’s finale strikes just the right tone for a bittersweet payoff it executes to perfection.

Stephen King Has Definitively Named The Americans His Favorite TV Series

Credit: Roger Wong/INFphoto.com

While Stephen King has praised many TV shows down the years, he reserves special affection for The Americans. During an AMA session on Reddit in June 2013, King was quizzed on his favorite series. His immediate reply, in capital letters, was The Americans, to the delight of hundreds of the fans who were engaging with his answers.

He was apparently still addicted to the show five years later, when he posted on X about a tiny detail he’d noticed in one specific episode. He called the decision to cover food leftovers with Saran Wrap “an authentic grace note” that “you’d rarely if ever see” on network television.

Other series might earn similar compliments from King, but none of them has been called his favorite TV show. The Americans remains the only work to have received this honour in any form of public comment from an author whose opinion matters to tens of millions around the world.

Release Date

2013 – 2018-00-00

Showrunner

Joe Weisberg

Directors

Daniel Sackheim, Thomas Schlamme, Daniel Attias, Kevin Dowling, Stefan Schwartz, Adam Arkin, Matthew Rhys, Nicole Kassell, Noah Emmerich, Andrew Bernstein, John Dahl, Kevin Bray, Roxann Dawson, Steph Green, Sylvain White, Alex Chapple, Alik Sakharov, Bill Johnson, Charlotte Sieling, Christopher Misiano, Constantine Makris, Gavin O’Connor, Gregory Hoblit, Gwyneth Horder-Payton

Writers

Melissa James Gibson, Stuart Zicherman, Hilary Bettis, Bradford Winters, Angelina Burnett, Sneha Koorse

• 

  Keri Russell

  Elizabeth Jennings

• 

  Matthew Rhys

  Phillip Jennings