The TV Column

FX's Americans among midseason returnees

THE AMERICANS -- Pictured: (L-R) Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings, Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings. CR: James Minchin/FX
THE AMERICANS -- Pictured: (L-R) Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings, Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings. CR: James Minchin/FX

Three cable favorites are set to return in the next couple of days. Did they catch you by surprise?

Sirens comes back today on USA. Wednesday brings us the new season of The Americans on FX, and the midseason premiere of Suits on USA.

I know -- too many channels and not enough time to keep up with them all.

Not a day goes by that I don't field a half dozen emails from viewers baffled by their TV schedules. It seems as if their favorite shows just had their season premieres, now they're off the air. Were they canceled? When will they be back? What's going on?

I can't fault them for their confusion. It's my job and I find it hard to keep up with all the comings and goings.

Each day I get an average of 60 emails from publicists and a half dozen preview DVDs from shows headed our way. I keep a log in a large calendar notebook and still have to scramble to keep up.

Maybe my confused readers have the baby boomer handicap. Younger viewers may not be fazed by the daunting array of choices because of their multitasking ability honed by years of video gaming while texting while watching TV and chatting on the phone. It enables them to adjust seamlessly to the changing times.

But boomers around my age still seem to be stuck in their childhood mindset of three channels and a nine-month TV schedule, where your favorite show takes the summer off and is replaced by The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.

Before you panic next time when you realize your favorite show isn't on, remember that these days a broadcast TV show's full season only has about 22 episodes. And cable programs have even fewer episodes.

The official September-to-May TV season is 36 to 38 weeks long. Do the math: 38 minus 22 is 16. That means there will be 16 weeks -- four months -- during the TV season when your favorite show may not be on the air.

Some of those weeks might be filled with reruns, but reruns don't do well in the ratings. For other weeks, a series might go on hiatus and have its slot filled with midseason tryouts. And sometimes the networks delay a new season until spring so the show can run straight through.

NBC's popular drama The Blacklist, for example, aired eight episodes from Sept. 22 to Nov. 10 before going on an extended holiday hiatus. It'll be back with an episode immediately following the Super Bowl on Sunday, and then return with Part 2 of that episode Feb. 5. The network assumes fans will follow all that and not miss any of the scheduled 22 episodes this season.

Meanwhile...

Sirens, 9 p.m. today (USA). There will be 13 episodes in Season 2 of the comedy that follows the misadventures of three Chicago paramedics. The season will open with back-to-back episodes.

The sitcom, adapted by Denis Leary from the British series of the same name, stars Michael Mosley, Kevin Daniels and Kevin Bigley. They play, in order, paramedic Johnny Farrell, Johnny's openly gay lifelong friend Hank St. Clare and new recruit Brian Czyk.

Jessica McNamee plays police officer Theresa Kelly, Johnny's sometimes girlfriend.

Suits, 9 p.m. Wednesday (USA). USA's flagship drama returns for the second half of Season 4 with the midseason premiere picking up where the cliffhanger left off -- Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman) looks as if he finally has the leverage he needs to achieve his goal of becoming a partner with the firm.

The series stars Gabriel Macht as super lawyer Harvey Specter, Patrick J. Adams as young and brilliant Mike Ross and Gina Torres as the cool and calculating partner Jessica Pearson.

Suits, which averages a healthy 4 million viewers, has been renewed for a 16-episode fifth season. Ten episodes have aired this season; there are six more.

The Americans, 9 p.m. Wednesday (FX). This is one of the most satisfyingly well-written and acted dramas on TV. Set in Washington during the early Reagan years, the series stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as undercover Soviet KGB agents Elizabeth and Philip Jennings.

Complicating their supposedly idealistic suburban life is the fact that their children, church-going 14-year-old Paige (Holly Taylor) and 12-year-old Henry (Keidrich Sellati), know nothing of their parents' true identities.

Warning: There's sex and violence (people get killed) in this nail-biting TV-MA drama. Season 3 will have 13 episodes and picks up at the tense moment when the Jennings' handler (Margo Martindale) informs them the KGB wants them to bring unsuspecting daughter Paige into the family business. Philip is against it, but Elizabeth is not totally opposed.

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Style on 01/27/2015

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