22 Mar
2013
22 Mar
'13
1:03 p.m.
Don't know if any of you guys watch "The
Americans" on FX. For those not in
the know, this show follows two KGB operatives living as Americans in the
US during the height of the Cold War in the early 80's. In the episode from
this week, there was a scene in an FBI building and in the background there
was a TRS-80 Model III sitting next to a bank of tape drives.
I saw that too.
The scene also showed several large tape drives, which I think are
wooden props.
Some episodes show the spies in their cover business -- a travel agency
-- where they use Commodore PETs. There's also a recurring Russian
embassy set, where several desks including the Russian ambassador's have
DEC terminals.
One of the PETs, all of the DEC terminals, and various printers /
teleprinters came from us in MARCH. All of the metal desks came from our
host museum (InfoAge Science Center) in Wall, New Jersey.
When the prop company approached us, they wanted PETs for all the FBI
and Russian embassy desks, but we explained to them that it's a
ridiculous set-up -- PETs would not be used in that environment. It was
also convenient because we had several beat-up terminals in our storage
warehouse. So the show has a more accurate technology representation (or
maybe it's just less inaccurate -- after all, what do I know about
computers in a Russian embassy in the early 80s, or if there even were
any?) ... and MARCH cleared some storage space and made a few dollars
for our budget.
The FBI set has generic PC clones on each desk. I forget which
brand/model. The prop company bought them elsewhere.
Computing aside, "The Americans" is a very good show! I've really been
enjoying it. I think next week's episode is last one for this season,
but FX announced that they bought 13 episodes for next season.