No show does wigs as well as The Americans—no show gets ‘80s tech as well, either. ~ USA Latest Games

Produced and shot by Justin Wolfson. Captions available.

You may not immediately look at The Americans—FX's Cold War sleeper-cell agent drama—and think "tech," but this critically-beloved series' IT bonafides have been hiding in plain sight beneath wigs and a rockin' '80s soundtrack just like its main characters. Episode titles reference software like Lotus Notes or touchstones like ARPANET, and the show's writers' room doubles as a veritable who's who of both US and Soviet intelligence agency technology experts. (Perhaps no one should be surprised that one of the show's co-creators is a dedicated Ars reader.)

"We love that shit," Joe Weisberg, co-showrunner and former CIA agent, told Ars last summer when discussing his beloved era tech. "You wouldn't confuse us with full-borne technophiles, but we grew up in the '80s. We grew up with this technology, have a great fondness for it, and have fantastic technical advisors [on the show]."

Through its five seasons, The Americans has nimbly woven everything from early console gaming to office mail robots into its vivid version of Washington, DC. And though the show realistically centers on its international and intra-marriage conflicts, the attention to detail for '80s innovations gets just as much scrutiny and care from the series' staff. That means some of the most memorable '80s tech touchstones for viewers get left on the writers' room wall.

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