With the start of the year and the end of American football comes the best show on TV, "The Americans." And I say this having this fall started finally on "Game of Thrones," our top show to watch since "The Americans" perfect second season finale. It left us wanting more, and it's arriving on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

 It's one of the few shows I checked to see when it returns, so I knew, but it still was excitement I felt when seeing the ad in my Entertainment Weekly.  

Will the couple keep on surviving. While Carmelo Soprano knew of her husband's ill deeds, she was removed and isolated from the decision-making and the (almost) consequences; here, the couple is almost fully committed to the cause of answering to their Soviet spymasters. Seemingly, this even trumps the wellbeing of their two Americanized children.

Last season's speeded up the intensity quickly, with the killings of their only true friends, but the issue drove the plot very well. Likewise, is their neighbor, the FBI agent, slipping towards a messy fall?

We've watched three-and-a-half seasons of the "Game of Thrones" and we hesitated to finish too quickly because we didn't want to wait for season five. For "The Americans," though, I would binge watch except for not being able to wait for the latest from Peter and Elizabeth Jennings. I only hope the lack of awards and ratings drive this critically acclaimed show to an early end.