Critical Response: Seattle Times & Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The following newspaper articles provide critical reception of the miniseries without regards to citizen diplomacy or the United Nations. These perspectives are helpful to understand, as they were easily absorbed by everyday Americans. 

Feb. 13 ST article.pdf

Seattle Times: Susan Paynter, February 13th, 1987

Television critic Susan Paynter wrote about Amerika, exlplaining that the series would require a lot of viewing to gain something redeemable. Paynter goes on to describe that the series posseses some redeemable enetertainment qualities, but that the series could've been shortened seven and a half hours. Attached is an image of the original newspaper article. 

Kit Boss Article.pdf

Kit Boss article.

Seattle Times: Kit Boss, February 13th, 1987

Boss, a staff reporter, also contributed an article regarding the television series. The tone of this article emphasizes that the real threat to America isn't communism, rather, its the specter of the television series. Boss incorporates a variety of opinions into his piece, one of the most interesting being that there is a subset of people who believe that the televsion series, "goes to easy on the Russkies". Ultimately, Boss's article showcases the fear of the television series worsening the relations between citizens of the United States and the Soviet Union. Attached is a photograph of Kit Boss's article. 

Seattle PI Paynter.pdf

Susan Paynter SPI article. 

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Susan Paynter

Paynter, a film critic, also contributed to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1987 explaining why Kris Kristofferson felt obligated to take the role, since he was a liberal. Paynter explains that Kristofferson felt it was his duty to play the role, rather than somebody who was biased against those in the Soviet Union. Paynter provides an interesting counter by presenting Kristofferson as somebody who finds value in the show, even though it appears to occasionally be taking slanderous viewpoints. To the right, an image of the original article by Paynter is shown. 

Critical Response: Seattle Times & Seattle Post-Intelligencer