After it ended its six-season run, Tim Goodman from The Hollywood Reporter considered The Americans to be among the "Hall of Fame" dramas, and stated it was one of his top 5 favorite television dramas of all-time. IndieWire and Paste named it the best FX TV series of all-time. The New York Times named the series one of the best 20 TV dramas since The Sopranos. Vice called it "The Sopranos of this decade". Carrie Wittmer from Business Insider declared it one of the greatest series ever and "the end of TV's Golden Age". In September 2019, The Guardian ranked the show 43rd on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, stating that the "gorgeous, slow-burning drama" was "terminally overlooked in favour of flashier, flimsier fare". In September 2022, Rolling Stone ranked the show 14th on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time.
