User reviews

ABC, just go on back to the mental junk food of half hour long strings of juvenile sexual innuendos peppered with near-continuous canned laughter. Based on a mere 2 episodes, I give The Assets an "8" for the potential of what might have been as compared to what the major networks are more comfortably determined to feed us. I was hopeful it would continue to hold my attention.

A couple of criticisms; the flashbacks seemed a little too frequent and hard to tell when they ended. And regarding Grimes' home life scenes; I didn't care for the stereotypical sullen teen, and Grimes' repeated line to her husband "you know I can't talk about that", I wondered how soon that would get tiresome. Those minor annoyances might have smoothed out in future episodes, BUT WE'LL NEVER KNOW! Hey Netflix, HBO, somebody, anybody!

The Ames spy scandal is worthy of quality dramatization, in spite of the fact that, yes, we know how it turned out (Titanic, Lincoln, any WWII movie - we knew in advance how those turned out). There are so many true stories out there so worthy of being dramatized; read about Douglas McKiernan, the first CIA agent killed in the line of duty - an incredible story!

Based on a true story, Sandy Grimes (Jodie Whittaker) is a CIA officer trying to cultivate assets in the Soviet Union. Little does she knows, there is a mole in her office she sees every day. Aldrich Ames (Paul Rhys) has been selling CIA secrets to the Soviets.

It's obvious that ABC had no confidence in this show/mini-series. They put it out at the end of the holiday seasons with little or no advertising. It's meant to be nothing more than cannon fodder going into the Winter Olympics. Nobody was paying attention, and nobody watched. It's not a surprise that they canceled it after 2 episodes especially considering the anemic ratings.

I did like the realistic (read not flashy) spy craft. But that's all I found interesting. I like Jodie Whittaker in some of her work. The problem is that we know from the start who the mole is. There isn't much mystery in any of this. Without any mystery, there isn't much driving this show. The audience is just waiting for the CIA to catch the guy. It's probably better as a shorter mini-series. It just doesn't have the flash bang whiz pow of modern TV.

I was greatly disappointed when The Assets was canceled just after two episodes. Considering that about 30% of the US knows what the three branches of government are but probably know Miley's latest twerking episode or which size bra one of those inane Kardashian sisters is wearing, I am not surprised that a series which stretched one's mental capacities would be canceled.

I watched it on Netflix and found it to be a fascinating story of how a very weak and malleable Aldrich Ames was willing to sell his country's secrets just to keep his second wife in the lap of luxury. It captured the grizzly reality of the KGB and the evils of communism. I know in some circles, it is not kosher to criticize communism. Perhaps that was another indictment of this series.

I would highly recommend it- great acting, realistic recreations of the 1980s and wonderful storyline.

We don't watch enough TV to have known about the flap over this show getting canceled. Just stumbled across it on Netflix. Wow. Nearly everything about this effort is really done well. They really went the extra yard concerning production details. I don't pretend to really know why it was canceled except to say it was not because its a bad or boring production. Even though we all know the outcome (more or less) the story is told so well it still qualifies as a mystery or thriller and sorta-kinda has you on the edge of your seat as they start getting closer and closer to 'the mole'. I didn't pay any real close attention when all this actually occurred. After watching this show I am now compelled to read books like "Sell Out: Aldrich Ames and the Corruption of the CIA.

I am waiting for ABC to let the other 6 episodes be available for streaming. Many fictional mysteries start with the same premise of knowing who the culprit is. It can still be a great journey in solving the situation. My 16 year old was choosing to put down his electronic devices and and watch this with us. I also enjoy the non dramatic way that home life people with security clearance jobs are shown. My only confusion was why it was an almost all British cast for a very American show and topic. However they were doing the accents well. My husband and I were young enough when these real events happened that we really only read the headlines and it fascinating to get a more in depth look at the happenings.

A tv show I can only recommend. The only bothering issue is that Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania is shown as Moscow, Washington, Vienna etc. That is hardly authentic. Different climate, plants, streets, buildings cannot be portrayed like this. Also, some actors playing Russians have quite a bad command of Russian. Apart from that everything is authentic, fitting true events.

Excellent portrayal of what happened and displayed in a realistic form. I found the show to be entertaining and informative. The actors did a great job of showing how the CIA works. It is one of the better spy shows on TV today and I hope it is picked up by one of the cable stations, where it would really be appreciated. The flow of the show was easy to follow with the back and forth of the flashbacks which gave the show a form of connecting the dots. There is not any blood and guts shown in the first two episodes but it keeps the audience interest with the intrigue. It is sad the show was canceled before it could get into the deeper espionage of what really happened. I will miss this show.

There is a lot of press about the low ratings this series has gotten and much info about ABC canceling the show after the first 2 episodes,. (now they are running the last episodes on Sunday afternoons) I don't understand why the low ratings. It is an excellent production based on the true Aldrich Ames spy story. I found every episode informative intriguing and factual. Its a great spy story. I am long time reader of spy and mystery books and found the series to be quite good. I will now find and read the book. highly recommended. be sure and watch the last episode (9) about the true facts and photos of the story. I streamed all 9 episodes on netflix.

I by chance saw this on Amazon Prime. Was just going through the titles looking for something to watch. I am totally aware this show was canceled after just 2 shows, with at the time the lowest rating ever.

I speak only for myself, but I honestly find that impossible to understand. I felt this series was outstanding. Good acting, great pretrial of those actually involved.

I found it so interesting and compelling.

Somehow, someway the timing on it's release was somehow not right.

I just want all those involved in the making of this series, you did a great job and there is at least one individual that takes his hat off to you.

I've been watching the first episode of "The Assets" and it's OK. Unfortunately, whoever set all this up didn't do their homework on 1985 Moscow...

In the scene where the US spy is leaving Moscow at the airport, there is a Doppler radar tower in the background, behind the old Gaz Volga he is getting out of to go to the plane. There was no Doppler radar towers in the U.S. in 1985, much less in Moscow...

In one of the scenes in Moscow, Christ the Savior Cathedral is in the background. In 1985, it did not exist. It was blown up in the early 1930's by Stalin and not rebuilt until the mid-late 1990's after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Also, I don't know much about spy protocol, but walking around Moscow or any city for that manner, at night, alone in wide open spaces, is raw stupidity. Crowds help individuals blend. Being out alone is just the way to get caught. i would like to think our spies weren't that obvious.

Otherwise, it was decent television...

First of all, I would like to say that we started watching this series in 2013. When it was time for the third episode, we were totally hooked. But the third episode was nowhere to be found. Looking online we found that there wasn't enough interest in this program? We couldn't believe it, so very happy that it was being shown this season.

The acting, the presentation of each episode had us eagerly waiting for the next episode. This was a story about a regular human being who chose to do the wrong thing and this continued for years. It was heart wrenching to see the results of his behavior, the loss of life which ensued.

There were many characters in this story who were anxious the get to the truth, but only two who worked many days, years of long hours, despite the time away from family and friends.

Again this person was leading a regular life, married with a young child, but was unable to change his ways. Watching the evolution of the case against this person was a lesson in the workings of bureaucracy. It was unclear what the outcome would be. Great series, worth watching

I didn't know about mistakes in the visuals and I understood before I saw it that Aldrich Ames was the spy but I still thought this was well done. Just because you know the ending doesn't mean it can't be suspenseful. Anyway, I thought everybody was good in this show and I looked forward to the next episode. It beats the heck out of the junk on TV about amateur performers, morons getting dates, fat people losing weight and people falling off things. If you want something with a good story you usually end up on HBO or Showtime. I'd like to thank ABC for showing the remaining episodes. I appreciated that. Even if it was a weird time. You have to love timers.

"The Assets" is about the CIA hunt for the mole who turned out to be Aldrich Ames. Fascinating story telling–parallel plot lines of Ames selling secrets to the Soviets, and his CIA colleagues discovering they have a mole in their midst and trying to figure out who it is. It is based on the book written by two of the women on the CIA team tasked with finding the mole. One of them, Sandra Grimes, was a writer on the mini-series. Very well done. It made me want to read the book ("Circle of Treason"). When all this came out in the media back in the '90s, I thought Ames came across as an arrogant narcissist. That isn't how Paul Rhys (Welsh actor) played him. Even so, from the first episode when he walks into the Soviet Embassy, I couldn't wait for this guy to get caught. The last episode is a documentary about the case, so you get to see and hear from the actual people, which I really liked. The show was also a window into FBI methods. I watched it on Netflix.

Based on a memoir of a CIA agent involved with the apprehension of the notorious spy Aldrich Ames, The Assets doesn't particularly satisfy spy cravings as much as hoped. I realized quickly that it had been a network television show in 2014, and likely didn't have the budget or other support it would have from other companies such as F/X or Showtime, which I mention because I had just come off binges of The Americans and Homeland.

The script seems like a throwback to before 1990 (think first season of Law & Order, or any '80s cop show), while the acting and directing reminded me of daytime soap operas .

Still, I suggest that you give it a try simply because it more or less narrates the most important spy lore in recent history. Maybe follow up with watching Breach, and your covert cravings could be tamed for a little while.

The cast did what it could with limited resources and expectations. The season sells for about $24 on Prime, and it's nowhere close to that in value. But that's HD. Buy the SD version for half, and you have a fair purchase for your money.

The future repeats the past in slightly new form. We're in a new Cold War now, so we might as well study the old. It makes sense to explore the Cambridge Five, Kim Philby, Ronald Pelton, John Walker, and probably Benedict Arnold. This series, driven by the immensely powerfuly Jodie Whittaker, explores the search for a double agent in an organization utterly unprepared for the wave of betrayals that happened after the 1960s.

My husband and I found this incredible mini-series on Netflix last night and watched 7 of the nine episodes, saving the last two for "desert" today. I kept wondering why we had never heard of it until I looked it up and found it had been canceled after 2 episodes. Shame on ABC!! We knew the story but the suspense is just as intense as if we had never heard of Aldritch Ames. The acting is top-notch and Paul Rhys would have received a nomination at the very least if the show had been given a chance. I intend to tell everyone I know to check it out on Netflix, etc. I assure them they will not be disappointed. It's billed as "based on a true story" but when I researched Ames I was impressed that the series did indeed stick to the facts and didn't try to embellish history.

....Thanks for 3 episodes !!! I am old enough to remember a TV drama called " Espionage " and later the "Professionals" U.K.. Now when I saw the TV trailers for the Assets ; I was so trilled to see a TV show that was cerebral driven... and not a whimsy satirical comedy dramas like "leverage" which if they staged seriously could have had all the makings of a good gritty drama. Even the old TV series of Mission Impossible had you glued to the TV set. Also in that time was " The Man from Uncle ". I still enjoy the re-runs after all this time. We have to ask why was "24" was so popular all around the world. And after 5 series all the major U.S. TV networks secretly tried to get it off the air. Even getting the director "fired". Because of its vast popularity and it was taking away viewer ship from boring programs. Over the the years I found TV both here and U.K. have channeled T.V. programs to the point of actually turning away thinking viewers. Just to list a few personal movies, "Telephon ; Numbers Station, Tinker ,Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The International; Erasure, The Fourth Protocol ; The Good German; Torn Curtain; Brass Target, which I can't find any where again; Carlos foreign series, and many more.

Not a single article or description of the ninth episode of this series, perhaps because it was never aired on T.V, and is only on Netflix. It is mostly interviews with the actual persons depicted in the series: Sandy Grimes, her husband, Jean,among others, responding to off camera questioner. Then there are extensive segments of Ames being interviewed by Ted Koppel.

This final segment is the key to the entire series, as it shows just how accurate the dramatization was. Once they had the smoking gun from the final Russian source and home recordings Ame's conversations with his wife, without knowing that the final episode would be a documentary of the series, I thought it would be created fluff, perhaps an extended trial and marriage issues. I had thought that many scenes were the writers taking liberties, as they seemed so implausible to me, but that last episode confirmed that the dramatization right up to the personalities of the main characters were spot on.

There was the touching scene of the the Soviet General that we knew had been betrayed by Ames with his granddaughter, that I thought was such a flourish. In this final episode the actual now-grown woman showed up at the signing of the book this series was based on, "Circle of Treason." We learn that the General, unlike Ames, made his decision not for money, but out of belief that those who controlled the government were destroying his country.

This, along with the in depth interview of Ames raises profound issues of the fine line between bravery and treachery that is being asked this day about Ed Snowden - who some claim betrayed his country while others consider a rare patriot. The first eight episodes was a diverting drama, with the ninth it became a rare provocative event.

There were many things I liked about this series..but two of the most notable are..

1. the female leads are near appropriate age for the characters..I am SO TIRED of female characters in movies who are hot, great bods, have PHD's in whatever and at the age of 25 save the world! Every TV show - every movie seems to do this and i am so tired of it.

2. The motivation for the antagonist was realistic and I enjoyed knowing who it was from the first few minutes of the series with the suspense being how long it would be before he would get caught. o many series and movies these days after 20 car chases and 10 explosions catch the bad guy and their motivation was typical or didn't really logically make sense

Good series - glad to have watched - hope there are more