--- title: "The Americans" Writers Talk About That 69 Scene description: “You’ll notice that the choice we landed on didn’t involve dominance." canonical: https://time.com/3857852/the-americans-writers-talk-about-that-69-scene/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-13T21:36:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:10:52.940Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: "The Americans" Writers Talk About That 69 Scene og:description: “You’ll notice that the choice we landed on didn’t involve dominance." og:url: https://time.com/3857852/the-americans-writers-talk-about-that-69-scene/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ef9b49dd8a2922c/6987ef46e53aba7ffe4dbc61/ta_206_138_hires2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TA_206_138_hires2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: "The Americans" Writers Talk About That 69 Scene twitter:description: “You’ll notice that the choice we landed on didn’t involve dominance." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ef9b49dd8a2922c/6987ef46e53aba7ffe4dbc61/ta_206_138_hires2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _The Americans_ Writers Talk About That 69 Scene  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 13, 2015 9:36 PM UTC  THE AMERICANS -- "Behind the Red Door" -- Episode 5 (Airs Wednesday, April 2, 10:00 PM e/p) -- Pictured: (L-R) Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings, Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings -- CR: Craig Blankenhorn/FX THE AMERICANS -- "Behind the Red Door" -- Episode 5 (Airs Wednesday, April 2, 10:00 PM e/p) -- Pictured: (L-R) Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings, Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings -- CR: Craig Blankenhorn/FXCraig Blankenhorn—Craig Blankenhorn  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 13, 2015 9:36 PM UTC In an [interview](http://time.com/how-tv-sex-got-real/) for a TIME story on how sex and intimacy is changing on TV, _The Americans s_howrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg talked about how they began season two sitting in their writers’ room trying to list every single sex position known to man. They wanted to show Russian spy couple Elizabeth and Philip reconnecting physically and emotionally. “We were looking for something that expressed mutuality but also great intimacy,” says Weisberg. They settled on the only position they thought was mutually pleasurable and vulnerable: the 69\. But once they’d decided to show the daring scene on TV, they had to figure out how to position the actors. “You’ll notice that the choice we landed on didn’t involve dominance,” Fields says. “Philip wasn’t on top, and Elizabeth wasn’t on top. That was a specific choice.” Read about some of TV’s other controversial sex scenes from shows like _Girls_ and _Transparent_ [here.](http://time.com/how-tv-sex-got-real/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3857852/the-americans-writers-talk-about-that-69-scene/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3857852/the-americans-writers-talk-about-that-69-scene/"},"headline":"The Americans Writers Talk About That 69 Scene","datePublished":"2015-05-13T21:36:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:10:52.940Z","description":"“You’ll notice that the choice we landed on didn’t involve dominance.\"","url":"https://time.com/3857852/the-americans-writers-talk-about-that-69-scene/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ef9b49dd8a2922c/6987ef46e53aba7ffe4dbc61/ta_206_138_hires2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ef9b49dd8a2922c/6987ef46e53aba7ffe4dbc61/ta_206_138_hires2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TA_206_138_hires2","caption":"THE AMERICANS -- \"Behind the Red Door\" -- Episode 5 (Airs Wednesday, April 2, 10:00 PM e/p) -- Pictured: (L-R) Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings, Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings -- CR: Craig Blankenhorn/FX","creditText":"Craig Blankenhorn—Craig Blankenhorn","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3857852/the-americans-writers-talk-about-that-69-scene/","name":"The Americans Writers Talk About That 69 Scene"}}]}] ```