5 reasons to check out FX’s ‘The Americans’

It’s smart, sexy and slow enough you can savor it.

To coin a mangled new phrase, it’ll keep your brain on its toes.

Set in 1981, “The Americans” (10 p.m. Wednesday, FX) focuses on KGB spies (Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys), partners in an arranged marriage, who blend in with the other residents of their Washington, D.C., suburb, including their neighbor Stan (Noah Emmerich), the FBI agent who’s hunting them.

This time next year, once “Sons of Anarchy” is finished and “Justified” is wrapping up its final season, “The Americans” likely will be FX’s signature drama. So you’d might as well discover it now. There’s even time to binge-watch the existing 13 episodes before the premiere.

Here are five more reasons you should be watching “The Americans”:

1) The 1981-ness of it all. Wednesday’s second-season premiere includes footage of “WKRP in Cincinnati,” Leo “Dr. Love” Buscaglia and a bootleg copy of “The French Lieutenant’s Woman.” On Betamax!

2) It features more crazy hair than “American Hustle.”

3) Who doesn’t love Keri Russell?

4) There’s virtually no chance Russell will ruin “The Americans” by cutting off all her hair.

5) Even if she does, the drama seemingly has a whole warehouse full of wigs to cover up the damage.