The Star Of Apple TV's Widow's Bay Comes From One Of The Best Spy Shows Ever

Apple TV's track record of dishing out top-tier television shows has been relatively spotless. Lately, the likes of "Slow Horses," "For All Mankind," and "Severance" have become hits, with the nearly perfect Rotten Tomatoes scores to prove it. One show that's quickly falling in line with the other brilliant batch is the frighteningly funny horror dramedy "Widow's Bay," which this week reached its season 1 finale, mere days after it was announced that a second season was on the way (via Empire).

Created by Katie Dippold, who had previously written for "Parks and Recreation" as well as penned the underappreciated buddy cop movie "The Heat," "Widow's Bay" follows Matthew Rhys as Tom Loftis, the mayor of the titular island where nothing is as it seems, even if he's desperately trying to deny it all. 

For a show that mixes scares and side-splitting gags in brilliant fashion, one of the biggest highlights of "Widow's Bay" is watching Rhys stretch his comedic muscles, which is a far cry from the cool spy drama he played for six seasons. Making its debut in 2013, "The Americans" earned an impressive 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and was considered by some worthy of inclusion in the same conversation as the greatest television shows ever made. The most lethal weapon in the show's arsenal, though, is the lead couple that were a real one off-camera as well.

"The Americans" was created by Joe Weisberg, whose previous credits include "Damages" and the underrated Noah Wyle sci-fi series "Falling Skies." The story he had to tell here, however, was far more grounded. "The Americans" was a period drama set in the '80s, following two Russian sleeper agents that had infiltrated the U.S. Posing as a married couple living in Washington, D.C., Philip Jennings, aka Mischa (Rhys), and Elizabeth Jennings, aka Nadezhda (Keri Russell), bring up a family of their own while still sneakily operating as part of the KGB. The chemistry was no fluke, either, as behind-the-scenes, Rhys and Russell ended up in a relationship and have remained together since.

After its first season, "The Americans" was described by USA Today as "thoughtful, insightful, thrilling and even funny at times, the series is the best show of the 2010s," while AV Club praised the show for the daring game it was playing. "It's a delicate task The Americans has set for itself, not just balancing large and small-scale dramas, but completely intertwining them; if it continues to pull it off, it'll be exhilarating to watch it unfold week to week."

Continue "The Americans" did for six seasons, improving with every chapter, and leading Rhys to win an Emmy for his performance in the show's final year. Having set a standard like that, we can only hope that with another season of "Widow's Bay" set to wash ashore in the future, we get the same again here too.