HBO Revisits the Cold War Through Undercover Operatives

I'm going to be up front with you here - I love a good Cold War story. I even love quite a few bad ones. The ideals behind the opposing sides are so intriguing in the ways they were at odds with one another, and the seemingly endless mystery and intrigue involved means that Cold War stories are ripe for good drama every time out.

One of Russia's truly great ideas was to send sleeper agents to live seemingly normal lives while sending intelligence back to the motherland.

These people weren't necessarily working at any government organization, but slowly undercutting everyday American values in typical American neighborhoods. Now one of those agents will be the subject of a drama series at HBO, as Deadline reported early this morning.

The series is being developed by Martyn Burke, who has been a part of a number of ripped-from-the-headlines projects like "Pirates of Silicon Valley," "Power Play," and "The Second Civil War" (he also, bizarrely enough, was one of the writers of "Top Secret!," the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker that itself put a humorous spin on the spy film). Best of all, Burke will base the series on his own experiences.

The project, tentatively titled "Reds" (although I wouldn't be surprised to see that change to avoid comparison with the Warren Beatty film) will be set in the 1980s, when Burke was on a camera crew filming a documentary.

Unbeknownst to him, or anyone else he was working with, their sound man was actually a colonel in the Soviet KGB. He tried to set up a base near New York City and raise a family, but was soon apprehended, though I'm sure they'll find a way to put that off to keep the series running.

AMC wasn't able to keep their own spy series - "Rubicon" - afloat beyond its first season, but perhaps HBO will have better luck here.