I absolutely love this series, and am going to be sad when the final episode airs this Sunday. I went on IMDB to check it out and it looks like certain scenes were cut for the PBS showing. Now I will have to get the dvd's.
I wish the scripts and acting were a bit better; some of the characters/actors are too modern and some are not written well. Thomas and Mrs. O'Brien are too one-dimensional; kudos to Bates. A fine perf and an interesting character. And of course cheers to Maggie Smith!
Do you know what happens when you let Veal Prince Orloff sit in an oven too long?
It certainly WAS terrific. I couldn't help but think about Fiddler while watching this, especially since they're both set in about the same general time.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Best news of the day: according to both wiki and imdb, Angela Lansbury will be joining the cast for at least one episode as a member of the Crawley clan.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
This irked me to begin with. Some of the plot lines stretched my credulity but I've read an interview with Julian Fellowes insisting that the corpse shifting was based on something he'd read in an actual diary of a servant at the time.
I can forgive the implausibilities because the whole was so satisfying.
And much of it was realistic and relevant. I know two of the plot lines reflect my own family history: my own grandmother learned to use the typewriter as a route out of domestic service and another relative, who even looks like the Penelope Wilton character in her photographs, was very proud of her new aspirant middle class status and refused to kow tow to the aristocracy.
Cups of tea will go cold and mobiles switched to silent on Sunday as a nation closes its curtains on the rioting feral underclass and reassures itself with series 2 of Downton Abbey, set when the class system only had three strata.
The series covers 1916 to 1918 - eight episodes, the first and last being 1.5 hours, the rest being an hour, plus a Christmas special set on Armistice Day 1919, when everyone will still be the same age they were in 1912.
Meanwhile, down at Eaton Place, matters seem to be going from bad to worse:
There's nothing spoiler-y in that article, Jay. Some of the articles have mentioned cast members that are returning, but that one doesn't.
I started watching this show about a month ago (caught up on Netflix Instant and have been downloading this season's episodes every week) and I am so hooked. Beautiful costumes, scenery and great acting. And it goes so nicely with my other show obsession: Boardwalk Empire. (in that they're almost 180 degrees from each other in terms of content.)
EDIT: It's funny that this thread was at the top of the board after I read the Imelda Staunton/Michael Ball Sweeney thread. I was thinking (again) how funny I find it that Staunton's married to Jim Carter, who plays Carson on Downton.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
I think the second series has nose-dived into crappy soap opera land. Historic references are lobbed in like hand-grenades rather than delicately woven in to character and plot. The plot lines become cliched and the contrivances are too many to forgive. By Episode 6 we have a character from Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy join the story and, although there are similarities to actual historic equivalents of the concerned plot line, it is handled in such a way as to make it seem ridiculous.
And, I almost forgot to mention, historical credibility goes out of the window when someone cuts up a pear with the wrong type of knife. Updated On: 11/6/11 at 04:44 PM
I do think it kind of took a nose-dive into soap opera land, but I will say that the character development of Thomas and O'Brien was just wonderful. That being said, I'm looking forward to season 3 because apparently Fellowes will have relaxed with the huge time jumps.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
We were still in crappy soap opera land with the Christmas special yesterday but after seven years, a world war, a television aerial and the wrong cutlery, we finally get to where it was always going to go in the first place.
SO, I just finished series one and LOVE IT. Next week (January 8th) the second series begins on PBS. My question is, I see the Christmas Special is up on Youtube and want to watch it but am curious when the timeline takes place. Should I watch all of series 2 before the Christmas Special or did this come out before the second series began?
'There are three sides to every story. My side, your side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each one differently'
-Robert Evans-