I have been watching Downton Abbey on the PBS....

[WCGreen]

Now I have read some stuff questioning why Americans like this kind of stuff, it's so British and class oriented.

I enjoy it the same way I enjoy reading a book about that era.

I don't have to agree with the sitiuation in order to enjoy the show.

To me it is a well writen and well researched story line that is a quiet respit from what passes for entertainment that is being broadcast on US Television and cable situations.

Don't get me wrong, I love Justified, Fringe, The Big Bang Theory as well as a dozen or so other shows that are well written, don't follow the usual format and, above all, entertain instead of titilate.

If you haven't seen the show on PBS, give it a try. It's a soap opera without all the dirt.

And that is why I like the show.

[grasswire]

1. well.......a Turk dying in Lady Mary's bed might be called "dirt"

Eh?

And what about the PG maid?

And the closeted footman who is a real rat fink and conspiring with Her Lady's Maid?

And .........?

[elleng]

5. Right, nothing changes except maybe the style in which we see/say/read it.

[JaneQPublic]

2. I'm a big fan of most "costume" period pieces.

I watch almost all productions on Masterpiece Classic. Also, I own boxed DVD sets of the adaptations of books by Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, etc.

I watch Downton and these other period pieces simply because they are excellent productions. While the class differences of those times make for interesting plot development, especially for this armchair historian/sociologist, they aren't the main reason I enjoy Downton.

It appears those people wondering why Americans like the "class-oriented" British stuff may be suggesting some Yankee desire for our own "Upstairs/Downstairs" society" here in the States. (It's the Class Warfare!) If so, those people are wrong.

I watch because Downton is one small oasis of quality, well-written TV in a huge dessert of TV junk. I eagerly await each new episode, if for no other reason than to hear the great lines spoken by Maggie Smith's character, the Dowager Countess!

[WCGreen]

3. Exactly...

The quality is so sedate, so charming....

[PassingFair]

12. I heard someone connected with the show...

(I can't remember if it was a writer or an actor) say that we are so
used to KNOWING the plots of these Masterpiece Classic type of
mini-series, that it's kind of a novelty to see a period piece and NOT
know where it's going to go, or how it's going to turn out.

All I know is that when Maggie Smith is on camera, she steals EVERY scene!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. There's a LOT of trash on British TV, but

they still do costume drama better than anyone else, and their best dramas and documentaries assume that the viewer has a brain.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. Watched the entire first season in one day on Netflix

It was sort of like lost. Once I started, I couldn't stop.

I love the sets. The cars, the furniture, the clothing, the architecture

I must say though that if the real !% were anything like that portreyed by the patriarch, we wouldn't be having the problems we are having now.

[PassingFair]

13. It's like I was living a double life. Shirley McLaine has signed on to play Lady Grantham's mother..

I can't wait for the third season.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. dialogue and plot both excellent. authentic set and costumes, interesting multi-dimensional

characters, intriguing politics and WWI as a backdrop.

How much better can it get?

[WCGreen]

8. The only thing that bothers me is that all the automobiles are in presteen shape....

The could at least put a little mud or dirt or even dust on them

I know that is a pretty picky complaint which only goes to show you how much I like the whole series.

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. We like, not love it - just wish the scenes played out a bit more....

We find that with most of the new Masterpiece bits - we miss the slower paced, more fully developed older Masterpiece Theater things like Upstairs, Downstairs, Forsyte Saga and others.

Still - compared to the garbage dump that is the vast majority of TV, it is one of the few watchable things.

[grasswire]

10. I'm a little sorry it has moved out of the Edwardian era so fast...

....the clothes of that era were so exceptionally gorgeous!

I wish they would show a character that is the dressmaker. I'd like to see the kind of workroom that person might have in the Edwardian time.

If you haven't visited the web site, do so. And follow the link to the village where the show is filmed, and the actual manor house.

[WCGreen]

14. I think I just might do that....

Shirley McLain is being added next season...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. I'm hooked on it.

Love the sets, the costumes, the soap opera!