Downton Abbey

It starts in an hour. I can't wait to see what Mary is going to do with the estate

These sort of British accent dramas seem to tap into some sort of latent ideas that the world would be a better place if only it were run by wealthy northern Europeans as long as they are not evil! :loL:

For many of my Anglophilic neighbors, plans grind to a halt when the latest DA episode emerges. Personally I've always related more to my German roots w/ their historic problems and the ice-minded Nordics, so I'm only a curious observer of all that Downton stuff, which looks pretty alien to a guy who's just living this quiet life waiting for the next chance to conquer Europe.

But what to say, like many Yanks I'm *obsessed* with this show! The whole 'Upstairs, Downstairs' theme that was hugely popular in the 70s in England and showed the lives of the 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' characters, with the 'downstairs' people having just as rich emotional lives as the 'upstairs' ones. It isn't just about the wealthy family. The stories about the servants are just as great, so we see both sides.

I am British and this show bores me to tears. Probably because my forebears would have been he ones in the scullery cleaning the silverware and polishing the shoes....

Some sort of latent, inferiority, complex syndrome emerging then I would imagine....

As I was saying, I think it's crap

I say bring back Monty Python.

DA is a second-rate soap opera in a first-rate wrapper. They're sweating to keep a plausible story line going. Even the redoubtable Maggie Smith is reduced to spewing out the occasional one-liner.

"Upstairs, Downstairs" was the pinnacle of that genre. And, they had nearly a hundred episodes in which to bring out the rich character development--for both upstairs and downstairs--that made it so satisfying.

Edith strikes me as a squirter

Turnbull for the late Victorian / Edwardian era tripe I'm sure Yogi remembers The Duchess of Duke Street and Lillie, and for a little less soap opera-like there is always Raffles. Another hideous "Comedy" set in a Edwardian mansion about the relationship between the owners and the servants is You Rang M'Lord, written by the same person as "Are you being Served" - I believe the term is Bloody horrible.

I've watched quite a few british series and many have been good but like many things when it comes to the Brits, Americans seem to think the English "accent" is somehow indicative of sophistication. Don't forget too that a lot of Edwardian aristocrats had American mothers who came over with money to prop up penniless lords and dukes.

The clothing though in DA is Edwardian elegance as it finest--done by Huntsman from Savile Row. In England you can catch a glimpse of the old soul of Europe, better than anywhere else (imo). The house where they filmed DA was the ancestral seat of Lord Carnarvon, the man who funded the Tutankhamun expedition, was there when the tomb was opened .... and died soon afterwards in mysterious circumstances.

Hear hear!!