It is now 1925, and things continue to change at Downton Abbey. Manors and estates down the road are shuttering their windows and auctioning the family heirlooms, lords and ladies are cutting their house staff down to bare minimum, and those who thought they had a lifetime career in service are starting to wonder if …
I know I wasn’t the only one that just about threw in the towel on Season Four of Downton Abbey. As if the carnage of losing two popular characters in Season Three wasn’t enough, the show threw unspeakable ugliness into Season Four with the (SPOILER!) sexual assault of the saintly lady’s maid Anna Bates. Awful, …
This hour-long Masterpiece special is obviously just a space-filler to quench the thirst of viewers who are salivating over all-things Downton Abbey. It has the depth and feel of a DVD extra, with behind-the-scenes glimpses at the show that has become a worldwide phenomenon. It is fluffy and entertaining, and gives us a look at …
Fans of Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs, and Remains of the Day will completely soak up Secrets of the Manor House, a fascinating peek at the UK’s aristocracy and their lives of filthy-rich leisure, which peaked a century ago during the Edwardian age. In early 1900s Great Britain, the gap between rich and poor was greater …
I remember being a kid in the 70s and hearing the all-too-familiar opening credits of the now-classic epic PBS series Upstairs, Downstairs drift up from the basement rec room (where we had our beanbag chairs for comfortable TV viewing). My parents loved loved loved that show. And now, like so many TV shows and movies, …
It has been great fun to watch friends and family become obsessed with Downton Abbey. When was the last time we all enjoyed such a guilty pleasure TV show masquerading as highbrow entertainment? PBS has gold on their hands as long as the Brits keep churning out deliciously short, yet jam-packed seasons of this juicy …
The series opens deliciously, with the ironing of the daily newspaper, and the delivering of a telegram. It is 1912, and the breaking news is that a certain unsinkable ship has sunk in the Atlantic. The script trusts the audience to figure it out, as the word “Titanic” is not even uttered for the first …