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Downton Abbey (1 Viewer)

wikkidpissah

wikkidpissah

Footballguy
Did anyone else watch this? The best thing i've seen on TV since Lonesome Dove and the best original teleplay (by Julian Fellowes, writer also of Gosford Park) since Paddy Chayefsky's Marty almost 60 yrs ago. Moving, intricate, immaculate. Kindly & understated performance by Hugh Bonneville as the last aristocrat of the line, some serious chewing of scenery by Maggie Smith (ably countered by Penny Wilton & Eliz McGovern) and an ensemble as crisp as a hunting morn. As i've never been so bothered by seeing a miniseries come to an end, i'm thrilled theyve decided upon a second season. Cant wait.

 
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My wife has been watching this, but I've avoided it until now. Maybe I'll check it out. I thought it was just a 4 or 6 part miniseries though, had no idea it might become some sort of series.

 
I'll say one thing about the Brits. They know how to act. Their period drama performances are usually superb.

Two other good series have been Cranford, and North and South. I haven't watched Downton yet, but I have been recording it.

 
DiStefano said:
I'll say one thing about the Brits. They know how to act. Their period drama performances are usually superb.Two other good series have been Cranford, and North and South. I haven't watched Downton yet, but I have been recording it.
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Didnt think i could like a period drama more than "Cranford" (though the sequel was just OK), but this blows it out of the water.
snitwitch said:
My wife has been watching this, but I've avoided it until now. Maybe I'll check it out. I thought it was just a 4 or 6 part miniseries though, had no idea it might become some sort of series.
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The first batch was four 90 min episodes. I dont know if a sequel miniseries was originally intended or whether the incredible popularity of the original in Blighty caused them to turn the finale into a cliffhanger to a 2nd batch, but another number of episodes for next season are presently being shot.
 
Watched the first episode and DVR'd the rest. Have to go watch them.

However, I kept waiting for Jean Marsh and Gordon Jackson to appear.

 
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Watching this on Netflix. Good stuff. All manner of good characters, Bates, the crippled valet, Thomas the gay footman, Carson the butler. I find the servants stories more interesting than who gets the dowry.

 
Sundays Rule said:
Watching this on Netflix. Good stuff. All manner of good characters, Bates, the crippled valet, Thomas the gay footman, Carson the butler. I find the servants stories more interesting than who gets the dowry.
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In a sense, that's what's fascinating about it. It's not a story about lords and ladies and the upper class. It's a drama about human beings, be they upstairs or be they downstairs.
 
DiStefano said:
Sundays Rule said:
Watching this on Netflix. Good stuff. All manner of good characters, Bates, the crippled valet, Thomas the gay footman, Carson the butler. I find the servants stories more interesting than who gets the dowry.
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In a sense, that's what's fascinating about it. It's not a story about lords and ladies and the upper class. It's a drama about human beings, be they upstairs or be they downstairs.
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Considering it's a modern version of upstairs/downstairs that isn't all that shocking.I thought many elements of it were as good as BriTV can be, but they threw one too many subplots on the thing. Next season will be out on the BBC this summer. Usually shows produced over there are available on torrent long before they are on PBS here. Inspector Lyndley was one example. They also do not cut down the duration in the BBC version which they can do for PBS to fit in the filler material.
 
DiStefano said:
Sundays Rule said:
Watching this on Netflix. Good stuff. All manner of good characters, Bates, the crippled valet, Thomas the gay footman, Carson the butler. I find the servants stories more interesting than who gets the dowry.
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In a sense, that's what's fascinating about it. It's not a story about lords and ladies and the upper class. It's a drama about human beings, be they upstairs or be they downstairs.
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:lmao: Usually, when there's a large cast of poncy pommies in something (especially a period piece), i find myself needing a scorecard because they all run together. From the start, Downton Abbey did an excellent job defining characters & giving them a strong place in the story. I also thought sure that something that well constructed had to be based on a classic novel that had flown under my radar, so i was quite surprised that it had been written for TV. Good show.
 
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Watched some of an episode from Season Two last night. I'd given up on Season One, but I may get back into this. The Great War has started and this show is now depicting how it affected the folks back home.

 
I added the first season to the Netflix queue a while back for the wife and we started watching it a couple of weekends ago. I sat down initially to just watch something with her to be nice since she watches football with me and I was the one saying "Let's watch another" after the first episode. Great show.

 
The 2nd season has some of the same problems as the first. I wonder if they shoot two episodes. One with the sensibilities of the BBC audience and one with the knowledge of the USA audience. Some of the things they are doing are a little :rolleyes: and detract from the overall show.

They are also trying a little too hard to get all the characters an intersecting storyline.

 
'culdeus said:
The 2nd season has some of the same problems as the first. I wonder if they shoot two episodes. One with the sensibilities of the BBC audience and one with the knowledge of the USA audience. Some of the things they are doing are a little :rolleyes: and detract from the overall show. They are also trying a little too hard to get all the characters an intersecting storyline.
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Dunno what you mean by your 1st point, but there definitely is a little Uncertainty Principal at play with Season 2. Fellows did a beautiful job of weaving disparate elements in the 1st go-round, but the 1st 2 eps this year make the viewer very aware that he's puzzle-piecing more than writing from an organic place. Still decent, but not close to the Season 1 brilliance that caused me to start this thread.
 
'wikkidpissah said:
'culdeus said:
The 2nd season has some of the same problems as the first. I wonder if they shoot two episodes. One with the sensibilities of the BBC audience and one with the knowledge of the USA audience. Some of the things they are doing are a little :rolleyes: and detract from the overall show. They are also trying a little too hard to get all the characters an intersecting storyline.
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Dunno what you mean by your 1st point, but there definitely is a little Uncertainty Principal at play with Season 2. Fellows did a beautiful job of weaving disparate elements in the 1st go-round, but the 1st 2 eps this year make the viewer very aware that he's puzzle-piecing more than writing from an organic place. Still decent, but not close to the Season 1 brilliance that caused me to start this thread.
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Mainly the methods to which he writes in the ways people do/don't go along with the whole nobility thing as a method of rapid character development. My wife picks up on a ton more of this as she's a big english lit fan. Then some of the central plot lines as carried out to the logical conclusion just don't really fly. They are trying way too hard to have it both ways with the "old ways"/"new ways" when it could just play out a little more slowly. If there is a season 3 this could be suffering like lots of serial dramas in that they need to set up enough plot lines such they can manage the extra unknown number of episodes later with material. Wire season 2 was like this.
 
'culdeus said:
They are trying way too hard to have it both ways with the "old ways"/"new ways" when it could just play out a little more slowly.
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Absolutely - it was the "dawn of an age" aspect (as with all being terrified/fascinated by the telephone installation in Season 1) that was most compelling. Season 2 rushed ahead too quickly into the Great War instead of letting the effects creep into their world - as Season 1's approach surely would have done. Since you refer to Inspector Lyndley, you might have seen "Foyle's War" on Mystery as well - they did a wonderful job there of showing how slowly the wheels turn in an English village, even one on the "front" of WW2.
 
'honky kong said:
I added the first season to the Netflix queue a while back for the wife and we started watching it a couple of weekends ago. I sat down initially to just watch something with her to be nice since she watches football with me and I was the one saying "Let's watch another" after the first episode. Great show.
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:goodposting: My wife talked me into watching season 1 last week. It was excellent, glad I watched it. Now to catch up on season two!
 
I was thinking yesterday when I was out at dinner with my wife and the Packers / Giants game was on a big screen in the restaurant... "I think I'd prefer to watch Downton Abbey instead of this game."

 
'wikkidpissah said:
'DiStefano said:
I'll say one thing about the Brits. They know how to act. Their period drama performances are usually superb.Two other good series have been Cranford, and North and South. I haven't watched Downton yet, but I have been recording it.
Click to expand...
Didnt think i could like a period drama more than "Cranford" (though the sequel was just OK), but this blows it out of the water.
'snitwitch said:
My wife has been watching this, but I've avoided it until now. Maybe I'll check it out. I thought it was just a 4 or 6 part miniseries though, had no idea it might become some sort of series.
Click to expand...
The first batch was four 90 min episodes. I dont know if a sequel miniseries was originally intended or whether the incredible popularity of the original in Blighty caused them to turn the finale into a cliffhanger to a 2nd batch, but another number of episodes for next season are presently being shot.
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Just watched series 1 on NetFlix. I normally would never watch something like this, but I was hooked in like 10 minutes. On NetFlix it is 7 hour long episodes. I guess that is how it originally aired in Britain. It was always intended as a tv show and to have a 2nd season. PBS edited to make it a mini-series to fit their broadcasting slots.
 
I think I'm going to just go ahead and download the rest of this season and get caught up with the UK.

 
'Ilov80s said:
'culdeus said:
I think I'm going to just go ahead and download the rest of this season and get caught up with the UK.
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So I take S2 is good. How does it compare to S1?
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poorly. while WW1 was the beginning of the end for the British aristocracy, S2 has it crashing down for the DA folk in order to create some fairly dubious story lines. the wonderful sense of the end-of-an-age which created most of the dramatic tension for S1 is gone, and it all has gotten quite soapy. still decent, but not even close to great.
 
'wikkidpissah said:
'Ilov80s said:
'culdeus said:
I think I'm going to just go ahead and download the rest of this season and get caught up with the UK.
Click to expand...
So I take S2 is good. How does it compare to S1?
Click to expand...
poorly. while WW1 was the beginning of the end for the British aristocracy, S2 has it crashing down for the DA folk in order to create some fairly dubious story lines. the wonderful sense of the end-of-an-age which created most of the dramatic tension for S1 is gone, and it all has gotten quite soapy. still decent, but not even close to great.
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The first season had tons of soapy and dubious story lines as well. This was a way to shoehorn in some actual history of this castle they are shooting in.
 
'wikkidpissah said:
'Ilov80s said:
'culdeus said:
I think I'm going to just go ahead and download the rest of this season and get caught up with the UK.
Click to expand...
So I take S2 is good. How does it compare to S1?
Click to expand...
poorly. while WW1 was the beginning of the end for the British aristocracy, S2 has it crashing down for the DA folk in order to create some fairly dubious story lines. the wonderful sense of the end-of-an-age which created most of the dramatic tension for S1 is gone, and it all has gotten quite soapy. still decent, but not even close to great.
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Apparently the critics in the UK agree with that assessment. However, they are saying that season 3 has climbed back up to be closer to season I am finding season 2 a little disappointing. Some the story lines are a little too forced.
 
Finished the 2nd season yesterday. It had it's moments, but it suffered quite a bit in the "trying to do too much" category at several points.

 
funny, i finished S1 last night. it took a little while to get going, i thought, but was very good. it could have benefited from 2-3 more episodes to round out the complete arc but whatever. i didn't care much for the mary storyline so much - it showed some potential towards the end - but the rest was really fun. good acting across the board. the wife wants to watch S2 very badly.

 
'culdeus said:
Finished the 2nd season yesterday. It had it's moments, but it suffered quite a bit in the "trying to do too much" category at several points.
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I've only watched the second season with my wife. And let's be honest, this is just a silly soap with upper class accents. Normally, it's still good fun, but the season two finale was so ludicrous that I only enjoyed it for ironic reasons.We had Matthew going from feeling "stirrings down there" to springing out of his wheelchair. We had Lavinia, seeing that Matthew and Mary were soulmates, setting her stiff British upper lip and dying of the Spanish Flu while assuring Matthew it was for the best. We had whatshername running off with a chauffer who had exhibited all the sexual chemistry of, well, a chauffer.
 
'saintfool said:
the wife wants to watch S2 very badly.
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that's the only way to watch it. only three people responded when i posted this topic a yr ago. now that its a sensation, i hate it to say but i'll be glad to have it over this wk. what a mess - ive rarely been so disappointed by anything on the tube as Season 2 of Downton Abbey.
 
'wikkidpissah said:
'saintfool said:
the wife wants to watch S2 very badly.
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that's the only way to watch it. only three people responded when i posted this topic a yr ago. now that its a sensation, i hate it to say but i'll be glad to have it over this wk. what a mess - ive rarely been so disappointed by anything on the tube as Season 2 of Downton Abbey.
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i don't think she knows anything about how disappointing it is. i watched S1 because she wanted to watch 2 with me.
 
'scoobygang said:
'culdeus said:
Finished the 2nd season yesterday. It had it's moments, but it suffered quite a bit in the "trying to do too much" category at several points.
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I've only watched the second season with my wife. And let's be honest, this is just a silly soap with upper class accents. Normally, it's still good fun, but the season two finale was so ludicrous that I only enjoyed it for ironic reasons.,..................
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Be careful I don't think all those episodes have aired in the US yet.
 
'culdeus said:
'scoobygang said:
'culdeus said:
Finished the 2nd season yesterday. It had it's moments, but it suffered quite a bit in the "trying to do too much" category at several points.
Click to expand...
I've only watched the second season with my wife. And let's be honest, this is just a silly soap with upper class accents. Normally, it's still good fun, but the season two finale was so ludicrous that I only enjoyed it for ironic reasons.,..................
Click to expand...
Be careful I don't think all those episodes have aired in the US yet.
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The only episode that has not yet aired on PBS is the Christmas special, which airs Sunday.
 
'scoobygang said:
'culdeus said:
'scoobygang said:
'culdeus said:
Finished the 2nd season yesterday. It had it's moments, but it suffered quite a bit in the "trying to do too much" category at several points.
Click to expand...
I've only watched the second season with my wife. And let's be honest, this is just a silly soap with upper class accents. Normally, it's still good fun, but the season two finale was so ludicrous that I only enjoyed it for ironic reasons.,..................
Click to expand...
Be careful I don't think all those episodes have aired in the US yet.
Click to expand...
The only episode that has not yet aired on PBS is the Christmas special, which airs Sunday.
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Interesting...So they diced up 3 BBC episodes into 2 US episodes...I haven't watched the Christmas one yet. I'm thinking Sir Richard had a hit put out on Bates' wife. It does seem they have cleaned up, or are otherwise positioning to clean up some of the more nauseating plot lines for S3.
 
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I thought the Christmas episode was better than any episode of S2. Hopefully the show can get back on track.

 
I gave it a try on the recommendation of a female friend and decided I lacked the necessary estrogen to appreciate it.

And/or seriously I've never liked the story of manners. D Abbey is like Henry James for TV. I've always dug on Proust (not the #### way) and Rousseau and other romantic types who just sound off.

 
I have some long flights scheduled (MIA-DFW, DFW-SEA and back) so I'm looking forward to knocking out a good bit of Season 2 this week.

 
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