OT: Who else is watching Downton Abbey? - YouLookFab Forum

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OT: Who else is watching Downton Abbey?

Kari

Veteran

My mom and I got totally hooked on the first season when it came out in the US in 2011. Since then, we've reeled in my sister and my dad (who loves a good plot-driven historical drama and is usually game for a chick flick.) We very excitedly tuned in for the Season 2 premiere last night. I don't have a television, and B. isn't really interested in the series, so I think I'm going to be visiting my family on Sunday evenings for the next several weeks.

Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess of Grantham is by *far* my favorite character. Just about every line that she delivers is a scene-stealer. Mr. Carson, the butler, is a close second for the same reason. The witty one-liners written for these characters, and the delivery, rarely fail to make me laugh.

Is anyone else watching?

General

28 replies

Latest reply was from Diana

Sally

Veteran

We have recently finished the 2nd season here and I loved it. i only picked it up in the 2nd series so I had to go and hire the entire first series from the video store. I loved it and agree that Maggie Smith's character is by far the best!

londonkiwi (now back in NZ)

Veteran

I have seen the second series too and am very excited that they are going to film a third!

Maggie Smith is one of my favourite actors. I also love Anna and Daisy. Clothing wise I love Sybil's evening gowns. Can you imagine dressing every night for dinner in black tie?

anne

Veteran

I haven't watched the series at all but definitely plan to (just need to rent the DVD) I enjoyed the new look Upstairs Downstairs.

Sharon

Veteran

Yes, I love it! Aren't the clothes just gorgeous? I am beside myself with the richness of the visuals.

rosee

Veteran

Just caught the end of season 1 (last episode on PBS Sunday) and the first of season 2 -- and boy have I been missing a good show. thinking of purchasing the series on DVD eventually.

Love the clothes -- especially Mary's and Sybil's outfits!

Love the characters, especially Dowager countess and many of the help staff (butler, Anna, in particular).
I'm hoping that Mary gets together with her past-love the heir to the family fortune (can't remember his name), even if she may not deserve him due to scandal.

JennyAnne

(website)

Veteran

I loved season 1 and just happened to stumble on episode 1 of season 2. It's a bit heavier this season with World War 1 in full swing, but definitely entertaining.

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Yes!! Huge fan of season one. I think Tarzy and some others also got hooked last season - I remember chatting about it here.

Okay, did anyone else think the series got VERY soap opera-y with the first episode of season 2? I mean, it always was a soap opera, but when the middle sister kissed the farmer, well, that seemed a bit beyond - like the writers were throwing in every possible melodrama they could muster.

nancylee

Veteran

I'm madly trying to watch all of Season 1 streaming on Netflix so I can catch up! Love!

Ana

(website)

Veteran

Laura, I think it is very soapy, but that's what I love about it! At my party on Sunday, one of the husbands was in the bathroom during the Edith/farmer kissing scene. He came out and said, "What happened?! What did I miss?! I could heard you all gasp through the door!" We've decided Edith may be more evil than O'Brien now, but we'll have to see.
: D

Jonesy

Veteran

Yes, we (SO and I) agreed that the opener was quite sudsy! I was thinking that they were trying to capture how much the war mixed everyone and everything up: gender and class boundaries were crossed in willy-nilly fashion. People were put into positions that they had never found themselves in. I think it's really hard to capture the war while still focusing on the domestic stuff...not sure they did it too well, but it was okay.

Agree that the Dowager is the best! I also love Bates and Anna. Thomas and O'Brien are quite diabolical, and I'm interested in Mary and Mathew's situation.

These may be fightin' words, but does anyone else think that Elizabeth McGovern is the weak link among the actors? Sometimes I feel like she is acting in a different show than everyone else. I know she's an American character, and that sets her apart, but her acting style is so odd and discordant to me.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

You are the 4th person in one day to have mentioned Down Town Abbey, Kari! We will watch it eventually. We just finished watching the Wire and Pacific.

nancylee

Veteran

Jonesy, I've only seen the first three episodes of season 1 and I already agree with your assessment of Elizabeth McGovern. Her acting does seem "discordant" and "odd," to use your perfectly chosen words. It's very strange, but I've decided to just accept it as a quirk of the show.

Diana

Veteran

Yes, I'm watching! I love the clothes and the scenery and the characters... And, Laura, yes it is soapy but honestly I kind of love that.

Anonymous

Too funny you mentioned it! I had never heard of it until last night, when I woke up at three in the morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Eventually I turned on the TV and hit upon it on PBS. I thought great, this will be super boring and it will help me to get sleepy again. Wrong! I watched the whole show, lol!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Coming soon, here! My husband watched the first night of the second season and got hooked. We haven't seen Season 1 but his hairdresser has been raving about it so we're going to rent it!

Beth

Veteran

Oh my, yes! I've been anxiously awaiting the second season like so many others:)

I'm a little worried after seeing the first episode though. It seems much soapier and erratically paced with a lot of new threads.

Agree re. the comments on Elizabeth McGovern. Not only is her acting odd, so is her accent. She sounds like she's doing a very bad impersonation of an American accent, but she *is* American. Don't know what's going on there.

Regardless, DH and I are hooked. Big time:)

Aziraphale

Veteran

I stayed up until one a.m. last night watching it! My parents got the first season for me on DVD. I hadn't got round to watching it yet, then started a few days ago, and it's so good I can't turn it off!

Three more episodes to go and then I'm caught up.

Regarding Elizabeth McGovern's accent: there's two things going on here. First of all, she's an expatriate American who has been living in the UK for 20 years. (I think her husband is a Brit). So naturally her accent will have shifted somewhat. My brother moved to the the UK over 20 years ago, and his accent has gone funny. He doesn't sound English, but he no longer sounds Canadian, either.

Also, keep in mind that the character Cora is also an expatriate American who is supposed to have been living in England for many years. Her diction is meant to sound a little more clipped than would be usual for an American. Plus, American accents would have sounded a lot different back at the turn of the century anyway. I think she's a fabulous actress, and I also think she's doing a pretty good job of speaking the way the character is meant to (sorry Jonesy!).

Kari

Veteran

Laura, I'll admit that I kind of rolled my eyes at that moment - it seemed a little TOO desperate, even for Edith! (Poor Edith.)

I will say that one thing I am enjoying about S2, at least from the pilot, is that the "villain" characters (O'Brien and Thomas, a bit) are somewhat humanized. Even if we don't like them, we at least see a different side to their characters so they are a little less one-dimensional than they were in S1.

Kari

Veteran

Oooh, I've had SO many friends recommend The Wire. That one is on my list. Lately I've been marathon-watching shows that I've meant to catch up on - Bones, How I met your mother, etc.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

We just finished watching the first season and are calling Rosie "Her Ladyship". LOVE Downton Abbey!

Bates and Anna are my best *by far*. I also like Mrs. Hughes, Daisy and his Lordship Robert. I like the way he tells off his Mother, Maggie Smith. Maggie is fab too. I find Mary both wonderful and very annoying. I want to torture O'Brien and Thomas.

Also find Cora a weak link - and she is nominated for a Golden Globe on Sunday night. This was a surprise.

But the best TV serial shows in my mind are still these (in order):

- BSG (Modern version)

- Breaking Bad

- the Wire

- Madmen

- Spartacus

- Game of Thrones

nancylee

Veteran

I've completely caught up with Downton Abbey season 1 over the past week, and I have to say I am such a devotee of Mr. Bates and Anna. They are just so decent and lovely!

san

Veteran

Hm, been wanting to see this show. I read in the Sunday paper that it was a good one. Also love the recomendations of the other series. I love Madmen and can't wait for it to come back but I'm so glad there are others to catch up on. We've been watching Hell on Wheels.

Louise

Veteran

My mum is hooked I've volunteered to take her and a couple of friends to the place it was filmed in the summer x

Kari

Veteran

I totally want to watch Game of Thrones. Can't wait until that one comes out on Netflix or DVD. (We don't have a television right now, let alone cable/HBO.)

Louise, lucky you! That sounds like so much fun.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

Angie --you're another fan of Game of Thrones! I love Downton Abbey, Boardwalk Empire but most of all Game of Thrones. I love the fantasy world yet rooted in reality style. Also, my bf loves "Game" for all of its action and... blood.

It looks like I am the only one who likes Cora/Elizabeth McGovern. She has purposely created a sort of "mid Atlantic" accent which I think is true to the character. I also think that when an American lives for a very long time in England, their nuances of speech change. I like her good heart but weakness for O'Brien, Cora being neither good nor bad, rather like Mary.

I was glad to see the evil Thomas back in the show again as well.

I hope we can see more of Bates in the next episodes, to me he is very much the moral compass of the show and has a fabulous presence. And of course, Maggie Smith, who basically reprised her role from Gosford Park (also written by Julian Fellowes) in the series. Mr. Fellowes has said the Gosford Park character was based on an aunt of his.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

... Is anyone else completely seduced by the red drawing room of Downtown Abbey, where you will often find His Lordship? If I had a room like that, I will feel that I have died and gone to heaven.

Kari

Veteran

As a sidenote: Brendan Coyle, the actor who plays Mr. Bates, also portrayed one of my favorite characters in another fabulous historical drama adaptation (North & South.) I highly recommend that miniseries for those who haven't seen it.

Diana

Veteran

There was a fun article in this week's new yorker about Downton abbey, where I learned that the show is filmed at an actual historican house in Hampshire, which apparently you can tour in the summer... wouldn't that be fun?

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/....._talk_mead

Angie - High five! The modern BSG is the best show ever! I've really been wanting to watch Game of Thrones too (love the books!).