Going Downton

As Petula Clark might sing...

"When you're alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go...Downton."

Well, not exactly.  But, I'm late to the fair on this wonderful PBS series from England.  Now, normally, lots of British accents and period costumes are pretty toxic to my attention span.  A quick way for me to catch a couple of ZZZZs.  

Then, "Downton Abbey" won a slew of Emmys last summer.   Hmmm.  And I heard from a few friends that they had gotten addicted to Season 1 and were actively awaiting Season 2.  

But, still, I'm still thinking...pip, pip, cheerio, and probably a whole lot of rot.  Do I dare go there?

A good friend of mine, who happens to be British, loaned me the first two seasons on DVD.  I fluffed my favorite pillow and wondered what I would be dreaming about five minutes into Episode 1.

Well, who knew???

By the end of the first two episodes, I was wide awake.  

And I'm in.   I love "Downton Abbey."

Ever since my beloved nighttime soap "Knots Landing" went off the air in 1993, I've been missing a really juicy television serial.  The last place I expected to find my new favorite is on PBS.  With a bunch of British actors trolling around the grounds of some huge castle in 1912.  Yet, there it is.  Deliciously fun and quite deceptively sinister.  If I close my eyes, I can see Donna Mills dressing in a bustle and going off to a fox hunt. 

If you're not up on the doings at "Downton Abbey,"  it's all about this really rich family who lives in a palace and should be renting all the spare rooms that they are not using.  If this building was in Brooklyn, New York, it would already have been parceled off as condos.  But, there they live.   Dressing for dinner every night and constantly bumping into each other in the night.  If I lived there, I'd easily figure out a way not to see anybody else for months at a clip.

There's the Earl of Grantham and his American wife Cora, who is Lady Grantham.  She's played by Elizabeth McGovern and I've been wondering where she's been since I first fell in love with her circa "Ordinary People" in 1980.  Somehow, she's got three grown daughters now---Mary, who's a bit of a flirt; Edith, who's a bit of a sap; and Sybil, who's a bit of a socialist.  Your standard stodgy British family in 1912.

Meanwhile, the Earl's mom is the Dowager Countess, played with precision by Maggie Smith.  You wait for the next snarky word to come out of her mouth.  Maggie's having as much fun with this role as Larry Hagman did as JR on "Dallas" and Jane Wyman did as Angela Channing on "Falcon Crest."  There is such wonderful channelings to these classic TV soaps that I expected to the Lorimar logo pop up at the end of each "Downton Abbey" episode. 

Because, in truth, there is just as much chicanery going on here as there was in Dallas, Napa Valley, or Seaview Circle.  It's all done with a lot of class, but you get the dirty doings nonetheless.  Lovers sneaking around at night.  Lies being shared with some and not others.  Sisters backstabbing one another.  And gossip, gossip, gossip.  Life as we all know it.

That's only half the story, though.  Because when it comes to English high society, there's always the bunch living downstairs.  The household staff and this family has a big one.  Maids, valets, cooks, and even a butler with a limp.  Meanwhile, there are people sneaking around at night.  Lies being shared with some and not others.  Maids backstabbing one another.  And gossip, gossip, gossip.  Life as we all know it.  Except they're all drinking tea while they do it.

All the rich people have personal servants dedicated to each of them and boy, oh, boy, I sure do want my own valet now.  And the relationships are fascinating as they forge bonds while getting their jackets or dresses pressed.  Meanwhile, I always have to remind my housekeeper to dust the blinds.  Life as I wish I would know it. 

This is television from England, so the seasons are really short.  Season 1 was comprised of seven episodes and I've already zipped through a couple of shows from Season 2.  The brevity of the seasons leaves you looking for more and you can't wait to see what happens next.  Compare this to American TV fare where you'll watch 24 episodes of something and wonder how you completely wasted your time.

As is usually the case, the British always seems to get it right.  Who would expected them to come up with something that makes me fondly recall "Knots Landing?" 

Bravo.

Dinner last night:  Baked ham and sweet potato fries.