Downton. (Page 9)

I decided that while I will control myself this season, I am going to buy ahead next time. If I knew how royally screwed we were, I would have bought season 3.  Oh well. 

The upside is that watching PBS turned me on to the 3-part Documentary from BBC called Diamond Queen.   I have enjoyed that very much too.   I think Queen Elizabeth is fascinating.

So with you on the PBS watching.  Well, Downton and having a kid really tuned me in.  I now have Downton, Frontline, and Dinosaur Train set to record  My kid is only seven months old but Dinosaur Train is my his favorite show.  I actually have found myself watching PBS just about all the time.  Now that 30 Rock is done... Parks and Rec, How I Met Your Mother, and Modern Family are really the only shows I watch.  If it weren't for live sports, I could do without cable completely I think.  I even got my wife to watch the Dust Bowl documentary.

I was fascinated by that one! We just have over the air and can get PBS from Buffalo - we watch it quite a bit and to be on topic there have been quite a few interesting to me programs that seems to fall around Downton time that are great! I love the historical stuff!

The pictures of the "dust mountains" that were rolling in were amazing in such a frightening way!  I definitely did a double take when they started the documentary by calling it the worst man made natural disaster.  Then they educated me on how we helped cause it.  Just crazy.

As for the interesting programs, I've noticed that, too.  There have been a bunch of really cool NOVAs on lately, and there has been some reallygood David Attenborough stuff.  They aired two shows about the Columbia shuttle as well that had me glued to the TV.  

Our local station also has some corny lady begging for money before each episode of Downton.  Why not when that's when most people are watching.

I agree   RE; the 'spoiler"  I have read about Mathew (don't know his real name) not renewing or not coming back for months in entertainment magazines. Like before episode one of season three.   Its not exactly a secret.  Trying to guess what happens nest is kind of fun.  The whole Mary-Mathew thing....meh I am not invested.  Her character is too snotty and they both are too high and mighty.  I don't really care what they do with him, more how it effect the rest of the plot

They snuck in a two hour episode on us.  I actually found myself thinking that they haven't tied anything up yet, and then realized there was still an hour left.

Every week I find it amazing what passed for compassion back then.  This week it was the very considerate decision of not having Thomas thrown in jail for being gay.  

What's funny is I didn't realize it was a long one until the 1:40 mark.  It went that quickly for me.  At least in my head. 

I was a wee bit surprised just how nice they were to him...seriously, I would NOT have expected that much compassion in the 1920's.

What I want to know is...who knew about the soap?  I didn't think O'Brien told anyone about that.

DVD insight:  One of the special features on the DVD talks about the cricket game.  Apparently the only person that was a total cricket whiz was Alfred...and on the show he wasn't allowed to be "really good" so they had to make sure to avoid having him in the background by accident.  Most of the "really good" cricket moves by Thomas are apparently a stunt double.

O'Brien told Thomas about the soap.  Then when Bates developed compassion for Thomas and Thomas had given up Bates said something to he effect of "You have to know something about her we can use for leverage.  You tell me and I will take care of it"  I think the most interesting part of it was that 1-apparently everybody BUT Carson knew and 2-Roberts comment about what went on when he was a kid at Eton.  It did seem quite progressive for the 1920s

Knowing nothing about cricket I never would have had a clue as to good play or bad. 

I'm guessing she told Thomas or he somehow found out.  I've been googling furiously and got nothing.

and isn't next week the last episode of the season? 

As for the cricket...  At the college I went to, there was a big round field that had been used for ROTC drills back in the day.  On Sundays, the Indian students would go out there and play cricket, and it was pretty fun to watch.  I had one of them explain the rules to me, and I still have no idea how to play.  They let me try to bat a few times and I made contact a grand total of zero times.

Yes, I think so.  That's a long one on the DVD too.  They need to start making longer seasons rather than just trying to cram everything into a couple of big episodes at the end of the season!

I'm being careful not to say too much because I was afraid that I would forget what happened in which episode and accidentally give something away.  But I think I know where the line was drawn before the last episode.

Maybe.

:D

After I read the latest "Downton on FB" I will know for sure.

Speaking of which...anyone know where that is?

The Facebook parody is on www.happyplace.com

The main thing that bugged me about the Thomas story was how liberal Robert, of all people, was.  While I don't doubt there was a bunch of stuff going on at Eton, he's the type to uphold the "old ways" which I am pretty sure didn't ever include homosexuality.  For pete's sake, young adults weren't even allowed to go to the movies unchaperoned!  I don't believe the Robert we've been led to know would act that way. I think it's simply a convenient way for us to start to like him again, since he's totally intolerable in most things these days. 

Why did the newspaper guy have to 1) look so much like the Edith's almost-husband, and then 2) end up with the Mr. Rochester story and have the crazy wife?  What does Julian Fellows have against Edith???

I thought Rosamund's surprise at the whole jazz club and uptight-ness was rather surprising, since until now I thought she was the fun sister. I guess I read that wrong.

I'm tired of Bates. I wish I could claim this myself, but a blog I read pointed out something rather funny: Did you notice that Bates didn't need/use his cane in prison, including the laps around the yard?  Yet now, it's back?

Line of the day goes to O'Brien “Oooooh, get back in the knife box, Miss Sharp!”  Classic. I think there were others for the Dowager on her usual par, but I like that bit.

Just watched first two episodes of season 1. Not sure what I think yet but am willing to watch a few more.

Haven't read this whole thread as I don't want any spoilers, but I did enjoy the first few pages. Good to know I'm not the only one who isn't too cool for TV, especially PBS. Nice work BT!!

Stick with it! Sure, it's not a fast pace drama, but it's an excellent show!

Another dose or two of the Dowager Countess and you'll be hooked.

I understand why prison didn't allow it.  But why go back to it?

Yeah, definitely do NOT read this thread any further.   A lot of season 3 spoilers. 

http://www.happyplace.com/21258/downton-abbey-facebook-recap-season-3-episode-6

The new Facebook summary is up!

DO NOT CLICK Mrbbrad!!  

And Mary finishes things up with exactly what I was thinking when I realized the episode had gone over an hour.

He he.

"Effing Hell.  ONE TIME I killed a fetus.  ONE TIME!"

Exactly.

I saw it was two hours because I watched it recorded, but we were hoping for a pledge drive with lots of breaks or something.   I loved the whole episode, but I would have started watching it right away if I had known!