Did anybody else out there adore this show as much as I did? And was anybody else equally annoyed to discover that we poor Americans viewed the lamentably abridged version of the series, which cut a full hour (by my calculations) of the delicious goings-on in the Crawley family and among their servants? I assume it had something to do with what PBS was willing to pay for, but still – I felt gypped.
With a full-blown case of the flu that has left me a shivering, sniffling wreck this week – fever and all – I’d gladly park myself on the sofa with a mug of hot tea and the unabridged version of Downton Abbey, if only I could figure out where to view it. I just may have to buy the DVD, unless there are any other suggestions?
Isn’t this hat absolutely to die for? Wonder how much it weighs? And how many endangered species donated their feathers to embellish it? Not to mention, how on earth did Lady Cora pass through doorways wearing it? Sideways, perhaps. I’ll tell you, sometimes it’s a burden looking back on fashion through the lens of modern times.
I looked hard for signs of knitting in the series, but didn’t see anything that convinced me the Edwardian era was as knit-happy as our own. Although some of the ladies sported what appeared to be woven shawls over their airy silk gowns, I didn’t see any of the exquisite knitted lace I expected. However, it is possible that Lady Violet is wearing knitted wrist warmers over her gloves in the photo below – what do you think?
Of course, it seemed that most of the episodes took place during spring, summer, and fall, so perhaps the Crawleys didn’t feel the need for woolens (though my heart skipped a beat when Lady Mary joined Evelyn Napier and poor cardiac-challenged Kamel Pamuk on the hunt – I thought for sure someone would sport a snug argyle vest under his hunting jacket, or at the very least a pair of finely worked socks. But no such luck.).
Can’t wait for the second season… and perhaps those Brits will let us have the entire episodes this time!!
if you want to watch downton abbey online, theres a website, http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/Downton-Abbey_24131/season_2/episode_1/ and if you click on the one you want and then click play in new window it should lead you to a new window (:-/) and you can watch it. i hope this helps
It was actually only cut by a few minutes. A lot of tabloids here (in the UK) ran completely sensationalist stories about it being massively cut to dumb it down for Americans. Actually, the reason the viewing time was shorter was because in the UK it was shown with adverts, and in the US it wasn’t…
There’s a good blog post about it here: http://www.televisionaryblog.com/2011/01/in-defense-of-downton-abbey-or-dont.html
I, too, absolutely loved Downton Abbey. I haven’t fallen like this for a series in a long time. But I thought the British version was six one-hour segments as opposed the American four 90-minute segments. That really should be the same. It’ll be a difficult wait for next season!
Come to Sweden and me, Downtown Abbey is about to start here!
How did I miss this one?! I hope you’ve seen Cranston…and Lark Rise To Candleford is in my Netflix queue. Thanks for the tip!