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You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Television / Downton Abbey Open Thread

Downton Abbey Open Thread

by John Cole|  January 6, 20138:19 pm| 84 Comments

This post is in: Television

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You all as excited as I am for the return of killer Maggie Smith one liners?

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Reader Interactions

84Comments

  1. 1.

    redshirt

    January 6, 2013 at 8:22 pm

    I don’t even have a tv, man. So no. No excitement here. [/hipster]

  2. 2.

    RinaX

    January 6, 2013 at 8:24 pm

    I tried to watch the first season of this on netflix and…no. It has been amusing reading about the goings-on of Season 3, though.

  3. 3.

    cathyx

    January 6, 2013 at 8:25 pm

    Do you realize your whole day is about the TV today?

  4. 4.

    Maude

    January 6, 2013 at 8:28 pm

    @redshirt:
    We can be excited vicariously.

  5. 5.

    maye

    January 6, 2013 at 8:31 pm

    Yes, but I don’t like the Bates/Anna story line.

  6. 6.

    ulee

    January 6, 2013 at 8:33 pm

    Kill, Maggie, Kill.

  7. 7.

    gnomedad

    January 6, 2013 at 8:33 pm

    Screw it, I’m not waiting for an “open” open thread any longer. I’m sure at least some BJers will be interested in this:

    Goatse Mail

    Well, I thought the video was funny, anyway.

  8. 8.

    redshirt

    January 6, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    @Maude: LOL. Exactly. It works too – I read EW and I’m like down with everything going on, though I have no true idea at all, since I see none of it. Modern Problems!

  9. 9.

    ulee

    January 6, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    @cathyx: tv is wallpaper. sometimes the wallpaper is worth watching, sometimes the wallpaper comes back in a dream

  10. 10.

    Rosie Outlook

    January 6, 2013 at 8:37 pm

    No, but I get really excited at seeing new pictures of Tunch and the dogs. If you would, please.

    I might as well not have a TV. After a big storm last summer one of the neighbors was remarking on the cable having been out for a day and a half. You couldn’t have proved it by me. I just hardly ever remember to turn it on.

  11. 11.

    melissa

    January 6, 2013 at 8:37 pm

    One of my favourite CBC shows, Republic of Doyle, is on at the same time here in Canada. I can’t decide which to watch and which to tape.

  12. 12.

    the Conster

    January 6, 2013 at 8:38 pm

    I’ve really been looking forward to it, since I’ve just spent the last week watching 4 seasons of Breaking Bad – the opposite of Downton Abbey.

  13. 13.

    Maxwel

    January 6, 2013 at 8:40 pm

    @maye:

    Me too. I was hoping they would execute the insufferable blockhead.

  14. 14.

    parsimon

    January 6, 2013 at 8:40 pm

    Good grief, I haven’t been this silly about a TV show in quite some time. Along about 7 p.m. I thought I’d better check when it started: is it at 8? If so I’d best finish washing these dishes and reheat some of the curried sweet potato soup from last night, for dinner, and get my lunch together for tomorrow. Oh, it’s at 9? Cool, I am with the program.

  15. 15.

    S. Holland

    January 6, 2013 at 8:41 pm

    Can’t wait!!! Been waiting for what seems like months! Shirley & Maggie alone would be worth it….but, love the series!!

  16. 16.

    Maude

    January 6, 2013 at 8:41 pm

    @redshirt:
    It’s better, because if there are commercials, we don’t have to put up with them. I haven’t had tv for a long time. Got out of sync with it. When I see it someplace public, it irritates me. Especially anything newsy.

  17. 17.

    Mystical Chick

    January 6, 2013 at 8:41 pm

    I’m in on the Downton train! I couldn’t get past the pilot (tried 3x!) finally skipped it and was totally hooked. Spent many weekend nights watching and catching up.

    Looking forward to Shirley McClain coming in as Cora’s mother.

    FUN!

    (All you “but I don’t own a television” or “I can’t be bothered to watch” people just step off! This is our thread! heheh)

  18. 18.

    HE Pennypacker, Wealthy Industrialist

    January 6, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    Conster, did you see the Colbert Nation spoof “Breaking Abbey”? If not, go to his website and check it out.

  19. 19.

    ruemara

    January 6, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    uh, no. Can’t say I understand this affection for these things. Not a single zombie or Dalek? Pass.

  20. 20.

    Lolis

    January 6, 2013 at 8:43 pm

    @the Conster:

    I started watching Breaking Bad a couple weeks ago, too. I had to take a break in the last season because it was so dark. The part about Skylar is so depressing. I am not optimistic about how they are going to end the show based on interviews I am reading.

  21. 21.

    Emerald

    January 6, 2013 at 8:43 pm

    @maye: Indeed. Bates has been falsely accused several times too often. Enough already!!

    However, this actually is quite a predictable soap opera, so we know he’ll be vindicated in the end. After that, I hope the damned writer leaves him alone.

    I got lucky. After ignoring the show for two years, I decided to catch up on it with Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Videos. Just watched both seasons this week, without knowing that season three starts tonight!

    T-t-t-t-timing!

  22. 22.

    ulee

    January 6, 2013 at 8:44 pm

    If you don’t watch tv, you missed The Sopranos.
    But tv is such a waste of time when one could be viewing sunsets.

  23. 23.

    Xantar

    January 6, 2013 at 8:44 pm

    @redshirt:

    You could always watch off the PBS website. Or hook your computer up to a digital antenna and receive PBS over the air like I do.

  24. 24.

    TheMightyTrowel

    January 6, 2013 at 8:45 pm

    *watched it over the internet while it was airing in the UK*

    :-P

  25. 25.

    Poopyman

    January 6, 2013 at 8:47 pm

    Never watched it, never will.

    I guess that’s a long way of answering your question “no”.

  26. 26.

    Hawes

    January 6, 2013 at 8:47 pm

    “What’s a week end?”

    As for Breaking Bad, have you seen Colbert’s version Breaking Bad as performed by the characters from Downton Abbey?

    Sublime.

  27. 27.

    Kass

    January 6, 2013 at 8:51 pm

    It’s bad! Go back to Upstairs, Downstairs to see how it’s done, with no smarmy familiarity with the help on an hourly basis. On Downton, only Cora and Violet treat the help as they should be treated. I watch for the costumes and hats, which I suspect don’t interest Cole.

  28. 28.

    the Conster

    January 6, 2013 at 8:52 pm

    @HE Pennypacker, Wealthy Industrialist:

    LOL. mo’ money, mo’ quandaries.

  29. 29.

    TheOtherWA

    January 6, 2013 at 8:53 pm

    Colbert is a genius. The “Breaking Abbey” bit was incredible.

    Yes, I’m hooked on both shows, how could you tell?

  30. 30.

    the Conster

    January 6, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    @Lolis:

    Yeah, Vince Gilligan has said that Walt’s going to have to pay up. I’m rooting hard for Jesse.

  31. 31.

    master c

    January 6, 2013 at 8:55 pm

    Im getting ready as we speak…..do we just not like Bates? or is he truly a bad person? I like the whole shooting match, very much looking forward to two old broads squaring off.
    It’s going to be a bumpy night!

  32. 32.

    TheOtherWA

    January 6, 2013 at 8:59 pm

    @master c: Bates is not a bad person. He and Anna are basically normal people. There are others we love to hate, like O’Brien and Thomas, but Bates is not like them.

  33. 33.

    pseudonymous in nc

    January 6, 2013 at 9:00 pm

    [REDACTED] is [REDACTED], also [REDACTED] [REDACTED] in [REDACTED].

  34. 34.

    RaflW

    January 6, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    I am waiting for DVD 2 of season 2 to arrive tomorrow in my mailbox, and DVD 3 on Tuesday. Gotta cram a lot of episodes in before the local re-broadcast of Downton on Wednesday evening here in the Twin Cities.

    I watched Season 1 in a day and a half on streaming last weekend. Then discovered that Season 2 was DVD only. Sad trombone!

  35. 35.

    TheOtherWA

    January 6, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    I’m staying off twitter tonight so I don’t read any spoilers.

  36. 36.

    maye

    January 6, 2013 at 9:14 pm

    @master c: He and Anna (I think that’s her name) are just too earnest. It’s veers right into sappy.

  37. 37.

    rikyrah

    January 6, 2013 at 9:15 pm

    the Dowager Countess rocks.

    And FREE BATES!!!

  38. 38.

    PurpleGirl

    January 6, 2013 at 9:19 pm

    New line from the Dowager Countess,

    Whenever I’m with her [Cora’s mother] I’m reminded of the virtues of the English.

  39. 39.

    Southern Beale

    January 6, 2013 at 9:19 pm

    We capitulated. This weekend starting watching Season 1 on Netflix streaming. Just now watching the last episode of season 1, we’ll catch up on season 2 this week and we’ll be all ready for season 3. Trying to avoid spoilers until then.

    I have to say, while we’re enjoying it, I’m old enough to remember “Upstairs, Downstairs.” Downton Abbey strikes me as a slightly more tabloid-era version of that.

  40. 40.

    TheOtherWA

    January 6, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    @maye: Well, it is basically a soap opera. A stiff upper lip, proper soap opera.

  41. 41.

    TaMara (BHF)

    January 6, 2013 at 9:27 pm

    If I thought it would do any good, I’d wear a Free Bates t-shirt across my ample bosom.

    And Maggie Smith has no peer.

    90 minutes and counting here.

  42. 42.

    maye

    January 6, 2013 at 9:31 pm

    @TheOtherWA: I was a history major because I love soap opera. Bates and Anna are not my fav.

  43. 43.

    PurpleGirl

    January 6, 2013 at 9:32 pm

    @Southern Beale: I never really got into “Upstairs, Downstairs”. I remember back to the early days of Masterpiece Theatre and “The First Churchills” and “The Forsthye Saga”.

  44. 44.

    PsiFighter37

    January 6, 2013 at 9:46 pm

    Is this a real thread?

    I liked your taste in TV shows, Cole (thinking Chuck in particular), but now you’re pushing it…

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    January 6, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    Daisy is cracking me up

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    January 6, 2013 at 9:56 pm

    I love Bates and Anna.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    January 6, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    Edith is my favorite sister. Everyone is so down on her – her family’s attitude towards her sucks.

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    January 6, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    @TaMara (BHF):

    If I thought it would do any good, I’d wear a Free Bates t-shirt across my ample bosom

    BWA HA HA H HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

  49. 49.

    TheOtherWA

    January 6, 2013 at 10:14 pm

    @Southern Beale: Did you watch the remake of Upstairs Downstairs? I can’t compare it to the original, but it was ok. Didn’t get into it like Downton Abbey, but it was better than a lot of the other crap on tv.

  50. 50.

    johnny aquitard

    January 6, 2013 at 10:25 pm

    @Southern Beale: Upstairs Downstairs, that’s it! Wife is watching Downton Abbey right now. She had me watch for 15 min, (before I got bored and left to go read BJ ) and I vaguely had this sense of deja vu. It’s Upstairs, downstairs but with better production values.

    God I hated that show. Would have rather watched Room 222, or just sit and drool on myself, if staring at cobwebs on the ceiling were not possible.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 6, 2013 at 10:30 pm

    I love them all. First Churchills, Upstairs Downstairs, Downton Abbey, Brideshead Revisited, all of them.

    And I love Bates and Anna. Go away, all of you haters :-P

  52. 52.

    johnny aquitard

    January 6, 2013 at 10:39 pm

    @Southern Beale: OMG, Upstairs Downstairs, that’s it! Wife is watching Downton Abbey right now. She had me watch for 15 min, (before I got bored and left to go read BJ ) and I vaguely had this sense of deja vu. It’s Upstairs, downstairs but with better production values.

    God I hated that show. Would have rather watched Room 222, or just sit and drool on myself, if staring at cobwebs on the ceiling were not possible.

  53. 53.

    Mrs. Peel

    January 6, 2013 at 10:42 pm

    Just don’t get too attached to Matthew. They kill him off for good in the last episode of this season.

  54. 54.

    noodler

    January 6, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    pbs had all of season two this afternoon. darn nearly made me miss some football.

    cant really believe that I just wrote that, but my giants are out of the fight.

  55. 55.

    noodler

    January 6, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    pbs had all of season two this afternoon. darn nearly made me miss some football.

    cant really believe that I just wrote that, but my giants are out of the fight.

  56. 56.

    noodler

    January 6, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    pbs had all of season two this afternoon. darn nearly made me miss some football.

    cant really believe that I just wrote that, but my giants are out of the fight.

  57. 57.

    johnny aquitard

    January 6, 2013 at 10:44 pm

    @Southern Beale: OMG, Upstairs Downstairs, that’s it! Wife is watching Downton Abbey right now. She had me watch for 15 min, (before I got bored, opined it was a soap poera and left to go read BJ ) and I vaguely had this sense of deja vu. It’s Upstairs, downstairs but with better production values.

    God I hated that show. Would have rather watched Room 222, or just sit and drool on myself, if staring at cobwebs on the ceiling were not possible.

  58. 58.

    master c

    January 6, 2013 at 10:45 pm

    Okay peeps thanks for the explanation of the Anna Bates thing, this episode is all over theplace, but loving it! I think I hate Lady Mary!

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 6, 2013 at 10:46 pm

    @Mrs. Peel: Spoilers gotta spoil. Thanks a bunch.

  60. 60.

    Suzanne

    January 6, 2013 at 10:47 pm

    I want Mrs. Hughes and Carson to hook up. They rock the casbah.

  61. 61.

    Librarian

    January 6, 2013 at 10:50 pm

    I don’t watch Downton Abbey. I’ve seen it all before, in Upstairs Downstairs and Brideshead Revisited, and with better writing.

  62. 62.

    johnny aquitard

    January 6, 2013 at 10:51 pm

    Sorry about the repeats. Never did a multiple comment before. My first, so its kind of a rite of passage I suppose.

    Oh, and FYWP.

  63. 63.

    PurpleGirl

    January 6, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    Did anyone else see the show about Highclere Castle that was on before Downton Abby? It featured the current Earl of Carnarvon and his wife talking about the history of the estate and the various business ventures he has been involved in to make the money needed to maintain the house and the estate (a cool million pounds a year). It was interesting and was the first of a new series about other estates and manors of England.

  64. 64.

    Jon

    January 6, 2013 at 10:57 pm

    Sybil and Matthew both fucking die.

  65. 65.

    gogol's wife

    January 6, 2013 at 10:58 pm

    When it started, I thought, oh, they’re all strained and affected. Five minutes later I was completely engrossed. I thought it was great.

  66. 66.

    gogol's wife

    January 6, 2013 at 11:02 pm

    @Jon:

    You’re really charming. Not.

  67. 67.

    PurpleGirl

    January 6, 2013 at 11:04 pm

    Jon and Mrs. Peel: Please restrain yourselves. You may not like the series or us, but some of us would prefer to let the story unfold without knowing what is going to happen.

  68. 68.

    gogol's wife

    January 6, 2013 at 11:15 pm

    @PurpleGirl:

    The f–king New York Times did it for me already, I didn’t even have to wait for an idiot on the internet. But I don’t care! I enjoyed Season 1 and 2 just as much the second or third time, even though I knew everything that was going to happen.

  69. 69.

    James E. Powell

    January 6, 2013 at 11:20 pm

    I watched every episode of the first two seasons, plus Christmas show, when they were broadcast. Then I watched the whole thing again in a marathon. I don’t get why I keep watching. Given my political attitudes and given my belief that nearly every problem in the world can be traced back to the high-handed bungling of the late British Empire, I should hate these people. I should be reacting like I do to Gone With the Wind, which I cannot watch. But I don’t hate them. I’m not saying I like them, I just don’t hate them.

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 6, 2013 at 11:23 pm

    @PurpleGirl: Yes, I did. It was very interesting. I hadn’t made the connection before that it was the same family (Earls of Carnarvon) who discovered King Tut’s Tomb back in the ’20s — the present Earl’s great-grandfather, I think they said.

    There was a long interview earlier today on Bob Edwards’ Weekend (it’s a Sirius XM production but airs on some NPR stations) with the actors who play Carson and Thomas. So interesting to get the actors’ takes on an undertaking as massive as Downton Abbey.

  71. 71.

    cmm

    January 6, 2013 at 11:23 pm

    Fuck you, spoilers posters. That ws really really shitty.

  72. 72.

    cmm

    January 6, 2013 at 11:23 pm

    Fuck you, spoilers posters. That ws really really shitty.

  73. 73.

    Radio One

    January 7, 2013 at 2:10 am

    Downton Abbey was a lot more fun when it was the evil servants and their rich conspirators in London waging total war against the Crowley family and Mr. Bates. I assume Mr. Bates will probably have future complications in Season 3 for his wife’s murder, but otherwise it looks like the Crowley family is pretty much set.

  74. 74.

    Todd

    January 7, 2013 at 6:47 am

    I’m finding myself hating Matthew.

  75. 75.

    Mystical Chick

    January 7, 2013 at 7:09 am

    This. “Lavinia died because you broke her heart? Oh please, get over yourself. She died of Spanish Influenza which killed about 3% of the world’s population. And who are you to know what was in the heart of Lavinia’s father? Take the money or don’t take the money, but stop inflating your ego.”

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 7, 2013 at 7:26 am

    I hope the spoiler assholes are happy. Shitheads.

  77. 77.

    master c

    January 7, 2013 at 8:06 am

    The Matthew spoiler was out there, since the actor has been making the interview rounds, saying it was his last season. Now I can only hope Lady Mary bludgeons him with a candlestick cuz he wont give up the money.

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    January 7, 2013 at 8:55 am

    @Mystical Chick: Haha, I had the very same reaction!

  79. 79.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    January 7, 2013 at 10:44 am

    @Radio One:

    The war between Thomas and O’Brien is awesome, though. I am rooting for blood!

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 7, 2013 at 1:01 pm

    I am starting to hope that Bates actually did it.

  81. 81.

    Tehanu

    January 7, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    @PurpleGirl:
    I hated “Upstairs, Downstairs” because I couldn’t stand Jean Marsh … although I worship Eileen Atkins like the goddess she is. But the original Forsyte Saga — the one with Eric Porter as Soames and Susan Hampshire as Fleur, not to mention the late great Margaret Tyzack as Soames’ sister — was the greatest thing evah.
    As for last night’s 3rd season premiere, we were riveted to the screen for two solid hours and it wasn’t nearly enough. I can’t wait for Edith’s wedding, even though I think Strallan is a wimp.

  82. 82.

    Liane B

    January 7, 2013 at 3:20 pm

    one-liners? all she has to do is give a look. Wish I’d known it was gonna be two hours, though.

    loved, loved, loved that the wedding was entirely anticlimactic. Totally perfect.

  83. 83.

    Liane B

    January 7, 2013 at 3:22 pm

    @Radio One: Crawley, I think. Crowley is the former punk-ass crossroads demon now the king of hell demon on Supernatural. subtle difference.

  84. 84.

    keestadoll

    January 7, 2013 at 4:54 pm

    Dear spoiler-slinging asshats: Here’s hoping you meet with a very disquieting and extended bout of diarrhea during a traffic jam.

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