I wanna turn into one of those people with a tumblr full of tint-shifted anigifs from DOWNTON ABBEY

i thought i read somewhere it was like the #1 show in britain?

well, it's mainstream tv, and it's being renewed, so in that sense it's doing well for expensive drama, but it's not a ratings sensation. last year's figures: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/table/2010/dec/21/top-tv-shows-2010. there's a bunch of other dramas that get very nearly as many viewers.

i guess i have a specific definition of "popular" in mind here anyway. i haven't actually seen it (and like i say, i've only met one real person who claims to like it), so i'm guessing here, but presumably, if the anglophilia angle is lost and you and you're used to that kind of uk serial drama writing, all you've got left is a soap opera.

so i'm talking about guardian/twitter popular, not # of viewers popular

part of the problem is perhaps that itv is kind of a joke in the uk, at least among the kind of people who have important blogs. i think i actually first heard about downton abbey on gawker, and it reminded me of when american sites link to the daily mail. not mentioning daily mail (or itv) in the first 5 words is burying the lede.

there's also the julian fellowes thing, for the 0.01% of the population/100% of newspaper editors who know who he is

lol "no one I know voted for Nixon"

so i'm talking about guardian/twitter popular, not # of viewers popular

yeah I think I've seen the 'loved by the public ignored by the critics' line about it in The Sun or somewhere, because of course the so-called 'real' media are out of touch with the people. That said, none of my Sun-buying working class family watch it or know anyone who watches it either, so god knows who does.

my parents watch it, apparently

At my evening class there is a late-40s woman whose standard conversational opener during the coffee break is "ohmygod did you SEE Downton Abbey this week?!" and some 60+ women who always join in with the Downton chat while the 20-somethings all look completely blank. So it's kind of weird to see that it has a youngish viewing demographic in the US (at least, going by ILX posts).

im 30 + most of my female friends watch it (im in london)

this show is really popular with vogue editors fwiw

this show is fine. it's fun to hate on the really awful characters. didn't know the second season had started in the US yet.

Downton is very popular in my art school office in SF, but maybe this is not the real America.

when is this on dvd?
it is kind of a stupid show in general, but i like it anyway!
i like how someone "tenders their resignation" in like every episode. delightful!

when is the second season on DVD i mean

It Is, already.

As is the Christmas ep.

not in the US yet. looked it up, comes out next month.

these crazy sisters are so mean to each other!

About to finish the first season on Netflix with my sister. I'm 22 she's 20. In America. #datapoints

My wife and I spent two days of our vacation last week watching both seasons and the Christmas special. The second season is definitely soapier but still pretty good. I had figured the xmas ep would just be a sop to keep people interested for season 3 but it wraps up a lot of the loose ends left in season 2.

Oh, and for the survey: early-40's, American. And nobody else we know watches this.

so, i HATE this show, but i also LOVE this show

i dont really LOVE it but it is super easy to watch, like i finished a whole season in two days.

bates is such a boring character tho, i mean theyre all kinda boring but bates is the boringest.

max i'm gonna share your downton abbey post with my gf and she's gonna get mad at both of us

my sisters both really like this show and they tend to like really shitty boring things

only person i've heard about this show from irl is my mom; i am american but she is english. she hasn't actually seen it tho. if she does i predict she'll be like "oh it's such garbage" but watch it every week w/ great joy and comfort; she loves watching people eat cold toast.

i don't really have any idea what it is though. my predictions are based entirely on its being called "downton abbey".

its 'a less good gosford park'

like if youve seen gosford park, imagine a version made for british tv that looks and sounds is written like british tv, and then youve got it

yeah that's what i figured. i think she's lost count of how many times she's seen gosford park.

My standard line is that it's gosford park without any edge wit humor or irony

still super watchable and fun though

Fun fact: iPhone autocorrects gosford with hoagies

iPhone knows the score.

well, not too bad to start with. i guess SOME PEOPLE think it's gonna be horrible.

i wonder if the 'christmas episode' will be broadcast with the rest of the episodes?

british tv that looks and sounds is written like british tv

ouuuuuuuuuuch

the most annoying person i know was using this show to try and get into the pants of american exchange students, i would like to feel like this sums it up in some way but it probably doesn't

some people know this season is bad

lol i don't doubt it. the first two hour shot had some worrying signs already

max RE YOU THE one who posted this link on facebook today:

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/07/why_liberals_love_downton_abbey/

cuz it made me want to watch it now...

unless you are another max.

no that was me!

i M THE ONE

the language is starting to stick out to me as not very period anymore. did people really say "give my confidence a boost" in 1917?

yeah, probably not

i'm done with season 3 of sons of anarchy so maybe i'll move on to this on netflix.

I still am so torn on whether I should bother with this.

The whole first season only has 7 episodes, c'mon, you can do it.

did people really say "give my confidence a boost" in 1917?

the term "self-confidence" was attested by the 17th century, and "boost" has been around since the early 19th, so considering their mother is american... it's possible.

watched 3 episodes and i can't say that i'm hopelessly addicted. i'll watch the rest though. kinda wish it were better...but its okay. i guess my one and only standard for anything soapy/dramatic like this is, do i care what happens to people? i don't really care in this case. actually, i have tweo standards. my other standard is, is this better stoned? again, this show fails on that front. but, its watchable enough.

went through both series and the x-mas special in the span of a week, ending last night at 1am.

feel like the series wrapped everything up and it could end here, if they wanted; bates is such a spineless wuss it's kind of hard to even care about what happens to him.

wife calls this show 'the butlers'

this show has replaced mad men as the thing most randomly tagged on to etsy/ebay descriptions

only person i've heard about this show from irl is my mom; i am american but she is english. she hasn't actually seen it tho. if she does i predict she'll be like "oh it's such garbage" but watch it every week w/ great joy and comfort; she loves watching people eat cold toast.

― occupy the A train (difficult listening hour), Friday, January 6, 2012 7:13 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

she called me yesterday and my prediction was 100% right, she talked about how badly written it was for a while and then said "oh i guess it's coming on talk soon bye" <3 u mom

Really disappointed at lack of tint-shifted anigifs itt.

lol

this season is fucking preposterous

yeah i think thats it for me

― max, Tuesday, October 8, 2013 9:58 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Us too, pretty much. From "the best show to watch with your girlfriend" to "the worst show to watch with your girlfriend" in the space of a week.

how bad is it?

ya, this is almost making me wanna watch

well there is a ****SPOILER******

rape scene

which

actually isn't the worst thing about it. The worst thing about it is how stupid all the characters have become.

just watching this now. i agree the new season is horrible and out of its depth with the sensitive issues it is trying to tackle. also the plotline with braithwaite is a misogynistic, paranoid fantasy and i think it's weird that the show is so willing to paint her unambiguously as a villain.

this past season was better. although i spent the entire time hoping that mr bates would be hanged in prison again. what a christmas special that would have been.

i had avoided this season but bingewatched while i was sick over New Year

twasnt the best season granted, but i didnt hate it as much as i was expecting to

anyway: new season starts sunday :D

i didnt like braithwaite the first go-round, liked her about as much this time, happy to see her go (again)

plus she looks like an evil doll that came to life

the season starting sunday is the one I was just talking about (it ran in the UK over the fall).

can't believe no UKers talked about the final season (which I t0rr3nt3d finally to watch before it shows on PBS), but maybe only americans watch this show at this point.

Anyway 4 episodes in it's much better than the previous season.

new addict to this show!

:D

it's like taking over my thoughts on a daily basis i'm being rewired :D

*sings* a whoooole new woooorld

haha
hi surm!

:-) hi!

movie finished atop US b.o. ahead of AD ASTRA and LAST RAMBO

congrats, aristo worshippers

I saw the trailer in front of something and was agog that the plot of the film seemed like it was going to be “the KING is coming and we have to prepare a LUNCHEON”

That literally is the plot.

I’d call this movie a hot pile of garbage but it wasn’t even hot.

It was fine

Plotless and nearly witless

And what is wrong with these people that they don’t just take the day off when it’s offered to them? False consciousness the movie.

I am a property owner and a capitalist (when it suits my interests). My love of pre-code film is based in part on Hollywood's idea of 1930s upper-class life.

But during the first act of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, I was feeling like an anarchist and wishing I had a bomb to throw. Fortunately, "Noel Coward" came into the story, dropping his own sort of infernal devices along the way.

People are wishing for a DA prequel (the Countess in her prime, in the capitols of prewar Europe?). I'd rather see a flash-forward to 1960--Lady Mary and the estate ravaged by WWII, death duties and taxes, and the disappearance of the servant class?

And then the trailers before the new Spinal Tap movie included something for "Fackham Hall," which appears to be a distressingly bad parody of DA. No thank you.

i'd like to binge-watch Bosom Manor personally speaking