<p>Putsch. And then there was Oswald Mosely (not Molesley ;)), Baronet, head of the British Union of Fascists. Not to mention Edward (Duke of Windsor) and Wallis Simpson, who palled around with Hitler in the late '30s. Lovely people.</p>
<p>absolutely love the Facebook link. My daughter sent it to my earlier. Made me laugh out loud at my desk… Decided to forego getting something to eat as it is 8 degrees in midtown Manhattan at the moment. Happy I brought an apple and a clementine and some almonds…</p>
<p>I received my Season 4 DVD last night. Now I need a couple of snow days…</p>
<p>Re the German angle, it doesn’t sound like the series will run until they get to WW II, but I am sure that Gregson changing his citizenship will add to the drama. If you’ve read Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants and Winter of the World, there is a British heiress married to a German which provides all kinds of interesting complications. I mean, we can’t have Edith completely happy, can we?</p>
<p>The series is all set in one year (1922), so they don’t get anywhere near Hitler time-wise.</p>
<p>^^^boomting, do you mean Season 4 is set in 1922? I believe the series started in 1912 with the Titanic sinking.</p>
<p>Sorry, British word for TV season is series, so yes I did mean season 4. Downton did indeeed initially start with the Titanic sinking in 1912!</p>
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<p>A minor spoiler but still a spoiler. Please, no more spoilers on this thread.</p>
<p><a href=“Opinion | Beautifying Abbey Road - The New York Times”>Opinion | Beautifying Abbey Road - The New York Times;
<p>Maureen Dowd of the NYT doesn’t like the phony class distinctions in the series.</p>
<p>Just finished watching. I thought it moved at a snails pace and was kind if boring. I suppose because it was all about setting the stage for the rest of the season, but thank goodness for Maggie Smith, otherwise it would have been insufferable!</p>
<p>VH–I thought Dow dreally misinterpreted, especially as regards to the depiction of the Irish. She refers to Grantham’s initial horror over his D marrying out of class, and an Irishman to boot, but the series very clearly is on Branson’s side, and Grantham is depicted as prejudiced and snobbish.</p>
<p>Branson is clearly one of the most sympathetically portrayed characters in the show–I gotta say, if they ever ditch him, I’m done.</p>
<p>Overall, as many commenters pointed out, the show really is about the downward slide of the class system. Anyone who defends it gets shown as wrong; even the dowager has amended her ways. Grantham seems the only one left, though even he has accepted Branson.</p>
<p>Now, you could make an argument that the mixing of classes shown is unrealistic, but I don’t think her argument that the show is more sympathetic to the upper class is in any way defendable.</p>
<p>Is talking about season 4 and the last Christmas special fair game? </p>
<p>I like the show. The dialogue is well done and there are many characters who are defined in their own right and not merely in their relation to other characters. That may seem lax criteria for liking a show, but so many shows fail at it. It’s entertaining even if not entirely realistic.</p>
<p>Season 4 and the last Christmas special-- no, no, no. We are only allowed to talk about the first two hours of Season 4. Certainly not the 2014 Christmas special if there was one.</p>
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<p>Don’t be silly. To understand how vastly sympathetic to the upper class the show is, all you have to do is to watch Fellowes’ first draft of almost precisely the same characters, in the Robert Altman movie Gosford Park. The translation from the earlier movie to the vastly more popular TV series was to make all the aristocrats prettier, smarter, and nicer, to have them consistently operate out of good faith even when they are a little benighted, and to have them show obvious respect and consideration for their servants and other working people (even if there is snobbery there as well). In the movie, the Lord Grantham character is murdered halfway through, and the difficulty is finding anyone who didn’t have perfectly good grounds to want him dead, he’s such a despicable, small-minded, malevolent man throwing his wealth and privilege around.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen the movie. But I’m not saying the show doesn’t like them, I’m saying it makes it clear that they’re frequently, mostly, wrong, and they are continually redeemed by adopting more liberal, progressive views. </p>
<p>I’m also not saying they’re a lot of verisimilitude here.</p>
<p>I doubt that the average Downton Abbey viewer is watching the show because they believe it is an accurate depiction of master/servant relationships in the early 20th century…beautiful costumes, beautiful buildings, good acting, interesting story lines, Maggie Smith. Just like the old Westerns or the old costume dramas, where everyone has shiny hair, clean clothes and good teeth…people watched for the story, not because they were looking for historical accuracy.</p>
<p>I really like the intro music. Apparently so do others</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.televisiontunes.com/Downton_Abbey.html[/url]”>http://www.televisiontunes.com/Downton_Abbey.html</a></p>
<p>[Why</a> the ‘Downton Abbey’ theme song makes us drool - TODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.today.com/health/why-downton-abbey-theme-song-makes-us-drool-1C8408387]Why”>Why the 'Downton Abbey' theme song makes us drool)</p>
<p>And I think any night I use cloth napkins is a big deal!</p>
<p>[How</a> To Throw A Historically Accurate Downton Abbey Dinner Party](<a href=“http://www.buzzfeed.com/arielknutson/how-to-throw-a-historically-accurate-downton-abbey]How”>How To Throw A Historically Accurate Downton Abbey Dinner Party)</p>
<p>Thanks, emilybee! Years ago I found my grandmother’s Emily Post etiquette book from the 1920s. One thing I read, which I have NEVER forgotten, is that for luncheon, the table should always be set for at least 4, even when dining alone. </p>
<p>A friend of mine always dined by candlelight when her children were small. She found it calmed them down!</p>
<p>I’ll checkout gosford park. But missypie has pretty much covered my thoughts.</p>