The Downton Abbey thread

[buckytom]

i think it was k-l who mentioned it elsewhere, but season three (remember to trill your rrrs) of downton abbey (aka downtown abbey in pa. ) Downton Abbey, Season 3 | Programs | Masterpiece | PBS begins this weekend (what is a weekend?), or more specifically, sunday evening at 9pm.

here's a thread for discussing what i think has been a really great series so far.

believe me, it must be good if a series about rich people in england a hundred years ago has captured my attention, for anyone that knows me.

who's going to watch? what say you about season thrrrree?

free bates!!!!

 

[pacanis]

smart a...

 

[buckytom]

that will be quite enough. good day, sir.

i said GOOD DAY!

 

[Gravy Queen]

Having seen it here, plus the Christmas special I am going to keep my gob firmly shut ! Keep away from Facebook and Twitter in case of spoilers and don't speak to any strange English blonde women on cooking forums .

 

[CWS4322]

I am addicted to the series, hence, the reason I needed a yagi (sp) antenna tuned so that it picks up PBS. I had PBS at the farm, but couldn't get it here in the city with the antenna on the house. Now that I have an antenna that gets PBS, I plan on curling up on the couch under my Hudson Bay blanket with a cup of hot chocolate to watch the start of series 3. GQ, please don't spoil it for those of us who have had to wait for series 3 this side of the pond!

 

[bakechef]

I've seen seen season 3 and the christmas special.....

I'm addicted to this show too.

 

[Kayelle]

I'm glad you gave this a thread of its own Bucky!

I'm also glad to hear men are as hooked on this drama as women. As I mentioned before my Steve is really looking forward to the third season starting here in the USA on Sunday.

I'm particularly chomping at the bit to see our Shirley MacLaine added to the excellent cast of British actors!

We'll both be glued to the TV with a huge bowl of popcorn.

 

[pacanis]

Well just to say, I joined Amazon Prime a few days ago and found all three seasons free to it's members But after ten minutes of trying to understand women's voices, let alone with an English accent (something my hearing has a hard time with), I almost gave up... until I tried on a whim and found the episodes on Netflix! Along with closed captioning!!!
The brief time I watched though, it looks like I could get into this. I like attention to detail and the first ten minutes were well done.

 

[Kayelle]

Make some popcorn Pac, and be prepared for a DA marathon now that it has your interest! Steve has the same hearing/accent problem and the Netflix captions worked great.

I think Steve and I watched the entire first season on Netflix in one weekend. For one thing, the number of episodes per season are far fewer than an American TV season.

 

[Gravy Queen]

Certainly no spoilers from me I promise x

 

[Kylie1969]

I have not watched it but mum has..all 3 seasons and the Christmas specials from both last year and this year....she loves them!

She also likes the new Upstairs Downstairs too

 

[pacanis]

Well, I've got season 1 under my belt. Netflix does not have the other seasons available for streaming, but Amazon does. Unfortunately, Amazon does not have the closed captioning available for those either... I tried to watch an episode, but was missing too much of what was being said, especially with the war going on. Fortunately Netflix does have season 2 and 3 available in DVD form. It will just take me longer to catch up, as a season is spread over two or three discs. Plus I will need to watch on the TV rather than on a computer, where I can stream anywhere.
Yep, I'm hooked. It's getting rather predictable though.

 

[tinlizzie]

Wow! A two-hour opener, chock full of events. My goodness - there was a special on PBS just before the 9 PM show featuring the castle and its real owners. Unfortunately I only found it about 10 minutes before it was over.

Weren't the settings grand? And the ladies looked lovely. Besides the plot goodies, which ranneth over, everything about those two hours was really fine. Worth waiting for.

I appreciate and admire your don't tell policy, Gravy Queen.

It's hard to pick a favorite, but Daisy for one seems so utterly believable.

 

[Gravy Queen]

I'm curious, indulge me please , are some people really finding the accents hard to understand ? I can understand dialects being difficult , but most of the Downton accents are what we would call quite posh , errr apart from the servants that is but still no real strong dialects in there .

 

[pacanis]

I'm curious, indulge me please , are some people really finding the accents hard to understand ? I can understand dialects being difficult , but most of the Downton accents are what we would call quite posh , errr apart from the servants that is but still no real strong dialects in there .

I have a problem with women's and children's voices. The accent compounds the problem. Although the first few minutes of season 2 episode 1, where there was a lot of background noise from WWI and Matthew and Mosley were talking back and forth, were just as bad. It's my hearing more than it is their accent.
A couple days ago I had no problem watching Beatles documentaries and understanding them. Thicker accent, but little background noise and men's voices

 

[Gravy Queen]

Ah I see Pac, seriously my husband has a similar hearing problem , it's the frequency of female voices that he struggles with . Ooh I mean frequency as in higher pitched, not how much I talk ...........I think .

 

[pacanis]

Downton Abbey is the only CC program I've watched where I literally could not stop reading and look away for one scene. So so surfing during DA, lol.

 

[Kayelle]

I was so excited with the grand opener last night, that I recorded it and watched it again this morning! I'm glad I did, as I missed some lines due to laughing in the grandmother scenes. As I expected, Shirley MacLaine nearly stole the show for me with her wit and interaction with the always entertaining Maggie Smith. What a dynamic duo they are!
The wedding was a feast for the eyes! My favorite scene though was between Robert and Cora when he told her the shocking news. The enduring true love they have for each other brought me to tears, and I was so proud of her loving reaction.

Gravy Queen, I think the problem of understanding is that most Americans aren't familiar with British TV and are not used to hearing a total dialog in British English. We are kind of trying to translate it in our American minds, if that makes sense. After the first season I got used to it.

Woo Hooo......I can't wait for next week!

 

[pacanis]

oops, I better stay away from this thread.
I saw the word wedding and am tempted to see if any names were mentioned, but better not...

 

[Addie]

that will be quite enough. good day, sir.

i said GOOD DAY!

That would be "I say Good Day Sir." And I have always trilled my R's. Having been married to an Englishman, I understand the Queen's English quite clearly. Actually he had more of a Scottish brogue growing up in the Lakes District. He told my kids a lot of stories of his childhood living on Lord Cumberland's estate. His father was choir master.