TV's Downton Abbey Better Than Most Movies

While I was in London, I was lucky enough to see episode one of season three of Downton Abbey, which will play on PBS’ Masterpiece Classic in January 2013. 

I don’t mean to brag, but na-na-na-na-na-na, I saw it first!  HA!

And, was it good?  Of course it was.  We have come to expect nothing less from Julian Fellowes and the Downton Abbey cast and crew.  Even when an episode is so-so, it’s still much better television than anything we have over here (meaning THIS side of the pond). 

But, why?  Why is Downton Abbey excellent TV?  Why do we (both Americans and Brits alike) like it so?  Why are we addicted?  Why did I spend one whole evening in my hotel room when I was in a cultural Mecca like London?  Because we’re (or at least I’m) addicted to finding out what will happen next in the Crawley’s world. 

Created by Brit playwright, screenwriter, novelist and actor Fellowes, Downton Abbey took the UK by storm in 2010, followed by an extremely popular run here on PBS.  The series resolves around the lives and loves of the inhabitants of Downton Abbey…which includes the Crawley family, led by Lord Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, as well as all of the servants and staff that run the large manor house.    

To answer the questions I posed earlier (about why it is so good and addictive that I would give up a night in a London pub to stay in my small hotel room and watch tv), I will take the leap and say quality.  Quality, you say?  Yes, quality.  Quality acting.  Quality stories.  And most especially quality writing. 

I know…these concepts of quality are novel to many television shows.  The idea that people THINK before putting something on the airwaves is a revolutionary concept, to say the least.  But, Downton Abbey has quality to spare.  Everything about the show oozes quality and at times, even perfection.   

And why am I writing about a television program, when I usually stick to movies?  Well, movies lately have lacked that certain thing called quality, just as much of TV has.  My well for writing reviews of recent films I enjoyed and can recommend is dwindling quicker than the quality of work coming out of Hollywood (both small and big screen). 

But, alas…I do not mean to criticize everything Hollywood produces (I watch my fair share of both network and cable TV and much of it is quality…or at least has quality elements), as I also do not want to rave about everything the UK produces (Sasha Baron Cohen is British, after all).   I just would like MORE quality.  More Downton Abbeys.  More thought put into writing.  More time spent on character development.  More scripts that feel like they were not mass-produced on an assembly line.  

While Hollywood keeps spewing out what they spew out best, I, like millions of other Americans, will just have to wait for more Downton Abbey in January.  Alas!

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