I wanna say it was called "back in black theory" but Google is not helping me here. Basically, somebody had a theory that it's the album after the good one that everybody picks up (because only the true fans were paying attention to the band when the good one came out) so everyone gripes about how "such and such band" isn't as great as everyone says because they didn't have the visceral experience of hearing "the greatness" when it was fresh and new. For my two cents, Season 1 of Downton Abbey was really tightly-scripted period melodrama. Julian Fellowes played the heartstrings with rare skill and attention. The cast was crackling, Maggie Smith was chewing up the scenery and all that stiff upper lip shit was a joy to behold. That didn't make it "amazing televison" - it made it kind of the absolute best version of Revenge or any other telenovela. It didn't strike me as particularly erudite or worldly, more like the remake Upstairs, Downstairs would get if it were directed by a precocious, gushing teenager. Season 2, on the other hand, was just good enough to remind you why you watched Season 1… while Season 3 was an execrable pile of crap. In reading over this article I recognize there's a whole bunch of shit that happened that I have no recollection of. Turns out they made a whole 'nuther season after they killed off Matthew! Who knew? 'cuz that's an important take-away: for Season 2 and 3, people could not keep their spoilers out of my Facebook feeds. Damn show was everywhere. Since the end of Season 3, I've scarcely heard anyone mention the show. This article is the first one I've read in over a year. So maybe the people who think Downton Abbey is good are the ones that stopped watching halfway through Season 3 and still remember it fondly. Or maybe they're like me and were inspired to crank through five seasons of Upstairs Downstairs, which positively wipes the floor with Downton Abbey. I know I'm not supposed to know that much about pre-war Victorian England but damn if you don't need Wikipedia open for half that show. It really comes into its own on Episode 3… and from that point forth, I barely remembered Downton Abbey at all. Besides, frickin' Bavmorda is the shit in that show, and remains one of the hottest Companions Dr. Who has ever had.
Regarding Upstairs, Downstairs, I was always impressed with the length of some of the scenes shot from two (and sometimes just one), well-operated camera angle. Wides, three shots, two shots, close ups, reframing with the zoom and tracking back and forth through the studio, all seamlessly hitting it for scenes up to two or three minutes long in some cases. Fun fact: S01E01 was shot in colour, Eps 2 - 6 are in black and white due to strike action by camera operators who demanded more money for shooting in colour.
Yeah, it's fun to watch. It's worth pointing out that soap operas do a pretty good job the same way for the same reasons: cut it live and you're done. It's funny. Out here we feel pretty good if we do 7 pages of script a day. But in soaps? 60 pages. 60 pages a day, bitch. Those guys are on it.
That's because PBS just started broadcasting the latest season on Sunday. It'll get worse soon -- or it jumped the shark and we won't hear about it. Heck, I like the show and I haven't felt the itch to watch what's on my DVR. I'll also admit that, while I like the show, I don't have any delusions that it's deep. It's also way too plot-pushy for it to be a top-notch show, never letting itself breathe. I've also worked out my delusions about British things being classier than American ones. Every nation has rednecks and low-rent things to appeal to them -- they're just called by different names. One thing that struck me when I first visited England was the lack of trees. It turns out all of those period shows get filmed in the greenest parts of England (or Wales, if they want to be cheap). Otherwise the place is oddly denuded compared to the US northeast. It's tree pr0n for the city folk. Then I realized: oh right, they chopped down almost all of their forests by the 1700s and turned them into ships. They got busy with the colonization because they wanted more wood. The US got fascinated with replanting forests a little over a century ago, when the Adirondacks became protected and New England started recreating what had been chopped down (or lost to imported blights). The UK never quite got the same tree hang-up, even with their green thumbs. Back to the point: people want something foreign or older to be classier, even if it's just wearing nicer clothes. I just caught up on three seasons of Boardwalk Empire: they put on really nice suits just to kill each other.This article is the first one I've read in over a year.
Ahhhh, got it. So they'll be up in my feed again. 'Sokay. I think we've largely moved on. Good on ya, mate. Li'l secret of the entertainment industry: Every shit reality show you've ever seen is a licensed or unlicensed copy of a shit British reality show. Used to know a guy whose job was, in its entirety, reshooting and repackaging British reality TV shows for American networks. It's also worth noting that the British press makes the New York Post look like the New York times. Totally. Washington State is what the Scottish Highlands would look like without the crewcut.That's because PBS just started broadcasting the latest season on Sunday.
I've also worked out my delusions about British things being classier than American ones.
One thing that struck me when I first visited England was the lack of trees.
