Anyone Watching Downton Abbey?

[demon_rum]

I've never understood soap operas. I hated shows like Melrose Place. The last time I watched a TV show with dedication bordering on fervor was mumble X-Files mumble. And then there's Downton Abbey.

By the time we finally get it pirated from The Internet a full day after it shows in England (thanks, Internet! ITV can suck it for delaying the US

Comments

[demon_rum]

it's a bit ridiculous how things are parcelled out, isnt it? I would have happily paid $15 or so see a digital performance of David Tennant as Hamlet ... why don't people think of those things? Also, have they not noticed that maybe people in other parts of Europe would also like to watch TV? Italian TV is a particularly bad example. It's like 4 garbage state channels, an everything else is expensive premium, and a lot of it it blocked. WHY.

Lavinia is pretty much a blank page at this point, isn't she? MOAR PLZ. Mary is such an interesting character, very well done and very conflicted, but she spends so much time shooting herself in the foot that at this point I feel it's a misery entirely of her own making.

Also, where's the back story on O'Brien? I am ready for more info, and I'm not getting it. Maybe she's also gay :D And Thomas ... i actually felt bad for him when all his food turned out to be rotten. He's trying *so hard*, any way he can manage it, to do something more with his life than he's gotten up to this point. And it just isn't working. RUN OFF TO A CITY, THOMAS!

[bunn]

I *think* this may be partly because the Beeb get piles of cash from foreign stations for the right to re-broadcast, and they are worried about affecting that?

Plus, possibly it would raise questions about their passionately-defended TV licence. We pay £145.50 a year for a TV license, I can see that if people outside the UK were allowed to choose their favorite programs and get them for $15, people would start asking 'why can't we do that??' (to which the answer may be 'because then we wouldn't have enough money to make that sort of telly' but who knows.)

It's a *very* C20th system though, I imagine it will have to change eventually.

[demon_rum]

actually, that's an excellent point and one I hadn't thought about before. The BBC needs all the money it can get, because people like me rely on it desperately (have you SEEN American news? Blech!), so I can't really complain too loudly. I just wish I could give them a little bit of cash for Downton Abbey, since I don't actually have a TV, just the internet, so I won't be watching it on whatever shows it here come January.

It's a bit like cable TV: I'd so rather just pay for the stations I want, rather than get the bundle that includes all the sports ever, but not an option, not yet.

Ha--TV tax. I'd forgotten that! One of those quirky British things. OH BRITS. SO CHARMING.

[coeurdesoleil]

Norwegian tv is actually pretty good. We pay a TV licence just like the Brits so there are less commercials and in general I'd say the quality of programs is high. We get a lot of British shows, like Downton Abbey or Spooks - the problem is that they are only shown on Norwegian telly six months or a year after they finished airing in the UK. By then, obviously, most people have acquired the episodes through different channels or bought the dvd, lol.

I WOULD LOVE SOME BACK STORY FOR O'BRIEN. I felt bad for Thomas when the food turned out to be rotten as well, and I just genuinely feel for him now. O'Brien otoh... I want to know more about her so that I can understand where she is coming from and maybe feel some sympathy for her as well, but right now I just think she is rather nasty and pathetic. Oh well, I guess they have to save some revelations for series 3 ;)