♥ even if all I do is fangirl it... ♥
... I miss messing about with this stupid, stupid journal. The only reason I check LJ is basically because of jdrama and film now (real people are too busy living real lives to be very active with personal entries), so I might as well keep it at the moving image level. Will be including stuff from across the other pond now.
It's been great getting re-involved with UK dramas and documentaries at a pace equal to jdrama. Actually, more recently, it's kind of taken over since one of the boys came down with a cold and I had to stay up nights holding him, wiping his nose, and forcing water down him. Not needing subtitles meant I could still stay with the story and take care of him. Man, I zipped right through 4 seasons of Doc Martin and found myself wanting more! (New season in 2011, or so they say. PLEASE!) Anyway, it's been so much more than revisiting my childhood, too. Well... until last Sunday night, that is, when BBC One revived a quintessential ITV series from all those years ago, back when I wasn't anywhere near fab, but so much younger.
125 Eaton Place, Rose, and I have all seen better days, that's for sure, but I was extremely happy with the first episode of the new Upstairs Downstairs. I can't remember now if it was London Weekend Television or Granada or even one of the other independents around in the 1970's before it all became ITV who produced & aired it. It has to be unusual for a completely different broadcaster to pick up a competitor's tarnished pennies, though. Perhaps that's the strength of this particular series. I can't even remember now how many seasons it went through... seemed like a lot, but probably wasn't. All I know is I followed it more religiously than any daily serial, glued to the old console television every Sunday night to Masterpiece Theatre each year, knew all the characters, loved and hated them, and was totally entranced by it all.
Just as in the original, the new series has a good balance of humor, history, and histrionics. It's not a remake, but a continuation, picking up the story as "David Windsor" takes on the mantle of Edward VIII and von Ribbentrop is making the rounds of parties to insinuate himself (and the Nazis) into the aristocracy. The new owner of the grand house is a young diplomat, who has inherited it... and his delightfully overbearing, widowed mother... at a delicate time at home and abroad. Pity the poor young mistress of the house trying to learn to be a successful diplomat's wife with a house that's been abandoned since the original series ended, no staff at a time of social change, and an I-know-best mother-in-law inviting none other than Wallis Warfield Simpson to the first party.
Unwilling to gamble what would probably be a significant budget, even split between the BBC and WGBH Boston, this first outing was 3 regular episodes over 3 consecutive nights for the BBC. PBS will broadcast it over 3 Sundays on Masterpiece Theatre this upcoming April. Word is that if the response if favorable and strong, both broadcasters will fork over the funding for a future longer series. As for me, I still have the 2 remaining episodes to watch. Totally spaced it out Monday night then got too busy doing other things to get caught up in time to finish it. Later tonight, tomorrow, this weekend at the latest. ^_^
What little word I've heard so far has been that, while it's a successful return of a classic and an excellent job by Eileen Atkins (the mother), neither was able to match an earlier aired period drama, Downton Abbey, nor Maggie Smith's performance in it. (It's in my "to watch" queue and should be coming up on PBS soon... I'm told it's one of those "not to miss" dramas.) I think it might be a little like comparing apples & oranges, though. Downton Abbey had 7 episodes to tell its story and show off Maggie Smith's formidable skills. Upstairs Downstairs only got the chance to dip a toe into the pool.
EDIT: Okay, so obviously the issue of multiple cuts using the rich text editor when there are pics is still unresolved. Bummer, but I'm not going to mess with it this time.
It's been great getting re-involved with UK dramas and documentaries at a pace equal to jdrama. Actually, more recently, it's kind of taken over since one of the boys came down with a cold and I had to stay up nights holding him, wiping his nose, and forcing water down him. Not needing subtitles meant I could still stay with the story and take care of him. Man, I zipped right through 4 seasons of Doc Martin and found myself wanting more! (New season in 2011, or so they say. PLEASE!) Anyway, it's been so much more than revisiting my childhood, too. Well... until last Sunday night, that is, when BBC One revived a quintessential ITV series from all those years ago, back when I wasn't anywhere near fab, but so much younger.
125 Eaton Place, Rose, and I have all seen better days, that's for sure, but I was extremely happy with the first episode of the new Upstairs Downstairs. I can't remember now if it was London Weekend Television or Granada or even one of the other independents around in the 1970's before it all became ITV who produced & aired it. It has to be unusual for a completely different broadcaster to pick up a competitor's tarnished pennies, though. Perhaps that's the strength of this particular series. I can't even remember now how many seasons it went through... seemed like a lot, but probably wasn't. All I know is I followed it more religiously than any daily serial, glued to the old console television every Sunday night to Masterpiece Theatre each year, knew all the characters, loved and hated them, and was totally entranced by it all.
Just as in the original, the new series has a good balance of humor, history, and histrionics. It's not a remake, but a continuation, picking up the story as "David Windsor" takes on the mantle of Edward VIII and von Ribbentrop is making the rounds of parties to insinuate himself (and the Nazis) into the aristocracy. The new owner of the grand house is a young diplomat, who has inherited it... and his delightfully overbearing, widowed mother... at a delicate time at home and abroad. Pity the poor young mistress of the house trying to learn to be a successful diplomat's wife with a house that's been abandoned since the original series ended, no staff at a time of social change, and an I-know-best mother-in-law inviting none other than Wallis Warfield Simpson to the first party.
Unwilling to gamble what would probably be a significant budget, even split between the BBC and WGBH Boston, this first outing was 3 regular episodes over 3 consecutive nights for the BBC. PBS will broadcast it over 3 Sundays on Masterpiece Theatre this upcoming April. Word is that if the response if favorable and strong, both broadcasters will fork over the funding for a future longer series. As for me, I still have the 2 remaining episodes to watch. Totally spaced it out Monday night then got too busy doing other things to get caught up in time to finish it. Later tonight, tomorrow, this weekend at the latest. ^_^
What little word I've heard so far has been that, while it's a successful return of a classic and an excellent job by Eileen Atkins (the mother), neither was able to match an earlier aired period drama, Downton Abbey, nor Maggie Smith's performance in it. (It's in my "to watch" queue and should be coming up on PBS soon... I'm told it's one of those "not to miss" dramas.) I think it might be a little like comparing apples & oranges, though. Downton Abbey had 7 episodes to tell its story and show off Maggie Smith's formidable skills. Upstairs Downstairs only got the chance to dip a toe into the pool.
EDIT: Okay, so obviously the issue of multiple cuts using the rich text editor when there are pics is still unresolved. Bummer, but I'm not going to mess with it this time.