Just our opinion - re the latest season of Downton Abbey on PBS Masterpiece....
We want to love it, but find ourselves....kinda liking it at best. This really goes for the majority of things we've seen on the new Masterpiece (in comparison with the old Masterpiece Theater) - the depth, patience, character development isn't quite there.
This is probably an old fart's view of things (which would make my wife a....fartess?!) - but I think that the viewing audience can handle more than 5 second scenes, packing as many story lines into 45 minutes as possible - I guess it is aimed more toward a shorter attention span type of culture (which we are). But last night my wife I both found ourselves losing attention in it - we used the word "predictable" - oh well.....and one more thing - guessing how many odd, strained faces will Elizabeth McGovern make next - is becoming a bit of a sport...she is the cast weak link, we think (too bad, because we've always liked her acting).
I guess we long for the type of writing that produced the original Upstairs, Downstairs - The Jewel in the Crown - kind of like the ivory merchant films like Remains of the Day or Howard's End - though we realize that for lots of people those films are like watching paint dry....
anyway - like I said, just an opinion. Aren't the arts great - no right or wrong - just opinions!
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