Basket of Kisses

For a change of pace, and in eager anticipation of Downton Abbey’s U.S. Season 2 premiere on Sunday, January 8 (check local PBS listings), this week I’m featuring Downton Abbey fan art instead of our usual Mad Men. I found this on Deviant Art by NezumiPickle.

Okay, so seasons. We’re mostly doing Mad Men, but other things too, during our not-really-annual-because-we-skipped-last-year fundraiser. Donate button is at the bottom! Your donations keep the doors open! Our own MarlyK is our Downton Abbey writer: Here’s a run-down of Season 1. In dignified BBC fashion, episodes aren’t named, but Marly took care of that! [...]

James Bond 23 – now officially titled Skyfall – will face its greatest challenge in his spy career—be a worthy Oscar contender next year. Casting Albert Finney can’t hurt. Entertainment Weekly extracts from Matthew Weiner’s take on his renegotiations with AMC (and the alleged impact on other shows) from the interview with his sister,  freelance [...]

January Jones gave birth to a son, Xander Dane Jones.  Both are doing great, according to JJ’s rep. Congrats! [Elisabeth Moss and Rich Sommer were right on. -K] The Mad Men crew (incl. Alison Brie, Janie Bryant, Kiernan Shipka, Randee Heller, and Rich Sommer) looked fab at the Creative Arts Emmys (with Kiernan Shipka getting extra [...]

What have we here? Why, it’s the trailer for the second season of Downton Abbey! Don’t it just trigger your imagination, folks? Let’s have fun and make some predictions based on these double-quick snippets, why not? Wild speculations below the cut.

It’s the last episode and Laura Linney welcomes us once again to Masterpiece Theatre. The way she shakes her gorgeous locks, I always expect her to say instead, “I’m Laura Linney and THIS is my fabulous hair!” You want to raise money, PBS? Start charging viewers for Laura’s hairdresser’s info. WARNING: SPOILERS – after the [...]

You know who would’ve loved the 60s? Lady Sybil, that’s who. How do I know? Well, she likes mud, as evidenced by her willingness to trudge through mud in order to help the underdog. She has terrible fashion sense. And she loves a good demonstration. In fact, that’s where we meet her at the start [...]

The maids are straightening out Lady Mary’s room when something startles Daisy and scares the bejeezus out of her. Anna and Gwen ask her what’s wrong and she answers that she gets the creeps in that room. Wait, what is Daisy doing in Lady Mary’s room, anyway? Shouldn’t she be downstairs, being bullied by Mrs. [...]

Dear Miss Manners – If I should chance upon my mistress in a public place, is it proper to inquire about her mother’s recovery from a most unfortunate and unpleasant incident in which she and I were forced to carry the corpse of her paramour out of her room, lest her reputation be sullied? Gentle [...]

How are you at keeping secrets? Because there’s lots of them flying around in a mere 42 minutes. And one of them is big enough to make someone “ruined and notorious.” Good street cred for a modern rapper, but certain doom for well brought up Brits in the early 1900s. SPOILER ALERT — (after the [...]

SPOILER ALERT! Mathew Crawley and his Mum, Isobel, ride in one of those gorgeous cars that had to be hand-cranked. Matthew looks cranky. He is. You, too, would be in a foul mood if you’d been told you were about to inherit a beautiful castle, a large fortune, a title, and a household of servants [...]

I was not thrilled when Deborah suggested that I take on Downton Abbey. It sounded like a rehash of Upstairs Downstairs and I wondered if the production was fresh enough for viewers accustomed to gritty and innovative television. I shouldn’t have been so skeptical. The showrunner, Julian Fellowes, won a best screenplay Oscar for Gosford [...]