There was a brief episode on the national news last night regarding the popularity of this PBS Masterpiece Theater production. Folks seem to be taken by surprise that this production is so well received.
I am enjoying the series as written and aimed towards adult audiences. What I mean is the focus is on adults and complex family life as adults rather than children or adults behaving like children. Or, allowing the children do dominate the family. I come from that generation and have always been a bit perplexed at the societal shift to children first rather than adults.
What has caught my attention most of all is the relationship between the mother/father and daughters. The mother loves her family and is genuinely considerate of everyone in the household. She displays tact, resilience, kindness and wisdom all at once. I admire her relationship to her husband and the persuasion on the offspring (all girls) to conform. Some of the acting is uneven. I find the actor who plays Matthew Crawley lacking depth of character despite having a significant and complex role to play.
The sets are superb. The costumes are superb. This production cost a lot of money but the whole thing has class.
Given my knowledge of the 1st World War, my guess is Matthew won't make it back one of these times. Mary will be able to recover from her hesitation in accepting Matthew but it might be too late. She keeps waiting for the right moment.
I am enjoying it very much.
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Originally Posted by Tradd
