Downton Abbey

[shadowkat]

Watching Downton Abbey and tried to place Mrs. Isobel Crawley - and thought..."Doctor Who"?
So looked her up on line and sure enough she played Prime Minister Harriet Smith on Doctor Who and Children of the Earth...I think. Great actress.

Downton reminds me a great deal of Godsford Park and Upstairs Downstairs....and once again a rather
interesting depiction and condemnation examination of the British cast/class system.
As well as women's roles within that system. Not sure how historically accurate it is, but since it's fictional, not sure it matters.

Question: Does anyone know what's being cut out of the US presentation and why? (It's being shown on PBS (Public Broadcasting System (which is supported by state funding and subscribers) - which means there are no commercials). Because at the end of each 1hr and 30 minute episode - after the credits roll and the previews roll, a ten minute blurb which is wonderful, yet I don't see it in the next episode - this great "teaser" blurb. What I want to know - is this a cut scene or just an upcoming one? If it's a cut one - I want to kill whoever edited this.

Rather enjoying this series. Love, and I mean, love the characters - almost all of them except for Mrs. O'Brien and Thomas - who I sort of want to kick, but they provide a bit of conflict, so maybe not. And tonight's episode with the Turkish guy dying in the throes of his seduction of Mary, leaving her to carry him back to his rooms with her mother and ladies maid's assistance was truly hilarious. Made all the more so, by the fact that they didn't call the father to help them because they thought it would be the death of him, meanwhile the next morning the father is telling his butler to be careful of the "ladies" sensibilities and how they can't quite handle these things. I roared with laughter.

Off to bed, work again tomorrow.

Comments

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I was so happy when someone mentioned Harriet Smith because I suddenly realized where I had seen her before.

I've been enjoying it. Of course it's incredibly soapy (the young guy died having sex -- bwha! I mean, wasn't he terribly young for that?) But I'm always up for soap, so I've been enjoying it.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh, but the whole young guy dying in the throws of sex was hilarious! They sort of did a parody on it. I rather like the soapy bits.

I wonder sometimes if they have a really small acting pool in the UK, because I see the same actors over and over. Seen the actress who played Gwen in Torchwood in about five different things so far, Hugh Bonneville's in quite a lot, as is Harriet Smith (she was also in the film The History Boys.)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

To my knowledge there is no cut. The original 7 episodes from Britain were repackaged into 4 episodes here but the material remainded the same.

Love, and I mean, love the characters - almost all of them except for Mrs. O'Brien and Thomas - who I sort of want to kick, but they provide a bit of conflict, so maybe not. And tonight's episode with the Turkish guy dying in the throes of his seduction of Mary, leaving her to carry him back to his rooms with her mother and ladies maid's assistance was truly hilarious. Made all the more so, by the fact that they didn't call the father to help them because they thought it would be the death of him, meanwhile the next morning the father is telling his butler to be careful of the "ladies" sensibilities and how they can't quite handle these things. I roared with laughter.


Yes, I'm hoping that the First Footman - and part time rent boy - and the Ladies Maid get their just desserts at some point. And clearly the women of that time were just as intelligent as today although the men of that era are seeing them as "fragile creatures". Ha!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks - was worried about those two blurbs.

There's a few people on my flist who have been going on about how Downton Abbey has been cut for American audiences - but it appears that their information isn't from a reliable source (ie. someone who has actually watched both versions as aired).

This happened with Being Human, Merlin, Hex, Coupling, Sherlock, Skins, Doctor Who and Torchwood - too. People claimed the initial US airings were cut for cultural content, because Americans couldn't handle the racier British content. I'd ask what was cut out exactly. They'd tell me and I'd reply, uh, okay, that's really weird, because all of those scenes you mentioned? Were in the version that I saw which aired on BBC America or Syfy or in this case PBS. Maybe you saw a repeat airing? (Which turned out to be the case - the first airings on BBC America were uncut, repeats were cut - which tends to be true of all US shows, reruns are often trimmed down, they did that to Buffy and Farscape - but for time not content. )

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

And Downtown Abbey was actually financed with American cash so that's an even bigger reason that the US audiences wouldn't have gotten a "cut" version.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

As far as I am aware there are no cuts at all to the US version of Downton Abbey, the difference in timing is solely down to the UK showing it with ad breaks. (I understand there may have been some swapping around of scenes to improve the structure without imposed ad-break climaxes.)

This has been clouded by a notorious British newspaper essentially making up a story that huge sections of plot had been cut because Americans wouldn't understand, solely to appeal to their readers' prejudice about "dumb Americans".

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Now, why would a British newspaper make that up? It only makes them look bad. Although, I'm not sure why I'm surprised, considering some of the insane and idiotic things the US ones make up (you should see the New York papers - we could give the British ones, a run for their money in the idiocy department)...and we wonder why we have cultural misunderstandings?

At any rate - I can tell you that if anything was cut out - it was definitely NOT the legal stuff. All of the stuff about the "entail" was in the version I saw on PBS. And it was pretty detailed - about who would inherit what, why, and how they'd lose the money because of it or "the entail". (All of which I found fascinating and hilarious - but that's only because I have a law degree and took a course in Wills and Trusts.)

Good to know the stuff that I was worried about - is still in there. I really want to see those two teaser blurb scenes.

Thanks.

[annegables.livejournal.com]

Watched it all in one night on my laptop. What a wonderful piece of work - those British sure make some good tv.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

How do you sit and watch something for that long on a lap-top? (I guess I'll find out when I watch the Misfits DVDs.)

Agreed - it is well-written. Reminds me a great deal of Upstairs, Downstairs - a show that my parents adored in the 1970s.