Who but the British can produce endearing dramas like Downton Abbey?

Television

MY WIFE AND I came late to Masterpiece Theater's Downton Abbey. We rarely watch anything on television as it's aired preferring instead to record programs and watch them sans commercials. Unfortunately, some good information may be lost among advertising messages that we skip. 

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In brief, Downton Abbey is the continuing story of a noble family struggling to keep home and hearth together in the early Twentieth Century as such estates fall into ruin. They are no longer economically viable unless, as in the case of Lord Crawley, a rich American can be snagged in matrimony to revive the family coffers. Before you turn away offended at such rampant perfidy, love blooms between the Lord and his Lady, but she only bears him daughters, and the sole male heir, a consanguine cousin, dies during the sinking of the Titanic. Thus, we are introduced to the drama as a more distant, less noble, cousin arrives to assume the mantel of heir to the family title and estate as well as the fortune derived from the marriage.

The program is populated with wonderfully quirky and lovable characters. There are even a few sniveling villains thrown in for balance. We follow their adventures and misadventures from the servants domain in the basement to the family residence on the uppers floors, and the drawing rooms, libraries, and halls in between. The family and their servants evolve into a complex society of interdependent parts. None is more delightful than the dowager Countess played by Maggie Smith. I think that she must have brought her own writers just to compose her lines. She has all the best ones.

For some ungodly reason they air these things on PBS in America. I suppose the British are so inured to their own public broadcasting system that they believe ours is the best vehicle for quality programming. Would one of my British friends please tell me if cable has made it to the UK. Is the BBC your only programming choice?

It took some effort for us to catch up with the first two seasons of Downton Abbey which have already been aired in America. We found the first season in its entirety on Netflix. No problem there. We were already subscribers. The entire second season is available on Hulu Plus. We signed up for a free week and watched every episode. Inasmuch as Hulu Plus doesn't offer any advantage to our viewing habits, we canceled it. Sorry about that.

The show is a delightful diversion, fully worth the effort of chasing down past episodes, even if you have to sign up for a new Internet service to gain access. Throw a bone to your conscience and pay for a month or two if it helps, but hurry, season three is commencing this coming Sunday.