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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Up Down & Out

When I watched the first episode of the new “Upstairs Downstairs” on PBS, my interest was piqued. It was no “Downton Abbey”, but it was engaging and enjoyable. Sunday night I tuned in for the second of the three episodes and was very disappointed. The first hour was a bit rushed but the second felt like a badly edited Cliff’s Notes. Was this a budget problem? Could they not afford another half hour’s worth of filming and some exposition? By the end of the second hour I felt as if the writers and producers had nearly as many hours worth of stories as the original 68 episodes in the 1970s, but they felt compelled to cram them into three hours. And of the storylines presented, all deserved more attention.

I’ll give Upstairs Downstairs the final hour next Sunday. But if they bring us another incarnation in 2012, I will be hard pressed to return to Eaton Place.

5 comments:

Nicole said...

The second episode was horrible! Let's introduce the new maid and kill her off in 45 minutes flat! Persie transforms from mindless socialite to mindless fascist in a mere half hour! Augh!

Roo said...

We were shocked too - mindless socialites are not supposed to have an opinion! ;o)

Seriously though, we enjoyed it, but as you say, everything could have been better laid out, with rounder storylines. But the period feel was good, I'll give them that!

cookiecrumb said...

Oh no! I wasn't all that intrigued by ep. I. I blamed it on Let's introduce everybody. Hm. Taped it, so I will give it a look.

Pink Granite said...

Hi Nicole -
That's exactly what happened!
Thank you for summing it up so perfectly!


Hi Roo -
The period feel was fantastic! It really drew us in. And each character was interesting. But they had sooo much more to share with us!


Hi CookieCrumb -
Good luck!
Keep me posted...

Wendy said...

I really enjoyed it. I watched an interview with her and she said it had to conclude in 3 episodes as it was only to be a christmas special but it has been commisioned into another series. cried my heart out in the last episode. but thats nothing new :)
xx