New obsession: Downton Abbey

My new semester has begun, which means I have been doing a great deal of organizing, unpacking, writing, reading, and frantically trying to remember my class routes. It also means that when I am doing something that doesn't require full brain power (folding laundry, putting together binders, etc) I can watch TV for extended periods of time on my trusty laptop. I had heard great things about Masterpiece Theater's Downton Abbey, but hadn't had the chance to watch it until this week.


Oh. Man.
The basic premise of the show is: "Exposing the snobbery, backbiting and machinations of a disappearing class system, this series chronicles the comings and goings of the upper-crust Crawley family and their assorted servants." (Thanks Netflix!) But it is so much more than that. The fashion and costumes are fantastic - drop waists, pincurls, lace, and red red lipstick. They make me wish I was a rich young aristocratic heiress in 1910's England so I could be wooed by men in cummerbunds.

And the scandal! The scheming! The servant shenanigans!! It's like a 90's era soap opera, only classier and with British accents and women who aren't allowed to wear pants. Don't let the fact that it's a PBS production worry you into thinking it's farty and boring. That is always my first criticism of PBS shows, to be honest, but this one proves me wrong.

So go watch it already.