British period drama - It's not just moving matchsticks

I cannot hide my love of British period dramas.  I believe it first came upon me when I saw Pride and Prejudice (all 6 hours of it) on PBS when I was in high school.  I also think that's when I fell in love with Colin Firth.  But I digress.

PBS also brought me a Jane Austen Masterpiece marathon a couple years ago, where they showed the made-for-British-tv versions of Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Emma, Persuasion, and of course they showed Pride and Prejudice (but I already had that one on DVD, so I didn't have to wait three weeks to see the whole thing!).  My joy knew no bounds!  Then last year they showed Cranford, which I also immediately got on DVD.  I was frantic when I couldn't find my copy of Gosford Park, only to find my mother had borrowed it.  I loved Young Victoria.  And while it's not a period drama, we now own the entire series of Jeeves and Wooster.  We watched it before the tv series House came on the air - let me tell you how shocked I was to see Wooster (Hugh Laurie) as an American doctor!

The greatest thing about all of this is that Seth loves it all, too.  The first time I made him watch Pride and Prejudice, and he liked the first episode and couldn't wait to see the next, I knew he was my true love.  Do you know why our daughter Elizabeth's nickname is Lizzie, not Liz or Beth?  Because Seth pointed out that Lizzie was Elizabeth Bennett's nickname to her family and close friends.

So in the beginning of January I read a review of Downton Abbey on NPR's website, and discovered it was written by Julian Fellowes, who wrote Gosford Park, and immediately knew we had to watch it.  As a bonus, Maggie Smith plays the Dowager Countess. 



So we watched it.  And it's awesome.  We were so excited to see the last episode tonight (Sunday), wondering how it all would end.  Would Mary say yes to Matthew's proposal?  Would Matthew lose his inheritance to Lord Grantham's unborn child, should it be a boy?  What truths would Anna find out about Mr. Bates?  At a certain point I hit pause, and realized there were only 13 minutes left, and there didn't seem to be any way it could all be resolved in 13 minutes.  And then it ended, and so many things weren't resolved, and then a note flashed on the screen stating that a second season is in production.  Excuse me, what?  Second season?  Seth will bear witness that I actually threw my hands in the air and yelled at the tv, while he, great husband that he is, had already pulled out his laptop to find out when the next season will air.  Only to see me throw myself dramatically across the sofa when I discovered they don't film the next installment until March 2011.

I'm going to write a nasty little note to the NPR reviewer - he or she should have mentioned that it was a series, and that next season is not yet in production!  How dare they get me excited about a British tv show like this, only to have the expected ending ripped from me!  I have no idea how I'm going to manage for the next year, because that's how long it's going to take before it comes on the air in the US.  Seth and I have already discussed that we're going to have to buy it on DVD, then watch it again to prepare for the second installment.  I suppose I will need to re-watch all of my Jane Austen DVDs and Cranford to quell my desire for British drama until then.  Sigh.

(And for those of you who don't get the title of this post, please refer to Eddie Izzard's "Dressed to Kill" comedy special.  Oh yeah, he's a British transvestite comedian.  And he's freaking hilarious.  Come up to me and Seth and say "Do you have a flag?" and we will fall over ourselves laughing.  Seriously.)