Losing sleep over Downton Abbey

A few weeks ago, David and I couldn't sleep, each for our own reasons. He was upset that he had sacrificed an hour of his life watching the first episode this season of Downton Abbey. He wanted that hour back.

We had watched it for an hour then gave up, with a half hour remaining. I find the plots, such as they are, tedious and it has always bothered me that you don't learn anything about the rents being paid to support the lavish lifestyle. Impoverished farmers in Ireland and Scotland were likely the ones paying the tab for the wine, couture, parties, etc. Much of Ireland's land was owned by absentee landlords who lived off the farmers' rents. In the recent Scottish election, I learned that large swaths of Scotland are owned by wealthy English people who rent the land out for hunts.

David can't stand Downton Abbey because of its author's point of view that the upper classes are just a superior set of people. And that the servants were somehow honored by their lot in life. David's grandmother was "in service" and he saw what it did to her physically in her declining years. And early in his career, his managers were drawn from the upper classes and he thought they were complete incompetents, hence his departure for the U.S.

For David, Julian Fellowes (rather, Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford) is a modern-day Margaret Thatcher/Ronald Reagan, believing in a trickle-down mechanism that will benefit all if we just grease the wheels for those wise, well-dressed toffs at the top.
10/16