How many speeds do you have?
I seem to operate at two — off and hyper-speed.
Take New Year’s Day, for instance. Other than walking Rory in the neighborhood and feeding us both, I sat on the couch and watched the encore presentation of “Little Dorrit” on PBS — all nine hours. This amazing mini-series based on the lesser-known Charles Dickens classic won an Emmy last year…but even I admit, that’s a lot of TV in one sitting.
But at off speed, it was all I wanted to do.
In contrast, today I am on hyper-speed. By noon, I had walked the dog, taken down the Christmas tree, removed every holiday decoration from the apartment, re-boxed everything and put it back in the closet (reorganizing it in the process), cleaned the entire place, and washed, dried, folded and put away five loads of laundry.
And now I’m writing my blog before the midday walk with Rory. I might even run some errands and see a movie this afternoon.
Snap.
I don’t know the biology behind it, but I would guess yesterday’s sloth gave me the stored up energy to breeze through my chores today. I just know I’m still going strong, and it feels good.
Rory, on the other hand, is taking a full-out nap.
His speed is very consistent: dog mode.
Alois Konstantin is the ninth Prince of Löwenstein. He and his wife Anastasia, Princess of Prussia, occupy one wing of the castle.
The special relationship
Is Downton Abbey the one public TV program that will convert viewers into contributors?
PBS sure thinks so.
But PBS viewers in the U.S. have to wait a full four months after their counterparts in the U.K…which means spoilers, and lots of them.
I assumed the time lag was laid down by the producers. The Brits would appreciate a slower pace, right?
NO.
Downton Abbey executive producer Gareth Neame wants American audiences in on the first viewing! In an interview in Vulture, he was quoted as saying, “If I were PBS and I had the biggest drama I’d ever had in my entire 40-year history, I would be sorting my schedules out to make sure I was airing it more quickly.”
So what gives, PBS?
Are you scared to put Downton Abbey head-to-head with other new programming that comes out in the fall? I would think its strong showing against The Walking Dead this spring would ease your mind on that score. I know marketing DA might be a bit more challenging — since the actors will be committed on both continents — but a divide-and-conquer approach could be adopted.
Or perhaps the U.S. viewers will continue to vote with their checkbooks…and then the cartoon will look something like this:
Hee.
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Posted in Comics, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Television, TV
Tagged British, comics, commentary, Downton Abbey, entertainment, fall television premiere, Gareth Neame, Humor, PBS, pledge drive, public television, Television, the special relationship, The Walking Dead, TV, U.K. spoilers, Vulture