Small Screen Scenes: Downton Abbey Season Two Episode One Highly Recommended by Whom You Know Available Now From PBS Distribution
Your life at Downton IS another world, silly Cousin Matthew. And so it begins, another addictive season, nearly as addictive as The Stanley Cup playoffs though with a different kind of drama. We are still in love with the library (love that red couch!), but it is Downton of a different world this season.
And leave the flowers to the Dowager Countess, she IS the expert after all even if she has to deal with monstrosities that look like creatures from the lost world.
Many are wound up. "Keeping up standards is the only way to show the Germans that they will not beat us in the end," says Carson! Characters start to question their purpose in the world. Trains, lifts to the house, and what a house as you know in Yorkshire. A much simpler time, and s
uch an exciting time when mail arrives. Even more exciting, this episode finds SOMEONE engaged. And the new one thinks it's awfully grand, oooh she is a tad bit intimidated, our heart does not bleed we side with the M character with the four-letter name, who acts with such class that we admire. Carson, we are right there with you. Caution is a virtue. But someone else ought to start calling a certain another someone else John!
A concert brings civility to the group despite the world at war until someone is giving out white feathers.
Peachy's favorite scene in the whole of the two seasons comes at 34 minutes into this one when a good luck charm is given to someone going to war for good luck. This gesture speaks louder than any words. The war seems to have intensified everything.
And we have a new villain in this series in addition to Thomas and O'Brien, who is even lower if you can imagine that.
A positive: Daisy is now used to electricity and not scared of it anymore.
There's been nothing quite like the war scenes we now see in Downton Abbey before, and as Dan Stevens who plays Matthew said in some footage we saw, it is quite different from sitting around a dining table in Downton. Even more action than The Stanley Cup playoffs! We're sure everyone on the other side of the pond is pleased a team named Kings won this year and that the monarchy has been crowned with Lord Stanley's Cup the first time....but not back to the Earl of Grantham.
Who knew that Edith would be the first Danica Patrick? The girls are growing up and Sybil makes quite a statement by going away for two months to nursing school.
And how could anyone have the ability to put the Earl of Grantham's family in scandal? And who took the fall for it?
Poor Ethel- who is a bit slow on the uptake.
This episode provides the greatest contrasts we've seen and the war brings a whole new element of stress. Even Lady Mary is praying, though Lady Edith is a bit critical of her. The hospital is busier than ever. And Thomas does something that you don't even think he would do, if you can believe that.
Whom You Know Highly Recommends Downton Abbey Season Two Episode One!
This kicks off Season Two!
Get your own copy, and start watching:
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Fall 1916 — Spring 1917
In the throes of the Great War, uncertainty and worry have taken up residence in the great house of Downton Abbey. Some newcomers arrive, met with varying degrees of welcome; some young men are absent, desperately clinging to survival in the trenches of France; and some men remain at Downton, their discontent festering.
Robert, ever the honorable patriarch, struggles with the uneasiness of a diminished house and the suspicion that the uniform he wears is empty. The Crawley women, too, attempt to find their place in the new climate, as Isobel helps chart a new course for one sister and Branson exerts his influence over yet another. Among the servants, love is in the air — O'Brien being, as always, the exception — until Bates makes a decision that crushes the hearts of the two people who love him most.
News about Matthew stuns the house, and Mary has a revelation of her own. Downton Abbey itself is to be made useful, transformed into a convalescent home for wounded officers. In wartime, not even the seemingly immutable Dowager Countess, Violet, remains entirely unchanged!
ONE OF THE MOST PHENOMENALLY POPULAR MASTERPIECE SERIES IS BACK –
“DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 2”
Available on DVD and Blu-ray from PBS Distribution February 7th
Release Timed with Premiere Airing on PBS Sundays January 8 through February 19
The First Season of “Downton Abbey” Won Six Primetime Emmy Awards
PBS Distribution today announced it is releasing “DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 2” on DVD and Blu-ray. The second season promises to be as satisfying as the first, with thwarted and rekindled romances, forgotten and fresh scandals, and enough new plot twists to weave a tapestry with Lord Grantham’s family crest. “DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 2” will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on February 7, 2012. The running time of the program is 544 minutes. The SRP for the DVD is $44.99 and the SRP for the Blu-ray is $49.99. The program comes on three discs.
The returning cast includes Dame Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Siobhan Finneran, and many more. The DVD and Blu-ray feature the original U.K. edition of the program and are being released a little less than two weeks prior to the airing of the last episode on PBS. Both the DVD and Blu-ray will include special bonus features.
The first season of “Downton Abbey,” which was released on DVD January 11, 2011, won a host of prestigious awards in the U.K. and was recently honored in the U.S. with six Primetime Emmy awards, one of which was for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. American critics called “Downton Abbey” “an instant classic” (New York Times), “compulsively watchable from the get-go” (Variety), “the U.K.’s best abbey since Abbey Road” (Entertainment Weekly), and “a quintessential Masterpiece Classic” (TV Guide).
Program Details
Last season opened with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, which had dire consequences for Downton Abbey. The new season picks up in the middle of another disaster, World War I, which affected every aspect of life in England, accelerating the social change that was already transforming an age-old system of class and privilege.
As the Great War rages across Europe, discord is sown even into the serene Yorkshire countryside. Simmering tensions behind the gates of Downton Abbey are beginning to come to a boil as the men and women of Downton do their part on both the front lines and the home front. What’s more, the brutality and intensity of war seem to inflame more familiar passions – love, loss, blackmail, and betrayal – leaving family and staff alike to struggle in an ever-changing world, against a host of new demons.
About MASTERPIECE
MASTERPIECE on PBS is presented by WGBH Boston. Rebecca Eaton is executive producer. Funding for MASTERPIECE is provided by Viking River Cruises, with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust, created to help ensure the series’ future.
About PBS Distribution
PBS Distribution is the leading media distributor for the public television community, both domestically and internationally. Jointly owned by PBS (Arlington, VA) and WGBH (Boston, MA), PBS Distribution extends the reach of public television programs beyond broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system and our production partners.
PBS Distribution offers a diverse range of programming to our customers, including Ken Burns’s films (Prohibition, The National Parks, The War, Baseball, Jazz), documentaries from award-winning series NOVA (The Elegant Universe, Origins), FRONTLINE (God in America, Bush’s War, Growing Up Online), and American Experience (Freedom Riders, We Shall Remain), dramas from Masterpiece (Downton Abbey, Jane Eyre, Inspector Lewis), films from independent producers (Easy Yoga for Arthritis, The Buddha, The Story of India, Carrier, Journey into Buddhism, I.O.U.S.A.), and popular children’s programming from Dinosaur Train, Super Why!, WordGirl, Cyberchase, Martha Speaks, and Arthur. As a multi-channel distributor, PBS Distribution pursues wholesale/retail sales, consumer and educational sales through PBS- branded catalogs and online shops, and international broadcast and video sales. PBS distribution is also a leader in offering programming through digital platforms including the internet, mobile, and web-connected television.
PBS DISTRIBUTION ANNOUNCES THE
SPECIAL BONUS FEATURES ON THE
“DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 2” DVD AND BLU-RAY
“DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 2” Available on DVD and Blu-ray February 7th
Premiere Episode that Broadcasted Sunday, January 8th Averaged 4.2 Million Viewers
PBS Distribution today announced the bonus features included on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the critically-acclaimed series “DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 2.” “Downton Abbey” fans are clamoring for Season 2, and now they have another reason to be excited with more than 32 minutes of bonus features available on the DVD and Blu-ray. With Season 2 kicking off on PBS just this past weekend, averaging 4.2 million viewers, interest in the series, and everything Downton related, will only continue to increase as the series airs over the course of the next six Sundays. (Nielsen Fast National data, 2.7 household rating.) Descriptions of the bonus features are below.
HOUSE TO HOSPITAL
This eight-minute bonus feature briefly recaps where viewers left the house, a grand venue for evening soirees and garden parties. It is now 1916, times have changed and so has the house. Viewers are given a closer look at the changes that take place within the Downton house and shown how news of war impacts life at Downton and the lives of those that live there. In “House to Hospital,” viewers see how Downton is physically changed into a convalescent home and what this means in terms of the social changes taking place at that time. This special feature delves into the archives of Highclere Castle (which is Downton Abbey in the series) to see how houses of this period offered themselves to the war effort.
Interviews:
Alastair Bruce (historical advisor), Julian Fellowes, Lady Carnarvon (lives at Highclere Castle), Donal Woods (production designer), Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Jessica Brown-Findlay, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan and Rob James-Collier.
ROMANCE IN A TIME OF WAR
This 13-minute special feature takes a look at the relationships that blossom in this series and why the war was a catalyst to love. The main focus is on: Branson and Sybil, Bates and Anna, Mary and Matthew, and William and Daisy.
Interviews:
Julian Fellowes, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Allen Leech, Jessica Brown-Findlay, Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Coyle, Sophie McShera, Thomas Howes, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Zoe Boyle and Iain Glen.
FASHION AND UNIFORMS
This 11-minute bonus feature takes a detailed look at costumes. Costume designer Susannah Buxton takes us on a detailed journey through the changing fashions of 1916. Viewers get an inside look at how the war has impacted fashions and of course introduced military uniforms to the wardrobe. Interviews with the cast explain how each of the key costumes comes into play.
“Fashion and Uniforms” also explores the nature and role of uniforms, and the etiquette involved in their use. The feature shows the changing fashions – talking with both make-up and costume teams about the arrival of “the hobble skirt,” new hairstyles, and the curling irons that were introduced at the time.
Interviews:
Susannah Buxton (costume designer), Anne ‘Nosh’ Oldham (make-up designer), Jessica Brown-Findlay, Hugh Bonneville, Dan Stevens, Rob James-Collier, Elizabeth McGovern and Alastair Bruce (historical advisor).
Program Details
Last season opened with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, which had dire consequences for Downton Abbey. The new season picks up in the middle of another disaster, World War I, which impacts every aspect of life in England, accelerating the social change that was already transforming an age-old system of class and privilege.
As the Great War rages across Europe, discord is sown even into the serene Yorkshire countryside. Simmering tensions behind the gates of Downton Abbey are beginning to come to a boil as the men and women of Downton do their part on both the front lines and the home front. What’s more, the brutality and intensity of war seem to inflame more familiar passions – love, loss, blackmail, and betrayal – leaving family and staff alike to struggle in an ever-changing world, against a host of new demons.
“DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 2” is a Carnival/Masterpiece Co-Production.
About MASTERPIECE
MASTERPIECE on PBS is presented by WGBH Boston. Rebecca Eaton is executive producer. Funding for MASTERPIECE is provided by Viking River Cruises, with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust, created to help ensure the series’ future.
About PBS Distribution
PBS Distribution is the leading media distributor for the public television community, both domestically and internationally. Jointly owned by PBS (Arlington, VA) and WGBH (Boston, MA), PBS Distribution extends the reach of public television programs beyond broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system and our production partners.
PBS Distribution offers a diverse range of programming to our customers, including Ken Burns’s films (Prohibition, The National Parks, The War, Baseball, Jazz), documentaries from award-winning series NOVA (The Elegant Universe, Origins), FRONTLINE (God in America, Bush’s War, Growing Up Online), and American Experience (Freedom Riders, We Shall Remain), dramas from Masterpiece (Downton Abbey, Jane Eyre, Inspector Lewis), films from independent producers (Easy Yoga for Arthritis, The Buddha, The Story of India, Carrier, Journey into Buddhism, I.O.U.S.A.), and popular children’s programming from Dinosaur Train, Super Why!, WordGirl, Cyberchase, Martha Speaks, and Arthur. As a multi-channel distributor, PBS Distribution pursues wholesale/retail sales, consumer and educational sales through PBS- branded catalogs and online shops, and international broadcast and video sales. PBS distribution is also a leader in offering programming through digital platforms including the internet, mobile, and web-connected television.
DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 2
Street Date: February 7, 2012
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 544 minutes on 3 Discs
SRP: DVD, $44.99 and Blu-ray, $49.99
Format: DVD and Blu-ray
