You are right, and I do understand the constraints. Also, it's not just that the family still live in part of the house; Highclere is open to the public as a museum and is even available to rent for conferences and weddings. I imagine working and filming around all that is quite difficult. What I suppose I really…

The Simpsons should do a Downton Abbey parody!

If our language were completely logical, what would we pedants do with our time?

You're not fired. I too hate the overuse of the word "proactive" (it reeks of business/bureaucratic jargon). But it is a legitimate word meaning "controlling a situation by making things happen or by preparing for possible future problems." According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, it's first known use was…

What's possible and what's plausible are two entirely different beasts, not that plausibility has ever been much of an obstacle in the plots of Downton Abbey. Moral of the story: don't give Lord Fellowes any ideas!

It's the phrase "show off," I suppose. When one shows off something, it is usually out of pride or boastfulness. "Showing off" often carries a negative connotation, such as when we call someone a "show off." Saying that Branson was showing off his aristocratic in-laws probably doesn't mean for most people that he was…

It may not be of great concern to many people (though it may be, since many viewers say the chief pleasures they take from Downton are the costumes and the settings), but I've been disappointed with the amount of the house we actually get to see. Basically, all upstairs action takes place in one of four principal…

I recall Alistair Bruce, the historical consultant, saying in one of the DVD special features that a house the size of Downton would have had something like nine footman, instead of the two we see.

My American example was really just to illustrate that more writers could bring more nuance and better plot management to the show. In addition to Fellowes, there are two other writers credited in season one, which is widely considered to be the best of the four. After that Fellowes goes it alone, which I don't…

Baron Fellowes' baffled response to our being unable to distinguish between the two characters: "Why, Gillingham is the one who carries himself like a peer, and Blake is the one whose bearing is middle class. Surely you can see that."

The whole return to Scheming Thomas has been dreary for so many reasons. It ignores his character development in season three. He has no one to plot with or really to plot against, so it's just him lurking around trying to find any secret he can. We have no idea what Baxter's relationship with him is, and nothing…

Violet's attitude is definitely one that we don't encounter much in our own more introspective, psychological age, where, I suspect Violet would say, we think too much.

I don't expect much from the show's overall writing or plot at this point, but I do sometimes have the passing thought that it could be so much more. Fellowes really does need other writers on board. A show of this scope and duration needs a group of people who can knock ideas around and weigh choices about plot…

It certainly made me feel better.

"It gives Branson the opportunity to show off his cool aristocratic in-laws to the socialist teacher who he’s flirting with." This sentence in the review baffles me. It leads us to believe that Branson wanted the opportunity to show off his adopted upper-class family to a friend/potential romantic interest who is…

A game that sounds like a lot of fun to me!

She did have the one plot line in season three when she thought she had breast cancer and also a very short one in season one when her old flame met her at the carnival and she had to decide if she should marry him or stay on as housekeeper.

Or work the doorknob.

Mr. Green done in with a lead pipe in the lounge?

I'd play gin rummy with them any day.