Downton Abbey
Julian Fellowes, 2010–

Lizzie and I watched this a while back, but I didn't have the opportunity to write it up at the time.  I'd heard a bit about it — I knew that it was about Britain in the 1910s and that it was on PBS, so I assumed that it was a weighty cultural artifact.  Much to my surprise — and it took me several episodes before this dawned on me — it's a soap opera.  I don't mean in the sense that all series dramas are soap operas — I mean that it's a soap opera with heroines jilted at the altar and heroes framed for murder by revenge-minded ex-wives and long-lost relatives showing up with amnesia and paralyzed guys suddenly getting better and whatnot.  I've stuck with it because I do like the historical angle, but, seriously, this is basically The 120 Years Old and the Restless.

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