Downton Abbey

If you mean the US "Season 3 finale", where Matthew has a fatal crash, this is actually the UK 2012 Christmas Special which has been tacked on the end of Season 3 for US viewers. The time frame of the episode is September 1921, (one year after the actual UK Season 3 ending) and the car is a 1927 AC Six, but the model was made from 1921 to 1930 so its appearance is not implausible. Its appearance in any previous episode would be anachronistic though. Some UK car purists have noted that car has front wheel brakes which only became standard in 1927, but they may have been an optional extra before that.

It previously appeared in a 1990s series called "House of Eliott".

The AC Cars company produced 2 seater sports cars in the 1960's that were exported to the USA to Carroll Shelby's facility where American Ford V-8's were installed. They were marketed and sold as Shelby Cobras. These now sell for large sums.







Here it is pictured after breaking down during filming.

Walter, I said "looks like"... When I see an enormous manor employing half the town, it reminds me of the manor house, serfs, servants etc. Doesn't the class system in place at Downton remind you of the precurser at all?

Do the seemingly WAY liberal views of the family smack of PC overwrite to anyone but me? I'd think that views about gay people and Catholicism in the upper crust of British society would be much more conservative. Although it makes me like the characters, I always feel like I'm being "handled" by the writers. Seems very fake. (Still love the show, though)

well, crap. I'd missed this. another nod to READING the whole thing before posting. but damn, I hate to come late and read everything! Sorry for redundancy.

It's so nice to see you again that we don't care if you post then read.

I think Lash has a point, the attitude toward gays seems much more twenty-first century than the prevailing one a century ago. Today's is better.

And there seems to be a flourishing cottage industry in pointing out linguistic anachronisms in the dialogue. I was particularly struck when Matthew talked about a "steep learning curve" in figuring out how the estate was running,which was a phrase I don't remember hearing until the last couple decades, and it turns out that, while it did in fact exist in 1920, it was only used in fairly esoteric technical psychological studies, and didn't come into any sort of common usage until at least the 1970s.

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/a-steep-learning-curve-for-downton-abbey/

Lash, Monterey Jack...

...I think the attitude of several of the characters in Downton Abbey toward gays was much, much, much more 21st century than one would likely have found back then.

I think the writers have handled that issue as best they could...and I suspect they will do more to further 21st century thinking in future episodes.

The first person to describe the learning curve was Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885. I agree it is out of place in such a setting, but Downton Abbey is not serious drama. It is a costume soap.

Indeed

wow thats great

Do you ever watch Downton Abbey and think “man this would be great if there were cats”?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/downton-tabby-is-downton-abbey-but-with-cats

Does Ladycat Edith have a Trivial Pursuit card in her hatband?

It reads "Press" I believe.

Season 4 starts this weekend. Woot!!

That makes more sense. It does look like a Trivial Pursuit card though.

Starts when? January, I heard. Do you get the English version?

I was going on what the episode guide at IMDb said the first episode of season 4 was coming out.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606375/episodes?season=4

It looks like on the PBS page that the DVD for season four comes out on January.
http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=22850886&cp=11302190&utm_source=PBS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=pbs_home_module_DASeaason4

The PBS website says the premiere is Jan. 5, 2014.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/

I've heard promos for season 4 on the local PBS tv, and I immediately forgot the date it starts, but I think it was before January, maybe in October? Or is that just wishful thinking?

“Downton Abbey” Characters Drawn As “The Simpsons”

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kimberleydadds/downton-abbey-characters-drawn-as-the-simpsons

Funny or Die Imagines Lady Mary’s Crime Procedural
http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/funny-or-die-downton-abbey.html?mid=vulture_newsletter&om_rid=AAApgi&om_mid=_BSyzHtB83f1nbA