In our culture at the moment, there's Bieber Fever. There are also Twi-Hards, a.k.a individuals really into "Twilight" and all its ancillary entertainments, Stieg Larsson obsessives (they love a mystery), and plenty of people mad for "Mad Men." Presumably, there are pockets of America that are really excited about "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and can't wait for the release of the second sequel, "Chip-Wrecked," this weekend. Introduce yourselves sometime!
Come January, much of that noise will be drowned out—at least within certain sophisticated segments of the media—by those among us who are really into the PBS and Masterpiece Classic series "Downton Abbey." Call them Abbey Acolytes, Abbey Addicts or Downton Divas. Whatever you do, just get out of the view of their television sets when the second season premieres on Jan. 8. (It has already been showing to British audiences in the U.K.)
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Patrick McMullan Joanne Froggatt
Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and his wife, Anna, are especially into the show—they caught it before it broke in the United States—and, in turn, Mr. Carter's magazine has been particularly supportive of the series. On Wednesday, he hosted a screening of the second season's first episode, inviting several members of the cast and production team. This seemed to be a pretty hot ticket. Tamara Mellon, Nora Ephron and Nick Pileggi, Princess Firyal of Jordan, Pepe Fanjul and Dixon and Arianna Boardman all chose this over seeing "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" premiering nearby at the Ziegfeld.
Patrick McMullan
Gareth Neame with Rebecca Eaton and Graydon Carter.
"This is a PBS night, but it's not a fund-raiser," said Mr. Carter. The show "was like the Super Bowl" over in England, he continued, adding he is already fully caught up on season two.
Rebecca Eaton, the much heralded executive producer of Masterpiece and Mystery!, said that in season two, "someone will die and someone will be born and someone will be engaged, but I can't tell you how or who."
Why did she think the show was just so darn successful on both sides of the pond? In the U.S., it gets far higher ratings than most anything on NBC.
Patrick McMullan
Hugh Bonneville with Michelle Dockery.
"In spite of the fact it's about the 1% and its tremendous eye candy potential, I think Julian Fellowes has written a group of people who are actually trying to do the right thing," said Ms. Eaton, who lives in Boston. "They're heroes of the romantic or political variety. It's also a fabulous adult soap opera. I, for one, love the clothes and can't wait to hear what Maggie Smith is going to say next."
As for Ms. Eaton's own current television obsessions, they include Charlie Rose, "even though that's so public television," and "The Good Wife." "Sometimes I just fast forward to see Alan Cumming's scenes," she said. "I'm looking forward to his one-man 'Macbeth,' but why would anyone do that to himself? It makes me so nervous."
"Downton Abbey" came about when the show's executive producer, Gareth Neame, met with Mr. Fellowes and asked "if he could ever recreate an episodic series in the vein of his movie 'Gosford Park," Mr. Naeme said. "That movie had such a sense of relaxation in his great hands. We wanted the show to feel like a very contemporary narrative. It's not an adaptation of a book."
Patrick McMullan
Ernie Pomerantz, Marie Brenner, Nora Ephron and Nick Pileggi.
Still, that doesn't spell "international phenomenon." Anyone else have ideas?
"If I knew why the show was so successful, I'd be a billionaire," said Hugh Bonneville, who stars as Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, and enjoys watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm" "on loop" in his spare time. "But unlike in a lot of period drama, no one knows what happens next. It's not Dickens, it's not Austen. It's produced on a serial basis. You think you're watching a story you know, but you don't."
In a Q&A later, Mr. Bonneville said a 10-year-old at his son's school came up to him on the playground to complain about Thomas, the servant. The show's popularity, he added, clearly "runs so broad and so deep."
"There's a character for everybody, somebody that we all love to hate," said Joanne Froggatt, who plays the maid Anna on the show and, in real life, is really into the original Danish version of "The Killing," recently remade for American TV.
"I think it starts with the writing," said Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary Crawly). Off-screen, she can't get enough of "Nurse Jackie." "Julian is so talented in intertwining narratives."
"I've done a lot of BBC, and they've scarcely made an impression. Not even my parents-in-law care to watch," said Simon Curtis, the director of "My Week With Marilyn." He was at the event to support his other half, Elizabeth McGovern, the one American actress in the show and is especially partial to "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men." ("I have an iTunes account," he said, as for how he's all caught up in the U.K.)
Mr. Curtis went on: "In 'Downton Abbey,' there's something about the structure of the house. People like this world with rules. It's a comforting watch, and they've cast it brilliantly. And there's an American character in the show, and she's played by my wife."
"Well, I don't think that's why they like the show," retorted Ms. McGovern. "Part of it is the highbrows think it's not demeaning to your intellect. It's an escape that doesn't make you feel dirty. In fact, it can even make you feel slightly smug."
Ms. McGovern thought for a moment. "You know, there are just things people can't control in the Zeitgeist, no matter how good you are. It doesn't happen a lot of the time."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203893404577100780704369546.html Wall Street Journal
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