downton abbey



Hold on to your hats and your corsets, Downton Abbey fans, big news was released today about Shirley McClaine joining the cast for season three. It's truly wonderful news, isn't it, darlings! (That was to be said in a British accent.) Ms. MacLaine's going to make an excellent addition to the cast, and honestly, now that I think about it, I kind of can't believe that she wasn't already on the show. She just belongs at Downton, don't you think?

According to a press release, Shirley is signing on to play Lady Grantham's American mother, Martha Levinson. I can just see the Levinson versus Countess encounters now, and they're breathtaking.

They'll be so catty, so cunning, so subtly yet overtly evil to one another that this is shaping up to be the best T.V. rivalry since Seinfeld and Newman. The Countess will detest Levinson's American habits, Levinson will despise the Countess' old-fashioned rules; Mary, Edith, and Sybil will be caught in the middle of their warring grandmothers, not sure which side to choose, eating their feelings in the servant quarters with the likes of Daisy and Anna ... it's going to be brilliant.


Read more: http://thestir.cafemom.com/entertainment/132260/shirley_maclaine_vs_maggie_smith