Downton Abbey's Final Season

A Vintage Nerd, Vintage Blog, Downton Abbey, Must See TV, Period Television Shows

Did you hear? They have just announced that Season Six of Downton Abbey will be its last! The final season has already begun filming which you can read more about HERE.

Truthfully I wanted to bring this up to you because I wanted to know what you thought about it. As a writer myself  I know its possible for Julian Fellows (the shows head writer and creator) can bring this series well into the 1940's easily but because he has another show called The Gilded Age that he is working on he feels he cannot do both so he is canceling Downton Abbey.

In my opinion I feel like Season Five fell very flat and as beautiful as it was to look at there wasn't much heart and passion in it like the other seasons had. That could have been because of the lack of interest Fellows has in the show now.

Do you feel like now that Downton Abbey made a whole bunch of money and became this huge success that everyone is riding those coattails and trying to make the most of it? Or that it had its run and its time to go? Or perhaps the way shows are created today as only as a vehicle for big bucks and big opportunities?

Back in the 1980's and 90's a show's season would begin in September and go all the way through to May or June. Nowadays a show begins in October and ends in March and they call that a season. At least that is how it is working these days in the states.

I know things change and nothing lasts forever but how do you feel about Downton Abbey ending? What do you hope to happen to the characters you have grown to love? Are there other period themed shows that you enjoyed and wished were back on the small screen?

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4 comments :

  1. A year ago I would have donned black and went into mourning, but after that extremely lame season five, I'm not too upset. What disappoints me is that they stayed in the twenties all this time and did not bother getting into the 1940s. I was hoping to see WWII and how the DA folks handle it. That was a tragic time in England and it brought even more change than WWI. That has bummed me. But season five was terrible. I found myself hoping Lady Mary would have a horse accident or something, just so something would happen.

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  2. P.S. Hubby says he read an article that while next season is its last TV season, there's a rumor that there shall be a movie.

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  3. I actually felt the series peaked in season three--where can you go from killing off two very main characters, really? I almost didn't watch season five, to be frank, but my mom talked me into it. I'm glad I did, and I will probably watch season six, but it no longer holds my attention the way it did once. I did read that Maggie Smith doesn't want to do the series any more (I can't blame her--she is in her 80s at least and those kind of filming schedules are difficult) and I really think it wouldn't work without her. I didn't love the character arc they've taken Lady Mary on (she basically is back to where she was in season one, when I really couldn't stand her!) and I really wish they'd stop kicking Edith while she is down. And for heaven's sakes, just leave the Bates alone!!

    I do understand why they kept the series in the 1920s--keep in mind that we are more than 13 years from the episode one, which was in April 1911, when the Titanic crashed, and by the 1940s, Granny Violet probably wouldn't be living any longer, and Lord and Lady Grantham would be in their dotage. Carson and Mrs. Hughes are nearing retirement in 1924; they certainly wouldn't be running the estate in 1940, more than 15 years later. The men who fought in WW1 as a rule were too elderly or infirm to fight in WW2 (except perhaps in civil defense) and I think they would have had to introduce a ton of new characters to make it work. I think keeping it in the 1920s shows the tremendous changes that happened in Britain at the time, socially and otherwise, and how that affected both the working and upper classes.

    Anyway. A few pennies for the pond.

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  4. Ooohh, I hadn't heard about the Gilded Age yet. That sounds more than a little bit intriguing!

    ♥ Jessica

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