i heart period dramas

Like many women (and men, I suppose), I love me a good period drama. I'm a little late to catch this bandwagon but have you been watching this little program?

I am obsessed. Like, stay-up-way-past-my-bedtime-watching-one-episode-after-another obsessed. I'm outing him here, but my husband is even mildly interested. It's an epic, sweeping story about a aristocratic family and their staff who live at Downton Abbey, an estate in Yorkshire, England, at the turn of the 20th century (have any of my male readers dozed off yet?). The acting, scenery, costuming and storytelling are all superb and it's such a fascinating time in history that I don't know much about. And it seriously has made me consider how much easier my life would be if I had a household staff of my own. My staff could even just consist of one person. I think I would chose a maid--in fact, I want Anna, the maid from the show. I think she'd even fill in as a nanny and a cook if I needed her to. Anyway, we watched the first season (7 episodes--not nearly enough) streaming on Netflix and I've been watching the second season (8 episodes--again, not nearly enough) on pbs.org and itv.com. Until March 5th, the second season is free to watch on pbs.org. The first season may be there too. So, go. Start watching now. Seriously. It's good, good TV.