Rachelle's Reading List: Friday, January 6th, 2012

Downton Abbey Season Premiere this Sunday. Stop the presses. Downton Abbey premieres this Sunday night?! I haven't been this excited about a TV show premiere since...I don't even know when, Lost?, Curbed?, Six Feet Under?? Look, I know that my expectations are probably set way.too.high. and I am going to.be.significantly.disappointed. But I don't care. Nothing could stop me from re-connecting with those brilliantly developed characters on the show that you must start watching, despite any embarrassing remarks from friends. Yes it's a glorified nighttime soap opera, yes it is a period piece that has been done before, and, yes it's actually probably on the same level of dignified TV watching as your mom's "Knots Landing" was back in the 90s; but trust me, you won't be able to quit the Crawleys. UPDATE: go HERE to take a quiz to find out which Downton Abbey character you are! Season Premiere: The harsh reviews have already started: [WaPo]

The first season, which aired a year ago to runaway praise and viewership, was a wonderfully kinetic juggling act of highbrow drama, historical sweep and character development. It was great fun to watch, not only for anglophiles (an easy get) but also, more surprisingly, for anglophobes. “Downton Abbey” struck an odd chord in an era of 21st-century economic dissonance and disgust. It was and still is the very definition of escapism, dialing back 100 years to celebrate the wealth gap rather than disparage it. It persists in the fantasy that a quaint and even tender co-dependence exists between the haves and the have-nots in their employ. To our lasting humiliation, we gobble it up. The first season was also only six hours long, which at the time seemed too brief. Viewers got a taste of “Downton Abbey’s” soothing opiate of corseted class stricture and meticulous manners and instantly craved more. Count your TV critic among its swoony fans; just last month I put the series at the top of my list of 2011’s best TV shows. So what goes awry this time? It’s quite possible that we just wanted it all too badly, a desire most sequels struggle to fulfill.