Simply A Masterpiece

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A lot of fun.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I chose to watch this series because I loved Downton Abbey and Gosford Park, but Upstairs Downstairs misses the mark completely. For some reason the writers don't allow you to like or even care about any of the characters. It's not because of the large cast. Both of the ones I mentioned before have large casts. But, even though this series has really good actors they seemed to be miss casts. Many of the downstairs cast members seem as though they should be upstairs.For example: Laura Haddock and Jean Marsh should have been upstairs. Although they are both fantastic actors I (because of their looks) I didn't buy either of them as downstairs staff for one minute. They both have the look of quality breeding and high born.Eileen Atkins (who did such a great job downstairs in Gosford Park) and Jean Marsh should have switched rolls.Ed Stoppard (although a very good actor) has the face of a villain and much of his character is written as a nasty cuss of a man. So, why would I care anything about what happens to this man and his family? This roll was miscast and poorly written if this was intended to be the lead male character.Adrian Scarborough (also from Gosford Park) did a great job as did all the actors in the series. They did the best with what they were given. Too bad they were not given something better to work with. For this I blame the writers and the director.

We watched this after having watched all the episodes of the earlier version (1971). This version is set 6 years after the original series but was made 35 years later. The actors who played Mr. Hudson, Mrs. Bridges and Ruby have passed away and barring a few one liners to Mr Hudson we hear nothing of them - pity. Rose has returned to London following the death of Lord Bellamy (a one liner) and runs a placement agency, but we don't get a good explanation. Rose is the only thing that makes Season 1 work. Jean Marsh's stroke removed her from all but two scenes in season 2 causing some re-writing. As a result, Season 2 was poorly done.There is no cohesiveness in the groups (upstairs and downstairs). The stories are too contrived. Unlike the original, where one got to know and like the characters. The reverse is true of this production.No wonder they cancelled the series, and no wonder Downton Abbey won the ratings war.

Having been a big Fan of the original series and lets face it the Producers in using the Title and music had I am sure hoped to cash in on the very strong loyal following the original series had.In my opinion they could have done so much better by including some of the original cast Anthony Andrews & Lesley Anne Down as Lord & Lady Stockbridge their inclusion in the new series would have shown some continuity and would been a great addition along with Rose to come back to take up residence at 165 Eaton Place as their country home.I wish the Producers would have given this some thought as I feel that a wonderful opportunity has been missed to have that connection between both series.

While I agree with most of the author's assessment of the new US/DS, I wanted to comment on a few things mentioned regarding the original series. When Edward came to dinner at 165, he was already King, not the Prince of Wales. Richard Bellamy did not marry his secretary. It was his son, Captain James, who married Richard's secretary, Hazel. Not all of the servants resented Hazel for marrying "above" her class. Rose rather liked the idea and supported Hazel, the new lady of the household. Richard did eventually remarry - to a widow with 2 small children. Also, it was the son, James, who gradually declined following WWI. The brevity of the new series so far (3 episodes) is simply not long enough to adequately develop a character or even to get to know and understand a particular character. Hopefully, there will be more episodes to improve upon what has been started. The personalities do seem to be rather superficial and shallow, almost to the point of being caricatures. But in reality, the shorter and fast-moving productions reflect the preferences and viewing habits of younger audiences. For the rest of us, thank God for Netflix.