WHY, Downton Abbey, WHY?

TKSit

I was so excited to watch Downton Abbey tonight. It had always been kind of an escape for me, just a few hours of old English drama. Time to NOT think about breast cancer. But, Oh No, the head maid had to go get breast cancer and totally ruin my fav show. (I used to watch Parenthood, but found it too difficult to watch with family this year.) I may sound selfish and maybe I should be thankful for the "awareness", but damnit, I just wanted the only show I enjoy watching on tv, leave cancer out of the storyline. Couldn't they just have had Thomas make out with the new guy or Shirley McClaine get drunk and sleep with Carson? I know there are so many more important issues to discuss, but sometimes, something little like this sets me off and reminds me AGAIN of what I am living with and that even watching a show you adore with a breast cancer as a storyline, kinda takes the wind out of my sails. Anyway.....thanks for listening, ladies. Maybe her results will come back fine and it will be just an early plot twist that is left behind then new stories will come. I don't want to see any bawling, sickly, skinny, bald and vomiting character pondering the meaning of life and death. I want snide English humor, sex, power, back stabbing, sex and beautiful dresses. Ok. I am done. Whew, that felt good. You gals are the best!

SelenaWolf

Oh my goodness, you made me laugh!  I'm sorry, but I do understand!  In the months during treatment, it seemed every show I watched had some sort of reference to breast cancer or breast cancer treatment.  I couldn't avoid it.  At one point, I changed the channel in disgust only to hear "... post menopausal breast cancer ..." as I flipped through to the next.  I kid you not.  Everywhere I turned, there it was.  And, one night, when my husband and I went out to dinner, I was settling in for a lovely meal when the people at the table behind us started discussing the breast cancer treatment of a good friend of theirs in brilliant technicolour.  I had to fight the urge to get up and leave, there and then.

ruthbru

I felt the same way (and that is why I don't watch Parenthood either). I sure hope it doesn't become a major plot line, as I do so love the rest of the show!

JeanGenie

I felt exactly the same way! My DH and I love this show and couldn't wait for it to return.  Normally the best part about historical dramas is that they are so far removed from real life!  (sigh . . . )  But it was still a fantastic episode!

TKSit

Thought I would play it safe tonight and watch the football bowl game. Hoping that last fellow that got hurt on the field didn't have breast cancer? Just a little of my twisted humor, hope no one minds.

ruthbru

Downton Abbey set a PBS record with 7.9 million viewers. Loved Maggie and Shirley the most. What a great match up!

JeanGenie

Hahaha!  After DA was over last night, my husband and I had a lot of laughs figuring out how BC could be a plot line in EVERY show so I think we have the same sense of humor. 

Stormynyte

I felt the same way when that happened on Desperate Housewives, and it seems like every other show I was watching at the time. Damn them for ruining my show!!

mamabee

You expressed my thoughts exactly! I turned to my DH last night and said, "no, not breast cancer - this show is my frivolous escape..."

(I loved your post, but now I can't get the picture of Shirley and Carson waking up together out of my mind....ewwwww)

Strike_Two

I've already seen the whole season.  

If you think the breast cancer story line gets to you.  Just wait!  (Especially if you're a mom.)

Meanwhile, enjoy!

Mardibra

OMG! I thought the exact same thing. Couldn't wait for the season to start. Got comfortable on the couch with a diet coke and then BAM! BC. Are you freaking kidding me? Can I ever escape from this $&@?!

pj12

And how would you like Mrs Patmore as the "support" person you took along to the doctor's office? I would have chosen Anna. But poor Anna has a full cup, I guess. Maybe Mathew's mother? But that probably would not be done, too upstairs - downstairs.



Off subject but this is really bugging me... Mrs Patmore had cataract surgery last season. Where are her cataract glasses? Remember those from before contact lenses or intraocular lens implants? Cataract surgery = cataract glasses in 1920.



And is Bates really a more violent person than we thought?



Can't wait!

surfdreams

I agree with what everyone has said, but I also thought of Mrs. Patmore's vision problems last year. That was a very brief little story line, so am hoping that the cancer for Mrs. Hughes will be equally quickly reconciled and they can move on to fine Downton drama of gold digging, tawdry affairs, and underhanded bamboozles.  And off topic - didn't you think that after keeping the star crossed lovers apart for many years (in Downton time), they moved them VERY quickly through the wedding, the honeymoon, and on to the day to day -kind of taking each other for granted- point?  I do love this show!

 

TKSit

@surfdreams-I agree, it did seem rushed. The writers must have something good in store if they were willing to skip the possibility of some steamy honeymoon scenes!

@pj12-I believe Bates is much more violent than we think and that will play out more in future episodes, just my guess. That is my favorite storyline.

pj12

I know, I felt as if something, between the wedding and the return home from the honeymoon, had been left on the cutting room floor.

surfdreams

spoiler alert if you didn't see tonight's episode yet. Waa -- hoo! Mrs. Hughes' cancer was benign. Looks like it won't be anymore than a blip on the Downton Abbey radar storyline! Just like any good fiction story should be. 

 

TKSit

Yaaaaa! I don't know if was was more happy with my NED results last week or Mrs. Hughes' results tonight. More of my morbid humor, hope I don't offend anyone. Gotta laugh sometimes, so I don't cry.

Anonymous

It's so strange that I think of cancer as a 'modern' day disease. Hard to remember that they called it cancer back in the late 1800's and early 1900's. And did biopsies.

ruthbru

Happy about the whole show tonight: happy that there will be no cancer theme, happy that the wedding was aborted, happy that the Abbey is saved!

Anonymous

Aaaawww...I felt so bad for Lady Edith. How humiliating. I hope they don't leave her a spinster on the show. She deserves good things too. She really stepped up for the soldiers when Downton was a convalescent home for war wounded.

ruthbru

Maybe she will become a flapper!

schatzi14

Does everyone know that happens with Matthew and Mary ? I wish I hadn't heard anything in the future. I suppose there was no chemo for BC in those days...poor women. Imagine they just had to deal with it as best they could. Glad that subject had a happy ending.

ruthbru...off the subject but you are the only one I have seen that is ER+/PR-/HER-

Did your MO give you any explanation? Does the Arimidex affect the PR?

elimar86861

Hahaha!  I don't watch DA, but agree that the cancer storylines in the various shows are really cutting into the escapism I am looking for.  If I want cancer drama, I've got that covered.

pj12

DH has a hard time remembering the characters names from one season to the next. So he went to Wikipedia and printed out a list of characters. SPOILER ALERT!!! The way some of the characters are identified tells A LOT about what happens as the series progresses. He didn't mean to get into the plot... Just wanted to keep track of who's who.

schatzi14

pj12...the actors appeared on so many talk shows, it was hard NOT to hear what was going to happen. My lips are sealed tho.

It was great for me tho because I am the person that reads the last chapter in a book first!

pj12

Tonight's the night!



Will the Maimed officer who claimed to be the heir apparent show back up to sweep Edith off her feet? Will Mathew, now aced out of being lord of the manor and broke since he gave his ill gotten inheritance to the family, run off to America to seek his fortune? Will the housemaid that Lord Grantham "fancied" reappear but pregnant? (Perhaps there was more than that stolen kiss) Does Cora develop some terminal illness? Advanced breast cancer? Oh, they already used that... Maybe a heart attack or...horror of all horrors, poison?



Will Anna discover that Vera Bates was actually killed by Sir Richard Carlisle when he was interested in keeping Lady Mary's wild past secret? Will Bates get out of prison just in time to stop Thomas from pushing Carson down the stairs so he can become head butler?



Will Branson write a steamy exposé of the family that is serialized in the Irish tabloid press causing Sybil to divorce him and follow Mathew to America? She did have a big crush on him once.



Anyone else have any guesses what will happen?



I LOVE the show and am just making all of this up. Can't wait to see what really haappens!

luvmygoats

pj12 - I must admit I looked around at the cast listing and didn't get a clue about the season's outcome.  I, too, usually read the ending of a book b4 getting to it.  The only hint about tonight is "the Irish Civil War impacts Downton Abbey" on the DirecTV Guide.  So I guess we will see lots of Branson.  Not much to go on.  But I think from last week Mr. Bates may be more guilty than we first were lead to believe.  Unless the report from the neighbor was a smokescreen for something else.  Like your idea the stolen kisses turned out to be more hanky-panky under the sheets with Lord Grantham and the widowed housemaid.  I also wonder about the dreadful detour with the maimed officer.  That seemed pointless and just a time filler.  Gosh, do we need a real life or what?  My problem is that NHL hockey Dallas Stars is on at the same time.  I do have one TV that has picture-in-picture.  Don't have DVR as most of our stuff is OLD and will not wear out and DH refuses to replace until it quits.  TTYL.

ruthbru

hbcheryl

damn Ruth it's not on here for another 45 minutes can't wait.......

ruthbru

my lips are sealed.....

hbcheryl