Downton Abbey: 25 Days and Counting

According to the official countdown on the PBS website (as of when I'm writing this post), it's 25 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes until the premiere of season 3 of Downton Abbey. I can't wait! Once Christmas and New Year's are over, there's always a bit of a let-down as the worst of cold winter starts to kick in with no other major even to look forward to. So it's a great relief that one can look forward to this amazing television show, about which I've blogged before. Some of the actors have been in NYC promoting the upcoming season and they were on the Today show this morning. The new season already has aired in the UK, but it begins in the US on January 6. Shirley MacLaine joins the cast this season as Martha Levinson, Lady Cora's American mother, a perfect foil for the Dowager Countess, Lady Violet (Maggie Smith). After the wonderful post-World War I Christmas-themed finale (where a long-anticipated marriage proposal finally took place), rumor has it the wedding will go forward but not without a few bumps in the road, including word that the family fortune has gone up in smoke. And will poor Mr. Bates the valet finally be released from prison so he and Anna, the head maid, can be together as we all so desperately want them to be? Let's face it: the show is  basically a big romantic soap opera. But it's SO good! What makes the show superb is the writing, carried out so adeptly by a fantastic crew of actors and gilded with amazing costumes and sets. If you haven't seen seasons 1 or 2 of this show yet, you can stream all the episodes on Netflix and I'm sure lots of other places, but I already own the DVD sets for seasons 1 and 2 and will be adding season 3 to my list as well. You will be hooked like everyone else.