'Trashy' Downton – a nice antidote to highbrow US TV

THE premiere of Downton Abbey season two hit TV screens in the United States this weekend and with the media behind it, it seems Americans can't get enough of it.
 
The first season had its running time slashed and storyline simplified for fear that US viewers would be left baffled by the plot.
 
But with the critics raving, PBS anticipate a repeat of last year's ratings surge, which saw 30 per cent more people tune in and the channel's ratings for young adult females double.
 
So, what are critics saying this time around and how are they introducing Julian Fellowes' period drama to new viewers?
 
Consider it 'Yorkshire 90210', says the San Francisco Chronicle, but with witty dialogue and rich characters, stunning period costumes and (generally) chaste love affairs.
 
Gawker offers a handy 'philistine's guide' to the show, explaining why it is "so damn compelling". The secret is Downton's "smart and trashy" scripts - "lowbrow" fun in comparison to the "highbrow" Mad Men.
 
"Just because all the characters are tortured doesn't mean this is Mad Men. The action moves quickly and it's quite soapy," Gawker explains, adding that the secrets, revelations and affairs occasionally border on Melrose Place territory.
 
For those viewers who are yet to discover the on-off romance between central characters Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley in season one, Gawker offers a concise summation: "She was resistant and he was into her, and then she was into him and he wasn't having it and then they were both into each other and she fucked it all up."
 
The LA Times describes the show as "something of a phenomenon, a smart, seductive soap opera wrapped in Valentine ribbon". However, John Powers at Vogue makes the point – also made by some UK critics last year - that Fellowes appears to be "cranking out scripts too quickly" in the second season.
 
"I won't say any more," Powers tells US readers, "the show's too much fun to watch for me to spoil it – but when you get to the episode with the tea tray, I think you'll know what I mean." ·