Jay Pritchett
[played by Ed O'Neill]: “Gloria's about to take her citizenship
test. This little jumping bean is about to become an American.”
Gloria Delgado-Pritchett
[played by Sofía Vergara] [indignantly]: “Jumping beans
are Mexican!”
Jay: “Once you're an
American, you won't see the difference.”—
Modern Family, Season 6, Episode 22, “Patriot Games,” original air
date May 6, 2015, teleplay by Christopher Lloyd, Steven Levitan, and Vali
Chandrasekaran, directed by Alisa Statman
Jay Pritchett
[played by Ed O'Neill]: “You took a three-hour nap yesterday!”
Manny: “I was tired
from the marathon.”
Jay: “The Downton Abbey
marathon?” — Modern Family, Season 6,
Episode 13, “Rash Decisions,” original air date Feb. 4, 2015, teleplay
by Daisy Gardner, directed by James Alan Hensz
Off and on for the first half-century of its
existence, I have been something of an aficionado of Masterpiece
(or, as it known earlier in its younger days, Masterpiece Theatre). By
my count, I’ve taken in about 30 different mini-series under the umbrella of
the British import—not just acclaimed entries like The Jewel in the Crown,
Prime Suspect, and The Forsyte Saga, but even the likes of Strangers
and Brothers, The First Churchills and The Last of the Mohicans.
But Downton Abbey? I’ve seen only about
three episodes from its first season. It wasn’t that I hated it, mind
you. But it was never really “appointment TV” for me.
And so, while the Crawleys became something of a cash
cow for the PBS system, tried out almost as much as those musical specials for
nostalgic baby boomers during those fundraising marathons, I’ve been largely
content to sit on the sidelines.
That’s been nothing like the case for a pair of male
relatives of mine. While I, comparatively speaking, have watched everything on Masterpiece
but Downton Abbey, they have watched nothing but that show. The
wonder of it is that these guys normally are neither Anglophiles nor culture
vultures, but more than happy to spend several hours a night watching one
sports event or other.
It was a sad day indeed in those two households when
those relatives and their wives watched the last of the original 52 episodes of
the show after six seasons. Then came the movie version in 2019,
and—wouldn’t you know it?—they were among its troop of fans out for opening
weekend.
This weekend, when each of these relatives will be
otherwise engaged, that won’t be quite the case with the premiere of Downtown Abbey: A New Era. But you can take it to the bank that the first chance
they get, they’re going to catch up to the latest adventures of the Earl of Grantham,
Lady Cora and Crew.
And, beyond that, the next time there’s a PBS Downton
Abbey marathon, they’ll be taking it very seriously indeed, unlike Modern
Family’s Jay.
(For those of my readers who can’t get enough of the
show, you’ll want to check out the Downtown Abbey Online blog.)
Luke
(played by Nolan Gould): "Oh,
gross! I didn't know Grandpa could still do it."
