The Daily Beast: "6 Best Spoof Videos of the Emmy Nominated Period Drama Downton Abbey"

PBS’s white-hot British import Downton Abbey, nominated this year for 16 Emmy Awards, is now a bona-fide cultural phenomenon—with its own spoofs. From Jimmy Fallon’s "Downton Sixbey" to the Mean Girls-Downton mash-up, I take on the six best.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature "6 Best Spoof Videos of the Emmy Nominated Period Drama Downton Abbey," in which I take a look at the six best Downton Abbey video spoofs and discuss the swirling pop culture influence of the period drama.

While devotees of costume dramas instantly fell under the spell of Downton Abbey when it first premiered in the U.S. in January 2011 on PBS’s Masterpiece Classic, it took a second season for it to truly permeate popular culture.


Nominated for 16 Emmy Awards this year—including Best Drama, Best Actress in a Drama, Best Actor in a Drama, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and seemingly a billion others—Downton Abbey has become deeply entrenched in our collective consciousness. It is no surprise, then, that the show has prompted a slew of parodies, turning up everywhere from Saturday Night Live and The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon to an Arby’s commercial.

Fans, meanwhile, have taken to performing their own takes on Downton, spoofing the show with paper dolls, zombies, dogs, and stuffed animals. There’s even a “boyfriend’s guide” to the period drama that educates reluctant viewers about the difference between a “batman” and the Batman. PBS’s Sesame Street, meanwhile, plans to follow up its True Blood and Mad Men spoofs this fall with “Upside Downton Abbey,” described as “a chaotic manor house where gravity is inverted with Big Bird and Cookie Monster trying to maintain order.”

On Twitter, there are accounts dedicated to Lady Mary’s Eyebrows and to lady’s maid Miss O’Brien’s Bangs (@OBriensBangs), which seem to have a life of their own. The latter was created by comedian and actress Kate Hess, who also wrote and stars in her own Downton-themed one-woman show at the Upright Citizens Brigade.

“I had no idea that O’Brien’s Bangs would touch such a nerve!” said Hess in an email. “It made me laugh to think of her bangs having the twitter bio of ‘B. 1913 to a dustmop and a barrister’s wig.’ As an actress, tweeting as O’Brien’s Bangs allows me to explore a character, but I don’t actually have to learn any lines or get out of my pajamas. Also, O’Brien’s Bangs are more omniscient than even O’Brien herself—the bangs see past and future and even have their own tiny Ouija board.”

The producers of Downton Abbey, meanwhile, are only too pleased to see the show get skewered.

“I love them,” Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton told The Daily Beast. “Imitation is the sincerest form of television, Fred Allen [said]. There have been Masterpiece spoofs over our 40 years: Alistair Cookie, Monsterpiece Theatre. It’s an intersection of wit and humor, and it shows that you’re in the water. I don’t think anybody connected to the production in any respect does not like them.”

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, meanwhile, was thoroughly charmed by last year’s BBC Red Nose Day two-part spoof of the show, the first part of which can be seen below.

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The Daily Beast: "Rewind: Rome Burns in I, Claudius"

Thirty-five years ago, PBS captivated audiences with the blood-and-sex-laden ancient-Roman soap I, Claudius, which is still influential. A new DVD version comes out Tuesday.

Over at The Daily Beast, it's the first of a new series called Rewind, which will look back at a television show or film that has proven to resonate. You can read my latest feature, "Rome Burns in I, Claudius," in which I take a look at PBS' ancient Rome-set drama, which celebrates the 35th anniversary of its U.S. broadcast this year.

I, Claudius celebrates the 35th anniversary of its U.S. broadcast this year. A rapt and devoted audience consumed this spellbinding ancient-Rome period drama when it first aired in 1976 on the BBC in the U.K., and in 1977 on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre. Starring Derek Jacobi as the titular character and featuring some of the best boldface names in British acting circles, the Emmy Award–winning show—which ran 12 episodes and is today being released as a remastered five-disc DVD box set—is a multigenerational saga about the emperors of ancient Rome and the conspiracies, intrigues, murders, and madness that stood in their shadows.

Despite the fact that the poison-and-plots-laden miniseries, adapted by Jack Pulman (who wrote every episode), is now approaching middle-age, I, Claudius—based on the 1934 novel (and its sequel) by Robert Graves—remains one of the best dramas ever to air on television, a deft masterpiece of story, character, and, perhaps most importantly, vivid atmosphere. Shot on multiple cameras (whereas today it would be shot on a single camera in a more cinematic fashion) and with a budget that didn’t include throngs of rioting plebs, the style lends an overtly theatrical and intimate air to I, Claudius, as though the television set itself were the proscenium of a great theater. It’s here that the court intrigues of several emperors—from Augustus to Caligula—play out episodically; the show itself takes place between the years 24 B.C. and 54 A.D., charting the ups and downs of the Julio-Claudian imperial dynasty as characters breeze in and out of the frame, returning decades later to enact bitter revenges or suffer themselves from the hands of poisoners, assassins, or godly whims.

Narrated by Jacobi’s Claudius, a stuttering, limping man thought by all to be a fool who is nonetheless prophesied to one day rule Rome, I, Claudius dramatizes the period leading up to his birth and through his death, as he—now an old man and fading from this world—writes down the story of his life and that of his conniving family. The show’s opening sequence—which depicts a snake, a venomous adder, slithering over a mosaic tile floor—is both iconic and only too fitting, given the series’ depiction of ancient Rome as a nest of vipers, the most deadly of which is Livia (Siân Phillips), wife of Augustus and grandmother of Claudius.

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A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented: An Advance Look at PBS' "Tess of the d'Urbervilles"

Last year, PBS and station WGBH--which produces such fine series as Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery!--had an idea: they would combine the two series and then split the new series, simply called Masterpiece, into three sections: Classic, Contemporary, and Mystery. These new sub-series would better showcase the individual ideas contained therein and remain branded both individually and under the Masterpiece umbrella.

This Sunday, PBS stations will debut the 2009 season of Masterpiece Classic, which includes adaptations of works by Charles Dickens, including the eagerly awaited Little Dorrit, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which kicks off the season on January 4th.

Adapted by David Nicholls (Starter for Ten), Tess of the d'Urbervilles, written by Thomas Hardy in 1891, tells the story of Tess Durbeyfield (Quantum of Solace's Gemma Arterton), a girl from a shiftless rural family whose drunken patriarch discovers that they might be descended from an ancient titled family, the d'Urbervilles, and have only in recent centuries fallen hard on their luck. It's this discovery and John Durbeyfield's hubris in thinking that they could reclaim their lost place in aristo society by claiming connection to the moneyed d'Urbervilles, that sends poor, pure Tess into danger of both a moral and mortal nature.

Pushed by her manipulative mother Joan (played, one must note, with flair by Gavin & Stacey's Ruth Jones), Tess goes to see the reclusive dowager Ursula d'Uberville (Anna Massey) to claim relation but runs afoul of her wastrel son Alec (The Tudors' Hans Matheson), who quickly finds himself drawn to Tess' purity and beauty. Giving her a job as the manager of the family chicken ranch, Alec quickly sets out to seduce Tess as recompense for the kindness he's shown her family, including a new horse for her father and toys for Tess' many brothers and sisters.

After spiriting her away from her fellow rustic mechanics on the estate (who drunkenly descend on Tess in a rage for her airs), Alec strands Tess in the woods and rapes her. In Hardy's novel, this scene is a matter of conjecture: it's not meant to be entirely clear reading the book if the scene is in fact a rape, or as Alec maintains, a seduction. Here, however, the truth is palpably seen and felt by the viewer and there is no doubt whatsoever that Alec commits a grievous offense in the woods against poor Tess.

What follows is a depressing tale of a woman held accountable by society for crimes against her own person. Tess runs away from the d'Urberville estate (after a puzzling scene, not included in the novel, in which she breaks down in front of Ursula) and refuses any assistance from Alec. Returning to her village, she bares his child and names it Sorrow; the baby dies a short time later and, as Tess' father refused to let it be baptized, is refused a Christian burial. And so Tess embarks on yet another journey, to a dairy, where she meets Angel Clare (The Good Shepherd's Eddie Redmayne), a parson's son whom she had glimpsed years earlier during the May Day dance in her village. Despite promising to never marry, Tess finds herself drawn to Angel and wants to unburden herself by telling him the truth about her past.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles offers a heartbreaking look at the twisted morality of those bygone years and how so much sadness and destruction can spring forth from one fateful discovery or a chance decision. Directed by David Blair, Tess beautifully incorporates the scenery of Thomas' mythic Wessex countryside and is gorgeously filmed. Unlike some staid period adaptations, this four-hour miniseries stands apart for some innovative shot compositions and dramatic visual direction, though it lacks the energy and visceral pop of the recent Bleak House.

Gemma Arterton is perfectly cast as Tess Durbeyfield, allowing the viewer to see both her purity and simmering rage in equal measure. It's a tough character to embody as the novel's Tess isn't entirely sympathetic but Arterton makes her a compelling and sensitive character who is undone by the actions of those around her. Likewise, Hans Matheson makes an extremely believable aristocratic villain, resolute in his pursuit for Tess, across years and the countryside, even after an unconvincing spiritual conversion following Ursula's death. Eddie Redmayne is the ideal Angel Clare, embodying both the essence of goodness of his character's spot-on name and his very steadfast belief in the law of double standards. Additionally, one cannot say enough about Ruth Jones' turn as Joan Durbeyfield, all dourness and spite; despite very limited screen time, she stands out in a cast filled to the brim with fantastic actors.

All in all, Tess of the d'Urberville is a well-crafted adaptation of a novel that was, for its time, extremely controversial in the way that it attacked the morality and vices of its readers. Today, it paints a poignant portrait of the way those same moral sandtraps continue to plague us and how victims can all too often be blamed for being the instrument of their own wrongdoing.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles, part of the 2009 season of Masterpiece Classic, airs Part One on Sunday night at 9 pm on PBS; Part Two airs the following Sunday evening. Check your local listings for details.

Not Your Parents' "Masterpiece Theatre"

For some, PBS' long-running showcase series Masterpiece Theatre has always had a bit of a reputation of being comprised of stuffy, drawing room dramas and dreary period pieces.

Personally, I've never felt that way. Sure, it's known for its well produced costume dramas, but it's also the series that introduced Chief Detective Inspector Jane Tennison (Prime Suspect) to the States and lately it's been offering unique and engaging material that ordinarily might not have been within its original purview.

Last year, the trend started with the superbly gripping serialized drama Bleak House (nominated for virtually every miniseries award on the planet), which proved that Dickens' serpentine story of greed, long buried secrets, and lawsuits had as much in common with soaps as The Young & The Restless. It also raised the bar for British costumed dramas, presenting the story framed within stunning shot compositions and quick-cut editing that gave this timeless plot a modern edginess and distinctive visual style.

Lately, the series has continued the trend, bringing over the best and the brightest of high end British television, with a stylish and contemporary twist (though never totally losing those beloved costumes). In the past few weeks, Masterpiece Theatre offered a two part adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's classic novel Jane Eyre, starring Ruth Wilson, Toby Stephens, Christina Cole, and Francesca Annis that granted the adaptation a heavy patina of Gothic dread while not skimping on the tortured romance between Jane and the beastly Edward Fairfax. (No coincidence that it was also co-directed by Bleak House's Susanna White.)

Last night, Masterpiece Theatre premiered an adaptation of Phillip Pullman's The Sally Lockhart Mysteries: The Ruby in the Smoke, a Victorian murder mystery from the author of the groundbreaking series His Dark Materials (the first of which will be released as a motion picture starring Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman this December) which pits young Londoner Sally Lockhart (Doctor Who's Billie Piper) in a quest to solve the riddle behind a mysterious blood-soaked jewel while battling off assassins and thieves after the gem. Ruby is the first in a quartet of novels and the sequel, The Tiger in the Well, is due on British television later this year.

But what I am most excited about is next week's adaptation of Dracula, starring Marc Warren (State of Play, Doctor Who, Band of Brothers) as the titular bloodsucker and David Suchet (Poirot) as his nemesis Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. (Also look for Doctor Who's Sophia Myles to turn up as victim Lucy Westenra.) Said to delve into themes of sexuality and disease that writer Bram Stoker only hinted at, this Dracula is a lush production with a modern sensibility that is sure to entertain and captivate.

As always, check local listings and times. But as for me, I can't wait for Sunday nights now to get my fix. And when was the last time you heard any one say that about Masterpiece Theatre?

What's On Tonight

8 pm: How I Met Your Mother/The Class (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); Everybody Hates Chris/All of Us (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Prison Break (FOX); Wicked Wicked Games (MyNet)

9 pm: Two and a Half Men/Rules of Engagement (CBS); Heroes (NBC); Girlfriends/The Game (CW); Supernanny (ABC); 24 (FOX); Watch Over Me (MyNet)

10 pm: CSI: Miami (CBS); Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC); What About Brian (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Everybody Hates Chris.

Everybody Hates Chris, recently picked up for a third season, returns tonight with a new batch of episodes. On tonight's episode ("Everybody Hates Snow Day"), Chris accidentally ends up going to school on a snow day, only to get trapped inside with Principal Edwards (guest star Jason Alexander) until Rochelle and Julius are tracked down. Worst. Day. Ever.

9 pm: 24.

It's 9 am on Day Six of 24. While FOX doesn't give us much in the way of previews, President Palmer (D.B. Woodside) and his advisers continue to deal with the, er, fallout from the nuclear blast in Valencia sans Karen Hayes, Jack is reunited with his estranged father, Jack's bro is a bad, bad man, and Lennox's plan involves Vice President Noah Daniels (Powers Boothe).

10 pm: Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel.

On tonight's episode, Tony travels to Telvisionary's turf, namely Los Angeles, where it would be sinful if the chef/author/culinary enfant terrible didn't stop by Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles. But he does. With Jerry Stahl. So it's okay.