Baftas

Checking out the Bafta tv nominations made us realise that the blog was inspired by even more shows:

• Downton Abbey - we admit to being a pedants.  It's because we (OK, I) love the whole Upstairs Downstairs scene, dammit.  Many people have raised the anachronisms, though notably not many critics, so all we (I) would say is: a little more regard for viewers who might know their lords from their lackeys, please, and perhaps a shade more subtle characterization?  Just to make it a bit harder to summarise cast as 'kind lord', 'old battleaxe', 'nasty footman', 'feisty daughter' etc.

• The Promise - it tried its best with a difficult situation, but we just weren't convinced by the enormously irritating Erin, nor her quest on behalf of her granddad Len (who looked like he was constantly in danger of bursting into tears), whom she'd only met a handful of times.  Would she have spent a gap year hanging around in Israel while her friend was on national service, and while her granddad was dying?  Would she have been quite so reckless, naive and selfish, given that we are supposed to think her intelligent and at least vaguely sympathetic?  As for the romances, torn loyalties and murky pasts, we don't dispute these things happened and are still happening, but... why did it all feel so cliched?  Maybe because the characters were secondary to the situations Kosminsky wanted to engineer to illustrate his moral points.  Maybe.

We haven't made up our minds yet about 'Sherlock' and 'Mad Men' (yes, I know, after a zillion and three episodes of the latter).  We neither want to hug nor throw something at the telly.  So in short, we like, but do we love?