Related Items
7. Downton Abbey
Set in a fictional country estate in the years leading up to World War I, British import "Downton Abbey" centers around the aristocratic, fabulously well-to-do Crawley family and their decidely less well-off staff of servants.
Essentially "Upstairs, Downstairs" for the single-cam set (don't get us started about last year's far inferior "Upstairs, Downstairs" reboot—bleh!), "Downton" toes the line between understated period drama (ladies in fancy hats! candelabras!) and daytime soap (scandalous affairs! murderous plots!). When Maggie Smith is merely a featured player in an ensemble televisions series, you know you've got something special on your hands.
