http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Commodore%20Skahill/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2002-22-2012.mp3
At the outset, Downton Abbey looked like just another PBS costume drama. But it came in from England with a little extra buzz, and then it picked up steam with viewers.
By the end of its first season, it had become appointment television for a lot of people who don't ordinarily watch PBS on Sunday nights. In its second season, which concluded Sunday night, it had reached the stage the programmers crave. It was a water cooler phenomenon, heavily discussed on social media and among real live human beings the next morning at work.
Downton junkies will have a long wait until Season 3, and PBS is not eager to turn back into a pumpkin. So it's worth asking: What was it about Downton Abbey that made PBS hip? What buttons did it push and are they in any way repeatable or transferable? How would somebody go about writing the next Downton?
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
