Two Sunday Choices: The Super Bowl or Downton Abbey

     For me, Sunday is the best night of the week for TV viewing. On Super Bowl Sunday when my father was alive, we always watched the Super Bowl, and he often won the pool, having guessed the scores correctly. A rugby player in his youth, he gave up rugger when he got married and became an armchair quarterback. Since the Giants are playing and we feel loyal to both of our New York teams, it is likely that we watch some or all of the game. But I will also be waiting for Once upon a Time on ABC, a unique look at fairy tales and modern life, and Downton Abbey, the latest historical drama from Masterpiece Theater on PBS (13).

     Downton Abbey is a captivating and beautifully enacted drama that begins in 1912 with the sinking of the Titanic and its effects on the aristocratic family, the Crawleys. The lord of the manor, Earl Grantham, only has daughters, so by the British law at the time, his estate has to pass on to a male heir, the two closest of which perished on the Titanic. Thus, the Earl is forced to dig deeper into the family tree, where he finds that a second cousin, a respectable middle class lawyer named Matthew, is next in line. The drama of the story centers around that conflict, but the overriding story is one of tradition and love, both family love and romantic love.

     So after the Giants have despatched the Patriots, I hope to travel to Downton Abbey, where Edwardian life holds some life lessons for us in the 21st century. What are they? Tune in, and you will see.