I watched this years ago and then rewatched it on DVD. Loved it again, and I know we had a thread but that was years ago and I wanted to start one up again. Hope it goes over well…
I really enjoyed it again and was considering watching some of the others. I’m a bit wary because Colonial House and Frontier House sound like there’s a lot of emphasis on the elements and the weather and how hard pioneering was and all that, and I was more into the psychological social class elements of Manor House.
Loved Mr. Edgard and M. Dubiard. And Hall boy Kenny. And yes, the family was just as obnoxious as I remembered them. Though I wonder, would anyone sound that obnoxious being put in that role or were they particularly bad?
Well, I mean, maybe we’d enjoy it more than we thought. Like, I wonder, if you took the most socialist, socially conscientious, very serious feminist type and put her in a Manor House and had her pampered and waited on, wouldn’t she enjoy it a bit? I don’t know. Maybe the creators of the show did try to find as assholish a couple as possible.
Love when M. Dubiard told off Sir John at the end for being a fake and not really living Edwardian life. It was a bit much that they felt “betrayed” over the authentic meal. Lame!
I’m wondering how dopers felt about Mr. Raj Singh. I liked him but I know a lot of people hated him and found him racist. I mean, he was genuinely in a bad position–between up and downstairs. And I don’t know if he was saying that the family was racist exactly in the way he was treated. Though I think it is a bit naive to pretend race didn’t matter back then. Yes, even if the tutor had been a white governess, she would have been treated that way…but at the same time, there was this huge amount of racism back then that had to be noted.
I liked when that Carribean guy–the TV host–showed up and basically called Sir John pompous. He was great.
Oh I adore this series and I watch it every couple of years. I love the companionship between the two housemaids, the constant difficulty keeping the scullery maids (the first two were such brats! what the hell did they expect?), Mr. Edgar’s dedication to his role and the arc of his approval then disappointment in Charlie the footman, adorable Kenny, the genteel Scots lady’s maid who was so sentimental about her grandmother the former housemaid, the priggish tutor, the hilariously stereotypical fussy French chef M. Dubiard, the adorable little boy, and the growing frustration on the part of the sister-in-law. Oh, and everyone’s reactions to the September 11 tragedies.
IIRC it was ‘Lord’ Oliff-Cooper who was pissed off about the Edwardian meal, mainly because he’d expressly asked for a lighter menu; the rest of the family didn’t seem to care as much, although the mom and kid were probably not keen on the huge pig’s head staring at them. Oliff-Cooper was pretty insufferable, but I must admit he did have a point in his snotty, to-the-manner-born behavior–acting like a typical 20th/21st century enlightened, “we’re all equals” family wouldn’t have been in keeping with the experiment. Though as Lady Oliff-Cooper and her sister both remark, Oliff-Cooper definitely took to the Lord of the Manor role very easily.
I watched Colonial House and it was enjoyable and frustrating, but not nearly as engaging as this. Edwardian Country House really felt like Upstairs, Downstairs brought to life. (I actually cried at the end when Edgar left the house. Brought back memories of Mr. Hudson and Rose leaving Eaton Place.) And Derek Jacobi’s narration sold the whole thing to perfection.
My big disappointmetn was in Regency House Party. I’ve never seen it but according to reviews I’ve read, it was just a fancy dating show, instead of a real attempt to live in Jane Austen’s era. Bummer. Anyway, if you like this series, you might also enjoy 1900s House.
Edited to add: I did feel sorry for Singh, because that was a difficult position to be in, not quite family and not quite member of the servants’ corps. But his behavior toward the rest of the staff bugged me. Nothing to do with race – I’ve read / seen plenty of literary governesses and know that he was definitely acting above his station for someone in his role.
Well the wife on in The 1900 House was got so uncomfortable with having a maid-of-all-work that she dismissed her. She just felt so bad for exploiting another human being like that. The narrator helpfully pointed that 100 yrs ago a young women in her maid’s position likely would’ve ended up turning to prostitution if she couldn’t find domestic work.
I remember wanting to kick that one woman’s teeth in on Colonial House. Grr.
Of course that’s part of it, and I think you’re not doing your job if you don’t take your social role in an experiment like this. That’s not at all in the spirit of the thing. But you don’t have to be a jackass! I’d love to see somebody do Antebellum Plantation House, but they never would.
My boyfriend and I would do just about anything to be on a show like this, but I know at least on one of them they said they don’t want anybody who knows a thing about the time period. Which is probably why they end up with so many morons, but I digress.
Like it was a surprise that there’d be, gasp, religion? And the preacher guy was so freaking nice about the whole thing and was as inclusive as possible, as I recall. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to be on there and get Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God for hours and hours on end on Sundays, The Witch of Blackbird Pond style.
Yeah, it was so aggravating how they signed up for this “live like a Pilgrim” project and then refused to live in the least like Pilgrims. We won’t wear head coverings, it’s unfeminist! I was amazed that one woman’s hair didn’t catch on fire–headcaps were practical for many reasons.
And they should have let them all starve for not ever working in the fields.
I liked 1900’s House, Frontier House and Manor House very much. On Frontier House, the spoiled California family who couldn’t understand why the other family wanted them to get their cows out of their barn. The Tennessee mom was such a bitch, but that strong will probably would’ve kept them going through the winter if the experiment had gone on that long. On 1900’s House, the daughter sneaking shampoo, and the mother deciding that this was the time to make her family vegetarian. And their maid-of-all-work trying so hard. I always wonered why they didn’t just bath in the copper boiler they used to do laundry. And Manor House - “Lord” Oliff-Cooper falling so easily into the role of Lord of the Manor, and Lady Oliff-Cooper talking about how full her days had become, and how she had so schedule time with the children, or she’d never fit them in. And dear, dear Mr. Edgar. What a great guy.
I only saw a couple eps of Colonial House. I don’t know why it didn’t engage me like the others.
I spent the whole Manor House show wanting to give Mr. Edgar a hug. He was trying so damned hard to act in the real spirit of the thing, even when it wasn’t easy, and he was so disappointed in that footman!
I can just imagine being on Colonial House and spending the whole time snarling under my breath and wanting to kill every last goddamned one of them because here I am out in the fields and where are they and we should have a real winter and then we’d see what happens to the stupid grasshopper and so on and so forth. I probably would have had a stroke.
I kind of wanted to see more of Mrs. Davies and Tristan–I wanted to know more about how they were getting on.
Was I the only one who thought Mrs. Morrison reminded them of Mrs. Danvers, a bit? Okay, that’s a bit harsh, but her whole sort of stiff not very warm persona…and after she told tales to the master. Though she wasn’t QUITE as bad as Mrs. Danvers.
Did you guys think Antonia should have been “sacked” for speaking out to Sir John, after he denied them the chance of seeing their families? In real life she likely would have but I’m glad she stayed–I did like her, even though she was technically out of order.
I love seeing really into the roles the people get. Like when Rob is talking about how the family laughs at the servants, and seeing that really made him want to put a knife in their backs–especially, I think, seeing the elder son, Jonty–I think it was worse to see someone their own age who wasn’t doing backbreaking labor. Like, through what accident of birth is he having so much fun while we’re working our asses of?
Oh, and I liked seeing Mrs. Whinney, a former maid at Manderston back in the day. That was cool when she visited. And I liked that a lot of them seemed to relate to their grandparents who were in service now–Mr. Edgar and Rebecca.
Too late to edit, but the part where the socialists come to the bazaar–the Clarion people, was that arranged by producers? Or was that just some people from the area who figured, “Let’s be on TV by being Edwardian era socialists!”?
I remember this show! And I remember thinking it was like the Stanford Prison Experiment, the way the “upstairs” folk took so quickly to their roles and even started believing it was real (like when the wife forgot for a moment that her son wouldn’t inherit the estate). Weird, and fascinating.
I had real issues about 1900 house, as I thought they were supposed to do life as it was at that time, in that situation and so forth … so they dismiss the maid of all work, and go trolloping around in a music hall :smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack:
You know what seriously sucks? I know 3 different re-enactor families who put in resumes for it and were deemed unsuitable to appear. In one, the mum actually worked in the kitchen of a similar house at a reconstruction village, and knew how to cook on a coal stove already …
I guess they werent as interested in portraying life in the 1900 as providing a trainwreck of people mucking stuff up.
Well, the whole thing is supposed to be about how modern people learn to live like that, and what it does to them, and all that. Reenactors wouldn’t give you that window into what it would be like for you, the viewer, generally speaking - I get why they did it.
Most of the problems with 1900 House stemmed from them being the only 1900 house on the block! Of course it’s boring - there aren’t any other kids to play with, there aren’t any clubs for Mom to join, church bazaars to do, plays to attend, etc. 1900 Neighborhood would have been much, much easier to live in than just one isolated house - you’re missing most of the 1900 experience.
Seriously, they got pissed off because they got a real Edwardian meal.