I think I remember this show. Was it the one in which the chef served a whole boar’s head to the family, knowing it would gross them out?
And I find this sort of stuff interesting, and like watching movies like The Remains of the Day and Gosford Park. I realize those were set a couple of decades after Edwardian Country House, but still the whole look at the upstairs people vs the downstairs people is fascinating.
Cool- there’s a Manor House thread… I’ll have to get it from Netflix so I can watch it again and go over the thread. I watched it a few years ago and really enjoyed it.
Manor house Unclviny-style.
Unclviny
OMG, not at all! I thought Morrison was a charmer. She was so touched by memories of her grandmother and by 9/11 and the visit by the original maid from Manderston. I also sympathized with her getting snubbed when she told on the staff for being idiots in the hotel restaurant. She (like Raj Singh) was in a strange purgatory of a position in the household; a servant but also a close companion of the mistress of the house. Unlike Singh, she didn’t put on airs and expect to be waited on.
Loved Antonia! She was a pistol and I loved her feisty back-and-forth with M. Dubillard. Also her flirty relationship with Rob, heh. She probably should’ve gotten sacked (or at least she probably would have, in a real household), but I’m definitely glad she wasn’t. She got into the true spirit of the project. I think back in the day, she’d be one of the suffragettes for sure.
I have to admit my soft spot for Charlie. He was just lovely, and aside from that hangover morning when he disappointed Edgar, I thought he had a terrific attitude and proper work ethic. Awesome when he offered to do the scullery work to see what the maids were going through.
Now that I see the other posts, I don’t think I ever saw Colonial House – it was Frontier House I saw. I can’t forget the kids having to accept the slaughtering of the animals, shudder.
I felt like Singh put on those airs because he really had no one. It’s like the only way he could make waves was by constantly ringing for the servants. Even Morrison had the other upper servants to socialize with. Mr. Raj Singh had no one. No, he wasn’t worked as hard as the other servants, and in terms of that, he had a more enviable role. Still, it’s like…when Rob had a surprise party and the other servants were all joining in and he knew he couldn’t–that was painful.
Yeah, Antonia was a lot of fun. She seemed really hard working and got into the spirit of things but at the same time, she didn’t seem to get too broken down. I could so see her as a suffragette as well.
Charlie and Rob were both quite sweet. As, of course, was old Mr. Edgar. I totally wanted to hug him and carry him around in my pocket.
I’ve netflixed the 1900 house, 1940s house, and Regency House Party (though that one isn’t as good, I’ve heard–oh well, I’ll give it a whirl!).
I enjoyed that very much as well.
Was it the 1900’s house where the girl said “This house is killing me…” We got a laugh out of that and we say it every so often.
Me too. I know, people would feel WAY too uncomfortable, but I think it’s something really fascinating. We wonder why there’s racism and how these things happened. But look at Sir John and Lady Oliff-Cooper. You go to great lengths to justify your own comfort. Stuff like, “Well, it’s how life was” and “At least they were employed” and “We treat them well.” Now add race into the mix. Okay, it’s heavy for a reality show. But if you can treat someone so badly even though they’re your fellow countrymen just because of an accident of birth, imagine how much worse you can treat them if they look differently and you can tell yourself it’s because they really are primitive and you’re just looking after them.
I also loved how one guy mentioned that history is written by the rich so we don’t see a lot of what life was like for the servants, but there was probably a lot of interesting stuff going on back in the day below stairs. Plus they knew a lot more about their masters–WAY more than their masters thought, I’m sure. I mean, even back in the day I’m sure a lot of people were aware that their servants were smarter than they thought–like Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. But real life was quite a bit darker than that.
What were the top five or ten best moments of Manor House? I think I’d vote serving the pig’s head as number one. (Yes, Dewey, that was the episode.)
I also seem to remember the hunting party episode where they serve another pig but no one seemed to balk at that. Guess they were used to it.
My favorite part of Manor House is when the Socialists showed up, it really expresses how important the labor movements were to improvement of the middle class.
I went to the PBS website to learn more. There’s a page on what the people felt/reflected after doing the show. Holy roasted pig heads, Batman, I officially loathe Sir John even more.
http://www.pbs.org/manorhouse/thepeople/sir_john_postthoughts.html
For those of you who have seen the other ones (Colonial, Frontier, 1900, etc.), which would you recommend next? I haven’t seen anything but Manor House but I’m debating which one to get from Netflix next.
I really liked Frontier House- with the two families it was interesting, especially since they came from very distinctly opposite backgrounds, to see how each group handled the challenges.
We’ve been slowly watching them in the order they aired, because it’s interesting to see how the show concept evolved (especially between the US and the UK).
What is that order? Did they start with 1900 House?
Yes, 1900 house was the first:
Gosh, the Germans are keen on the format!
I wish we could get those series from other non-UK countries. I’d love to watch Outback House.
I hated the one in Texas – the woman was harridan, and her two daughters were the laziest spoiled brats I’ve ever seen. They couldn’t be bothered to harvest the food from their garden. They’d rather suffer from hoards of flies than clear away the dishes full of rotting food lying around everywhere.
And then they got all snooty about how the cowboys didn’t give them the proper respect. Hey, you’re running around in what would have been a scandalous state of undress, and doing shit. You didn’t deserve any respect.
I’m know I’m pretty late to this thread, but I totally agree!
The time when Lady Oliff Cooper briefly thinks Master Guy will inherit the estate reminded me of how Dr. Zimbardo and the guards tried to foil the rumored escape. It all seemed too real.
My mother refused to watch that. She said she lived through it, remembered quite enough, and didn’t need a repeat.
I seem to remember (and it could be a faulty memory) that the unmarried sister on Manor House was driven bonkers by the enforced idleness.
Me, I would have learned to ride and been out and about as much as possible.
BTW, an interesting quiz – You in 1905. I live alone and have a private income. Hm, not much different than today, really.
I’ve rewatched the show again since the thread (I started getting into Downton Abbey a few months ago and figured it was time for a rewatch), and it still really holds up. Mr. Edgar…what a character.