Gary and I don't share a lot of television programs. He likes documentaries about crab fishermen, crime shows, and British mystery series. I like some medical shows, public television documentaries, and history series like "The American Experience." We watch our shows in our separate offices.
When we find shows we both like, we meet in the living room to watch them on the big screen. We've had a regular Monday night date to watch "House." Over the winter, we watched the public television series "Downton Abbey", a British series, which follows the inhabitants (both upstairs and downstairs) of a manor house from the sinking of the Titanic through WWI. The series is being extended through a third year so we know what some of our winter viewing will be. ("House", however, is in its final season.)
Ever the history buff, I found an e-book: Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle, written by the seventh Countess of Carnorvan. Highclere Castle is the site used for the filming of the Downton Abbey series. During WWI, Lady Almina, the Fifth Countess of Carnorvan, ran a hospital in the castle, just as the countess does in the series. Her husband, the Earl of Carnorvan, married Alvina for her fortune, to keep the estate from going to ruin. She was the illegitimate daughter of a Rothschild, the richest family in Europe. It took only a marriage to an Earl to make her respectable. With her money, he was able to continue his hobby, Egyptian archaeology. His team, led by Howard Carter, discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen (King Tut).
The Seventh Countess has all the records of the family and interviewed the people who worked "downstairs" at Highclere. So many of them died in World War I and the Spanish flu. The book includes photos that mirror Downton Abbey and show how well researched the series is.
Tonight, there are no shows worth watching on television, but a good book is so much better anyhow.
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