**********SPOILERS for the finale of Downton Abbey throughout this post.

Last night was the PBS/Masterpiece finale of Downton Abbey here in America, so I think everybody knows at this point who died and who is not coming back next season and the issues which will be in the mix next season. The finale was super-melodramatic and they had to deal with the fact that Dan Stevens wanted to leave the show. So they just flat-out killed him off in a weird car accident just a few hours after his first and only child was born. It definitely felt like Season 3 was a bloodbath, right? First Lady Sybil and then Matthew? Yikes. Season 4 might be a mess. Prepare yourselves. Anyway, go ahead and talk about the finale below!

Also – here is the full video of Maggie’s 60 Minutes interview which aired last night (we previewed it on Friday). It was really enjoyable! Maggie rarely gives interviews, and she’s just so funny and interesting. I didn’t know anything about her private life before this interview, so I was fascinated by the fact that she’s been married twice (divorced once and widowed once), she has two kids and a bunch of grandchildren. She also says she has no interest in retiring (she’s 78 years old) and Downton Abbey’s creator Julian Fellowes says that he will never, ever kill off the Dowager Countess. If you have a spare 15 minutes today, you should totally watch this. Also: she has no Botox. She hasn’t had a facelift. Her face is gloriously lined and wrinkled and wonderful. I love her.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

By now, I’ve seen the entire third season of Downton Abbey, and I can’t say I completely hated it. There were some surprises (at least they were surprises when I initially read about them months ago) and some hurt feelings and such, but I think overall the third season was stronger than the second, and maybe not as strong as the first season. As I’ve said many times, I take Downton for what it is – a fancy, melodramatic soap opera with great costumes. I don’t believe that Downton should be taken as “high art” or anything. It’s just a soap opera.

And one of the greatest stars of the soap opera is Dame Maggie Smith’s battle-ax Dowager Countess. I get the feeling that the Dowager Countess is probably the writers’ favorite character, just because she seems like the most fun to write for, and she truly gets all of the best lines of the show. Maggie Smith has won so many awards for this role, but she rarely comes to any of the awards shows to pick up her prizes. I’ve always wondered why, and maybe I’ll get a chance to figure it out because Maggie is interviewed on this weekend’s 60 Minutes!! So far the only video clip 60 Minutes has offered is this one, below, where Maggie tells Steve Croft that she’s never watched Downton. Ha.

Millions of people have watched Maggie Smith on Downton Abbey. But she’s not one of them. The 78-year-old actress portrays Lady Grantham in the popular series, which is currently airing its third season on PBS in the U.S. But the award-winning British actress said in an interview with 60 Minutes that she hasn’t watched the drama.

‘I haven’t actually seen it, so I don’t… I don’t sit down and watch it,’ she told Steve Kroft.

‘Never?’ he asks, to which she firmly replied: ‘No, I haven’t watched it.’

She explained doing so would only make her agonise over her performance. She said she may watch it someday. Smith explained of her decision not to watch the show: ‘Because it’s frustrating. I always see things that I would like to do differently and think, “Oh, why in the name of God did I do that?”‘

Smith told Kroft, in an interview to be televised Sunday, that what she takes from the role is ‘the delight of acting’.

She has two Oscars, three Emmys and a Tony Award. But she said the Downton Abbey role has given her more public recognition than anything in her career.

‘I don’t feel any different to the way I felt before and I’m not quite sure what (being a star) means. I am familiar to people now, which is what I was not before,’ she says. ‘That is entirely due to the television set.’

[From The Mail]

I think Maggie is probably slightly amused by the love her character gets, but she’s probably a bit bewildered too. People expect her to rattle off pithy one-liners like the Dowager Countess, and while her “I never watch it” comment seemed promising, I don’t think it was bitchy or saucy at all. She’s just a neurotic actress who can’t watch her own performance – many actors can’t watch themselves. It’s not a judgment of Downton!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

“Bitch, did I stutter?” - Dame Maggie Smith to the world.

I managed to get CB into Downton Abbey last year, I think. I believe CB was one of the few people who enjoyed the second season more than the first. The first season was definitely more BBC “classic” programming – elegant costumes, upstairs-downstairs drama and stiff upper lips. During the second season, it did become much more of a soap opera, for better and for worse. Like, I enjoyed the way Lady Edith and Lady Mary were developed, and Matthew (and his “tingling” lower half) is always a pleasure because Dan Stevens is just so pretty. But there were some really screwed up plotlines and the whole thing with Mr. Bates was just ridiculous there at the end. Throughout it all, only one thing remained solid throughout two seasons: Dame Maggie Smith, playing the Dowager Countess of Grantham, BROUGHT IT HARD. The Dowager Countess is AMAZING. Her plotting, her deviousness, her self-righteousness and humor are always welcome. And the writers always give her the best lines too.

Anyway, in case you had any doubts as to what Dame Maggie brings to the character, I wanted to share this interesting little story. Apparently, one of the producers of Downton Abbey referred to Maggie as “difficult” in an interview. So Maggie Smith HAD THE BITCH FIRED.

She’s a favourite character on Downton Abbey for her sharp wit and not-to-be-messed-with attitude. And it appears that Dame Maggie Smith shares some of the Dowager Countess’s ruthlessness.

The actress, 77, is said to have demanded that US producer Rebecca Eaton be axed from the show. Maggie was reportedly angered when Rebecca called Maggie ‘difficult’.

According to the Mirror, Eaton said in April: ‘Maggie Smith is a handful. She’s very difficult.’

Smith was said to be so riled by the accusation that she is apparently unable to work with Eaton in the future. This has naturally caused something of a panic, since Maggie is one of the show’s greatest appeals.

A source told the paper: ‘Maggie made it clear that she no longer wanted to work with her. As a result, Eaton has been asked to stand down from the third series, and her name will be taken off the credits.’

However there appears to have been something of a crossed wires, as a show spokesperson gave a different account,

They said: ‘The credits for series three aren’t finished yet, but it is highly likely that Rebecca Eaton’s name will appear.’

[From The Mail]

Yes, it totally sounds like Maggie pulled rank and had that bloody Yank sent packing. BUGGER OFF YANKS.

The Mail also says that Downtown is due back on air in the UK in the fall, which means America probably won’t get it until the winter, or maybe even early 2013. BOO! I have high hopes for Season 3. I think the producers heard some of the complaints about the too-soapy drama and are hopefully re-jiggering the show. Shirley Maclaine is coming aboard as Cora’s mother, and mother-in-law to the Earl of Grantham. And SPOILER – I know for sure (sort of) that Lady Mary is definitely marrying Cousin Matthew. I saw photos of the actors filming the wedding scene. GAH!! I can’t wait. You know Downton will probably show the wedding night too. It should be epic considering Lady Mary is a wanton slut who boned a dead foreigner, thus ruining her wedding night consummation (and her reputation)!! Of course, Cousin Matthew already knows that. I wonder if he’ll still feel tingly down there when it comes time to make a little Crawley heir?

Photos courtesy of WENN.