Downton Gabby

[Life After Downton, Episode 7] - The damsels close out a rocky year in real life by recalling the many 2016 TV moments that made us feel so many emotions in a safe space: joy, rage, hope, despair, and general appreciation of female badassery.

As we each count down our favorite five moments of the year as well as a few disappointments, we also consider: which shows ended strong? What returning shows do we most anticipate for 2017? And which female characters are inspiring us in these dark times? Pop some early New Year's champagne and join us to process The Year That Was on the latest episode of Downton Gabby!

[Life After Downton, Episode 6] - The damsels dive into the world of ermine, tweed, taffeta, and yes... sparkly headbands aka crowns. Lots to discuss about Netflix's new show The Crown: some of us loved Prince Phillip's butt, some didn't; some liked John Lithgow's performance as Churchill, some didn't; and only one damsel recognized a certain actor from Game of Thrones.

Afterwards we list off some of our favorite female characters in positions of power. We are eager to hear your additions to our list! So prop up your stilettos on the desk, pour a glass of scotch, light a cigar, and let's talk about women in power.

[Life After Downton, Episode 5] - At long last, it's a new world on HBO, as multiple new shows with women at the helm populate the line-up. Up first, we dive deep into co-creator Lisa Joy's Westworld: is it the new LOST? The new Game of Thrones? Or something altogether fresh? We may not have the answers yet, but we are in the saddle for this journey!

Next, we move on to the new half-hour shows from past faves Sharon Horgan and Issa Rae. We want to love everything these women do, but sadly only one is warming our hearts this time....

Finally, we share some fabulous things, including praise for the oddball of HBO's current offerings (co-created by another pioneering lady, Katja Blichfeld), and a serious rift over the newest season of a trendy drama just out on Netflix. Sidle up to the saloon bar for a whiskey and join us for the latest episode of Downton Gabby!

[Life After Downton, Episode 4] - Summer is over and we're back with a brand new podcast! On this episode we preview the Emmy Awards and the fabulous ladies who act in and create some of our favorite shows. We'll also be live tweeting the Emmys this Sunday night (Sept 18th).

Downton Abbey is nominated for 10 Emmy awards, and we wonder: Could they have nominated an actor OTHER than Maggie Smith this year-someone who might actually show up??? Aside from DA, we're sharing our joy, scorn, judgements, hopes and dreams for several of the categories. Who do we love? What do we hate? And what do we wish would just go away already (Modern Family, we're looking at you)?

We also catch up with the latest news on Downton's Michelle Dockery, and the Dan Stevens IMDB Watch continues! And we finish off with some things we're looking forward to this fall (A Handmaid's Tale starring Elizabeth Moss! Ava Duvernay's Queen Sugar with a full slate of female directors! And...Wonder Woman!)

So fill up those champagne glasses, get Christian Siriano to hurry up and finish your Emmys gown, and join us for another edition of Downton Gabby!

[Life After Downton Episode 3] - The damsels dive into the world of teen shows with special guest Karen Draper who is a YA Author and writes about teen shows on her tumblr. We compare the shows about the rich kids with the shows about the dorks, examine the sexual politics, gush about the bad boys, and decipher the timeless-ness of the themes and why they still appeal to us as adult women.

The podcast opens with 15 minutes devoted to our discussion on Julian's two latest projects: Belgravia and Dr. Thorne.

Pour some cheap vodka into a Diet Coke and open a bag of Cheetos because we're going back to high-school!

Links:

Karen on Twitter https://twitter.com/kurenable

Karen on Tumblr http://betweenthemap.tumblr.com/

Loving Bad Boys http://www.worshipthefandom.com/content/in-defense-of-rory-jess-and-the-girls-who-love-bad-boys-1

[Life After Downton, Episode 2] - Class! Evil lady's maids! Marrying to save the family pile! Who else could the Damsels be talking about this week but our good buddy Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes and his latest projects.

We have a lot of love for his episode-a-week book series Belgravia, but really can't fully express our hatred for its app. We also stick our toe into his 4-part adaptation of Dr. Thorne and can't decide what's more indelible: Ian McShane's drunken rages, Alison Brie's blue eyes, or Julian channeling Alistair Cooke in his introductions.

Then we check in with one of our very faves, Call The Midwife, as it wraps up its 5th season, dehydrated from all the crying. To finish off, we take a quick look at Game of Thrones and all the badass female characters who are ruling this season (Queen of the North!!).

So go fix your gal pals some Campari with maraschino cherries and settle in for this episode of Downton Gabby.

[Life After Downton, Episode 1] - The damsels are back to check in on the post-Downton landscape, which luckily already contains Julian Fellowes's next big project (one that would horrify a certain butler if he knew about it). We'll be checking in with Belgravia as it progresses, so stay tuned for more! Then it's a fab new world as we welcome our first-ever guest podcasters, the delightful Britta Lundin (brittashipsit) and Dave Binegar (davebinegar), to weigh in on the recent controversy surrounding the treatment of queer characters on TV. What's the deal with this Bury Your Gays thing, anyway? How can a new wave of creators and the online fan community bring us into a better era of storytelling? And can we fix all the problems of pop culture's queer representation in just one hour of conversation? Grab a drink, settle in, and join us for the biggest episode of Downton Gabby yet!

[Season 6, Post-Finale Celebration] - Withdrawal, denial, grief...There's a Crawley-shaped hole in our Sunday nights, so we're excited that some of our smartest, funniest listeners are helping us deal with Life After Downton Abbey. This 'Very Special Podcast' features your memories, questions and wisecracks about things like: That extremely short period of time when we actually liked Bates; The long and fractious friendship of besties4ever Isobel and Violet; and all those scary appliances, cunning devices, and stylish ladypants that showed us just how inevitable change was. A huge thank you to this show's contributors*, as well as to all of you who listened, tweeted, facebooked, watched the show with us in sparkly headbands, and otherwise supported the podcast for all these years.

Please raise your glasses for a final toast to our beloved Downton Abbey...and to all us crazy fans.

*Thanks to our contributors in order of appearance: Hilary, Jaclyn, Kate, Mike, Jen, Sarah, Paula, Megan, Monica, Valerie, Sara, Vanessa, Melissa, Rebecca, Emily, and Birgit.

[Season 6, Series Finale] - No more secrets, no more lies-just happiness bursting on the series finale of our beloved Downton Abbey. As the captains of #TeamEdith, we wave our flags as she leaps over the final hurdle to her ride into the sunset (the dreaded mother-in-law test) and crosses the finish line with a gold medal. You are woman, Edith! Go forth and conquer. Meanwhile, cottages abound, relationships are restored, and everyone (who's straight) is headed for a wedding (if Isobel can break her beloved out of his plaid bathrobe prison) And in other "excitement": Daisy gets a haircut; Thomas might get to serve cheese again; and a mini murderous Bates is let loose on the world. Maybe we're not so electrified by those downstairs developments, but at least nobody died! Before you contact us with tips for surviving Life After Downton Abbey (#LADA), raise your crooning voices and a glass of champagne and join us in thanking and berating dear Julian, celebrating this wonderful show, and bidding farewell to the Abbey.

[Season 6, Episode 8] - There were never such devoted sisters! This week we dig deep into the penultimate episode of Downton Abbey and the Mary/Edith throwdown we've been longing for for 6 seasons.

We also ponder some burning questions, such as: Is Henry a dreamboat or a stalker? Has the Yorkshire Bawdy House market become saturated? Is Tom the best Crawley sister? Who would we most like to see die in the finale? And...what the hell is a Marquess? As we rush towards the inevitable finale, relax with a cup of tea at The Adulterer's Table, and enjoy this outspoken episode of Downton Gabby