‘Downton Abbey’ creator Julian Fellowes’ new period drama lands at NBC
“Downton Abbey” is finally coming to America … at least when it comes to the man responsible for making the show a success to begin with. We are sure that there will be questions as to whether or not Julian Fellowes is starting to stretch himself a little bit too thin, but we will get to those in a moment. Can’t we just share the good news first?
The early details about Fellowes’ new drama series sound promising: the show is entitled “The Gilded Age,” and it will focus on the sort of Andrew Carnegie and Joseph Rockefeller types who dominated New York City during the 1880s, arguably one of the most interesting times in American history. Here is what Fellowes has to say about the setting, and why it is so important for the show itself:
“This was a vivid time, with dizzying, brilliant ascents and calamitous falls, of record-breaking ostentation and savage rivalry; a time when money was king.”
As for why NBC would be interested in actually taking a gamble on an ambitious show like this, the answer is simple: they must be hoping with Fellowes that they could have their version of what “Downton Abbey” is in Britain: an enormously popular series that is of the highest quality, but it also accessible and appropriate for all adult viewers to watch without feeling offended. If the “Downton Abbey” ratings translated by proportion to the American public, than Fellowes could have a show that in theory would draw 50 million viewers. However, America is a far different country than Britain, with there being so many options for programming that it is impossible for anyone to have that much success.
The real question we wonder is why Fellowes would want NBC. This is not the sort of show that should be 22 episodes long per season, and it feels almost as though he would have more creativity had he gone to HBO or even AMC, who has certainly done rather well with “Mad Men” in crafting a story about powerful people in a given era.
What do you think about the idea for this show?