Two of the many good things about owning a blog is that, at least after 8 years on the job so to speak, you can say what you think is worth saying, and you can say that when you think the time is right to say it. Such as these reflections on what seems to be bad faith off screen in Downton Abbey. The television series continued (finally!) on Sunday night here in the U.S.
Dan Stevens is the actor who portrayed Matthew Crawley until his character was killed off in the final show of last season. The actor wanted to leave the show.
At the time, comments by those responsible for Downton Abbey seemed to reflect bad faith. They gave rise to a lingering suspicion something along the lines of "If Dan Stevens is going to leave, he'll never come back. We'll kill his character and he'll never be able to come back on the show."
Recently published comments indicate that the passing of time has allowed an opportunity to also express other thoughts perhaps more palatable to television audiences. Made a year or so later, these comments suggest alternative reasons for killing Matthew, other than spite, ill will ... or bad faith. See Sarah Lyall, "Life Goes On, at Long Last" p. 1, col. 2 (New York Times Nat'l ed., "Arts&Leisure" Section, Sunday, January 5, 2014).
In truth, human beings usually have more than one reason for doing a thing. In this case, these recently published comments are only now becoming widely available.
Postscript of Wednesday, January 8, 2014:
The long-awaited season debut of "Downton Abbey" on U.S. TV on Sunday, January 5, 2014 has no superiors in the long history of U.S. television ratings. As many television viewers in the U.S. watched that show as have watched any other television show in U.S. history. See Bill Carter, "'Downton Abbey' Returns to a Record Audience" p. C3, col. 3 (New York Times Nat'l ed., "THEARTS" Section, Wednesday, January 8, 2014).
Copyright 2014 Dennis J. Wall. All rights reserved. No claim to original U.S. Government works.
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