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Elizabeth McGovern Down on 'Downton'

Actress blasts her own show for 'glossing over' character detail

By Corey Levitan Apr 26, 2012 9:52AM
enchantedserenityperiodfilms.blogspot.com

When asked by the media about the show that currently pays their bills, most television actors are scared to profess anything other than their deep and undying admiration -- whether true or not.


Elizabeth McGovern, who stars as the countess Cora Crawley in "Downton Abbey," aired some refreshingly honest criticism of the British period drama's second season, which concluded in the U.S. in February, to the L.A. Times yesterday.


"The first season was more to my taste than the show in the second season," McGovern said, blaming her disconnect on the necessity of dealing with World War I.

 

Bing: More about Elizabeth McGovern | More about 'Downton Abbey'

 

"What's made the show successful and different is that attention to character detail, and that's what the audience likes," McGovern said. "Writers [in Season 2] had to do a lot of glossing over the domestic life, and some of the small moments between characters that characterized the first season."

 

Also: What shows will be returning next season?

 

Many critics and fans agree with McGovern's assessment, and she should be celebrated for daring to express it. But that will probably be a tall order for her colleagues on the set of the show's third season, which is currently filming in Britain.


Season 3 of "Downton Abbey," which is expected to return to its character-driven roots, premieres in England in September, and on PBS in January 2013. 
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58Comments
chasper
Apr 26, 2012 4:30PM
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Married women of that era weren't really allowed to have character, which should suit Ms McGovern's very washy style of acting.  I think she is just grousing because she wants to take center stage, which was never the purpose of her character.  Sorry but she really cannot compete with some solid British actors and she is way out of Maggie Smith's league.
IsItMorning
Apr 26, 2012 8:38PM
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I have only seen the first season.  Elizabeth McGovern is the singular worst thing about the show.  I like everything else about it, and I was thinking it would be just another British costume - o -Rama.  She is a horrible actor.  Horrible.  I was hoping she wasn't in the second season.
denise reilly (princess of preoria)
Apr 26, 2012 3:13PM
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FUNNY I ABSOLUTELY FELL IN LOVE WITH THE SERIES EXCEPT FOR THE WAY ELIZABETH ACTED- I FOUND HER FLAT AND DULL AND NOT AT ALL LIKE THE REAL LADY ALMINA MUST HAVE BEEN.  I CANT WAIT FOR THE 3RD SEASON AND AM LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING EVERY OTHER CHARACTER PLAYED!!
huskydog2003
Apr 26, 2012 8:38PM
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she cant act.  She is the worst actress on the show,  they should have her fall down a staircase next season.  "Down the downton stairs"
george (Mister Gee)
Apr 26, 2012 5:14PM
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Jesus, Ms. McGovern.  It's been a LOOOOONG time since "Ordinary People". You were terrific, but also VERY lucky.   Be appreciative and enjoy your fresh new acceptance.   Complaining is SO tedious.  Gratitude is way sexier.
BoomerGal46
Apr 26, 2012 4:22PM
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Hmmmmm......let me get this straight. Ms. McGovern, who hasn't worked in YEARS THAT I  remember, blames her "disconnect" in Season 2 with the "necessity of dealing with World War I." What planet is this woman ON? The whole point of the series is how this very traditional family changes as the Titanic disaster, labor unrest, the "rising" in Ireland, World War I, and the influenza epidemic which followed. What would she have the Earl and Countess and girls DO? Ignore all the social changes, and just "party on?" PUL-EEZ!!!! I think this American ex-pat is getting snootier than her character!!! A whole LOT snootier!
Bren125
Apr 26, 2012 7:55PM
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I don't know anything about the show because I chose not to watch it simply because Elizabeth McGovern is in it.  Honesty, I think she is a terribly boring actress.  I am saving my money to buy Upstairs Downstairs which I saw as a child. 
jumpugly
Apr 26, 2012 6:40PM
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Ms. McGovern, perhaps YOU could breath a little life into a moribund character.  Stop complaining and thank God your a working actress albeit in the UK.
Sensible WithMyMoney
Apr 26, 2012 7:09PM
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I don't know anyone who loves the show MORE than I do. I have a large collection of period films including, now the first and second seasons of DA through a friend in the UK who got them for me pre-release (even before they were available through PBS). Season III is already paid for and on order.

 

I totally agree with the actress regarding all the tedious and boring war scenes. The show is about Downton Abbey and it's residents, caretakers and visitors not about every minor detail that goes on in the world around it.

 

Suffice to say, they could have touched on the war story just enough to show who was the hero and who was the coward.

Someone
Apr 26, 2012 4:03PM
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I was very disappointed that Cara did not die last season. McGovern should be very grateful that she is in a wonderful show. Don't know how she got the job. She was never a good actor, what a distraction on the show!
BoomerGal46
Apr 26, 2012 4:52PM
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JulieG, I beg to differ. Read Ms. McGovern's comments once again. Her shallowness in wanting ONLY to deal with the "characters" instead of having real fleshed out characters who must deal with rapid social change brought about by a series of disasters that were no respecters of class.  Season I was "more to my taste," she says. I stand by my comment. It seems that a LOT of people out there are only interested in beautiful costumes and upstairs-downstairs intrigue, however, judging by the reactions to my commentary. Perhaps in retrospect, McGovern is correct in judging the level of popular American taste, although I think the fabulous success of Season 2 would confirm that there ARE those on this side of the pond that like a little more depth to our PBS drama. Anyone agree?
L Parker984
Apr 26, 2012 4:56PM
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She's correct.  The writers need to dig deeper than resorting to a ouija board as a plot tactic.  Ridiculous and disappointing. 
Tom
Apr 26, 2012 5:57PM
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The writers are going to give her another case of Spanish Influenza.
sccfreak
Apr 26, 2012 6:42PM
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I LOVE Downton Abbey through and through, but I don't think she has much room to comment here.  I could tell from the start that she was the weakest actress of the bunch.  Now, considering the caliber of the acting on this show, that's not to say she's bad by any means; she's done a very nice job.  If it were any other show with medium to medium-good acting she'd stand out.  But here, I feel like she has to work to keep up sometimes.  She certainly doesn't hold a candle to Maggie Smith!  She's very lucky to be on this show and should be very grateful to work with such a remarkably talented group of co-stars.  I loved both Season 1 and Season 2 and I thought the differences between them were appropriate, given the historical change in circumstances.  The sides of life on both halves of that decade (1910's) really WERE night and day, and the show does a phenomenal job of portraying that.  I'm very much looking forward to Season 3.  I'm curious to see how Shirley McLaine matches up against Maggie Smith (who, by the way, is NOT leaving - that was a false report!).  Putting those two toe-to-toe could have some *ahem* interesting results.
grannyfan5
Apr 26, 2012 5:39PM
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NO MATTER WHAT THE ISSUE OF THE DAY IS, I JUST WISH THEY'D LOOK AT THE NUMBER(S) OF THE FOLLOWING OF ABBEYS THERE ARE OUT HERE'D WE REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS OR THAT. YOU ALL GOT PAID IN THE FIRST PLACE BECAUSE WE FOUND A SHOW THAT WAS FINALLY GOOD!!!! AND NOW YOU WANT TO PUT A LIGHT OF NEGATIVE ON THIS FINE SHOW, PLEASE JUST KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN DOING-THAT IS FINE PURE HARD WORK. I STILL HAVEN'T DECIDED IF I LIVE UPSTAIRS OR IF I WEAR AN UNIFORM! I LOVE EACH AND EVERYONE OF THE CHARACTERS, AND WE'LL KEEP TALKING ABOUT DOWNTON AS IF HOME AND YOUR OUR PEOPLES.  BLESSINGS TO THE ABBEY

BoomerGal46
Apr 26, 2012 5:02PM
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To LParker964: Please explain your comment, if you will. In what way did the writers "resort to a ouija board as a plot tactic?" In case you don't know your social history, a craze for spiritualism differentiated from traditional religions swept both England and America, as people struggled to deal with such unexplainable disasters around every corner, in their comfortable society wherever everyone "knew their place." THAT was the purpose of the use of the ouija board "downstairs," not a "plot tactic."
yourkarma
Apr 26, 2012 3:36PM
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Oh good.  I thought I was the only one that found her character one dimensional.  As the Countess, her depth  was everywhere from and indulgent smile to a sympathetic frown.  The only way one would know which was which was whether she leaned her head to the left or the right.  The writing really didn't get into the character changes.   Maggie Smith will be missed.
Kathytr
Apr 26, 2012 6:29PM
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"Downton Abbey" has been done before, but much, much better. The same stories were told wonderfully in "Upstairs Downstairs", a far superior production. "The Pallisers was also much better done, using the same historical time frame. I find "Downton Abbey"  terribly predictable, sappy, and so very, very "pretty", perhaps more style than substance. DVDs for "Upstairs Downstairs" and the "Pallisers" are available. For really great stories,  wonderful characters and writing, check them out.
BoomerGal46
Apr 26, 2012 4:51PM
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JulieG, I beg to differ. Read Ms. McGovern's comments once again. Her shallowness in wanting ONLY to deal with the "characters" instead of having real fleshed out characters who must deal with rapid social change brought about by a series of disasters that were no respecters of class.  Season I was "more to my taste," she says. I stand by my comment. It seems that a LOT of people out there are only interested in beautiful costumes and upstairs-downstairs intrigue, however, judging by the reactions to my commentary. Perhaps in retrospect, McGovern is correct in judging the level of popular American taste, although I think the fabulous success of Season 2 would confirm that there ARE those on this side of the pond that like a little more depth to our PBS drama. Anyone agree?
peter olds
Apr 26, 2012 3:40PM
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WW1 is a big part of british history, almost a generation of young men was lost.

enormous casualties in very short intervals.  The only out of place things I noticed was a newer Model T truck in 1912 and in 1918 a Rolls Royce with a later style body. 

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