Filed by KOSU News in Art & Life.
January 11, 2013

It’s taken over 100 episodes, but we’re finally digging deeply into Downton Abbey this week, and because Stephen isn’t big into the genre of ladies in hats, we called in someone who is: our friend and yours, Barrie Hardymon. (Yes, you Barrie people can jump around with excitement now. We’ll only cry a little with jealousy.) We’ll talk about the first episode of the new season, what does and doesn’t work about the show overall, and Maggie Smith (and yes, this causes Glen to break out his Maggie Smith impression, and what’s better than that?).

Stephen returns for a discussion of celebrity/artist redemption; that is, what it takes to get an audience back on your side after you’ve either screwed up for real or merely given people the perhaps false impression that they don’t like you as much as you wish they did. We talk about what works best, from Jimmy Fallon to finding just the right role to simply going away for a while.

And as always, we close with what’s making us happy this week. I’m happy about an interview Barrie actually booked, Glen is happy about a widely distributed article and the reading it caused him to revisit, Trey is happy about a new film from a familiar TV face, and Stephen is happy that he’s been watching a whole bunch of movies and liking them all.

In the meantime, keep in touch with us — you can find us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter: me, Barrie, Trey, Glen, Stephen, Jess, and our producer emeritus and music director Mike. [Copyright 2013 National Public Radio]