The following podcast contains no explicit language whatsoever.

Our apologies.

I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest, Rags to Riches, dot, dot, dot, and back again.

Question mark.

Edition.

It's June.

Can we please get through this?

It's Wednesday, January 12th on today's

program, Downton Abbey, the new masterpiece theater, Brit Import on PBS, the adventures of Huckleberry

Thin without the N-word, and the feel-good story of the golden-voiced homeless man, Ted Williams.

Joining us today are Slate's deputy editor, Julia Turner. Hello, Julia.

Hi. And our film critic, of course, Dana Stevens. Hey, Dana. Hey, Steve. And for our first

segment, June Thomas, Slate's foreign editor. Hey, June. Hey, Steve. Everyone. So, June, we would

have thought of you anyway to have you on to talk about this show. It's a total no-brainer, but you would send

an email around saying that you like this show enormously. Why don't you set it up a little bit,

talk about what it is and why you like it? Well, of course, it's all, I mean, I hope we're

all ready to discuss inheritance law of Victorian England. Actually, not Victorian, Georgian, England.

I'm ready. Good. I'm ready, June. Because Downton Abbey is all about an end tale. No, it's really not,

but that's the kind of MacGuffin that it's centred around. Lord Grantham, he's the Earl of whatever big spread of land,

Downton Abbey is in the middle of.

And his two heirs die on the Titanic.

And since he only has girls,

...