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The Gilded Age Review: The story of Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey was separated along class lines; with the affluent Crawley family upstairs and their devoted servants downstairs.
Fellowes’ new series; The Gilded Age; also features servants and their wealthy and powerful employers; but the plot is divided along with a different type of class divide in 1880s New York: old money versus new money; with the main conflict arising between those who have always had wealth and status and those who have recently acquired the former and want to buy their way into the latter.
Outside of the stories of The Gilded Age, there’s a comparable tug of war going on. Fellowes has migrated from PBS to HBO with his customary obsession with the lives of turn-of-the-century blue blood.
PBS was the noblest and aesthetically high-minded form of television for much of the twentieth century; even if much of its scripted content; like Downton Abbey, was imported from the United Kingdom.
HBO has assumed that mantle in this century; albeit in recent years the pay-cable behemoth has had to share the plaudits and honors with streaming rivals that; in their way, the smell of new money.
Meanwhile; PBS has continued to plod along as usual; producing decent (and occasionally even better) programming but rarely exploding into the zeitgeist as it once did.
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(When Downton Abbey came in 2011; it was a shock to see how well it did because it had been so long since public television had aired the show that everyone was talking about.)
How Many Episodes Are There in the Gilded Age?
9
Meanwhile, after the final episode of The Gilded Age Season 1 aired on Monday, March 21 at 9 p. m. ET, all nine episodes are accessible exclusively on HBO Max.
The Gilded Age Cast
- Christine Baranski
- Louisa Jacobson
- Carrie Coon
- Morgan Spector
- Denée Benton
- Cynthia Nixon
- Taissa Farmiga
- Audra McDonald
The Gilded Age Trailer
This transition from public television to pay cable may appear to be a distinction without a difference in this golden television age with a million viewing options and voice-activated TV remotes that can summon any show you want regardless of where it initially aired.
Within The Gilded Age, however, the old-versus-new-money distinctions and tensions can be equally opaque.
It’s a show where the stakes can feel incredibly low, even though the acting and production values are excellent enough to mask the issue in many instances.
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We start in 1882 when sheep still grazed in Central Park, the torch of the Statue of Liberty was on display in Manhattan because there wasn’t enough money to send it to France to be attached to Lady Liberty’s arm, and the city was still ruled by old swells whose families allegedly arrived on the Mayflower.
Whereas Downton Abbey only had one house, this program had two, both located at the intersection of 61st Street and Fifth Avenue across the street from one another.
The widow Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and her spinster sister Ada live in an old and well-appointed brownstone (Cynthia Nixon). Agnes proudly defends the values of an American ruling elite that dates back to before the English uprising.
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The other is a massive white palace, custom-built to Bertha Russell’s specifications and sponsored by her railroad magnate husband George (Morgan Spector), as the first stage in Bertha’s quest to claw her way into high society by whatever means necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Happened in the Gilded Age?
The Gilded Age was an era of economic expansion during which the United States leapfrogged Britain in terms of industrialization.
The country’s economy was rapidly growing into new areas, particularly heavy industries like factories, railroads, and coal mining.
What Were 3 Major Problems of the Gilded Age?
The Gilded Age refers to an era in the late nineteenth century when the glittering, or gilded, the veneer of affluence concealed disturbing realities such as poverty, unemployment, and corruption.
What Is the Gilded Age and Why Is It Important?
The Gilded Age was a time in American history during the 1870s marked by rampant materialism and apparent governmental corruption, which spawned important social and political criticism novels.
The Gilded Age (1873), written by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, is the first of them and gives the period its name.