Have you ever loved a show so much you watched an entire season in a single day? Downton Abbey has been around for a while now, but when the show took home the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries (along with awards for Writing, Direction, and Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie), I was reminded of how I needed to get around to watching it. A week later? I shotgunned the whole series in a day and I absolutely loved it. It turns out a lot of people love it, even the Community premiere made a very solid joke about Cougarton Abbey, the tongue-in-cheek UK show that supposedly launched Cougar Town. (I’m an Inspector Spacetime girl, myself.)

So why watch Downton Abbey when you could just pop in your well-worn copy of, well, any old period piece? Here are the basics of the show to whet your appetite for old-timey goodness.

The Circumstances

The show is set in 1912, directly following the sinking of the Titanic. The effects of the disaster are far-reaching and I don’t mean just concerning the relationship of Jack and Rose. Someone close to the House of Grantham was on that boat. (That’s the official name that the family uses, otherwise they’re just the Crawleys.) This is a world still unfettered by the first World War and on the brink of some amazing technological advances. The abbey itself is sprawling and immaculate, thanks to the care of the staff who play a huge role in the show. The filming focuses on the characters, yet it silently acknowledges the abbey itself as one of the main characters. After all, it is the abbey that holds everything together. Art, architecture, and costuming all come together in a lush portrayal of English life nearly 100 years ago.

The Characters

Well-developed characters make all the difference when it comes to compelling storytelling — you know this just as much I know it. Downton Abbey exceeds at this on every level, from the main characters to visiting ambassadors, from the head of house all the way down to the lowliest of servants. Let’s take a look at the upstairs people first, where they follow strict social rules, but morals can be bended based solely on their bank accounts.

The Earl and Countess of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern)

He’s British, she’s American. Well-meaning parents put them together and by well-meaning, I mean that she had the funds and he had the estate. Despite their initial arrangement, affection has grown between the two of them. While different in both scope and circumstance, their marriage feels very real, much like Coach and Tami Taylor’s felt on Friday Night Lights. They are raising three daughters together.

The Ladies of Grantham (Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jessica Brown Findlay)

The eldest is Mary and she’s a bit of a spitfire. While everyone (well, maybe not everyone) would like her to be the heir, there are complications. The show focuses most on her journey to becoming an adult—there is so much that’s accomplished with her character. Edith, the second, teeters between scorned and treacherous in her mood swings. (She’s the strawberry blond.) The youngest is dear Sybil. Sybil is the most magnanimous and outwardly kind of the three, but she is not lacking in Crawley intensity as she fights for women’s suffrage. I’d say they are closest in nature to the Bennet sisters, but there’s a level of cattiness that would have shocked even Kitty and Lydia.

The Dowager Countess of Grantham (Dame Maggie Smith)

Maggie Smith won the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries award for her role as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, as she rightfully should have. It’s just unfortunate that the cast of Entourage had to accept the Emmy on her behalf. The Dowager Countess is one of my favorite characters. She’s not all that you automatically assume she is, for better or for worse AND she gets the choicest of lines. My personal favorite is “We can’t have him assassinated…I suppose.”

Matthew and Isobel Crawley (Dan Stevens and Penelope Wilton)

The Crawleys—third-cousins, once removed–are invited to the abbey as part of the inheritance scandal. They’re more on the middle-class side of things because they have—gasp!— actual jobs. Matthew wants to practice law and look studly in suits in his spare time. Maybe that second part is not his actual goal, but he certainly achieves it. He’s the latest reason about why my bio says that I fall in love with fictional characters. His mother has a medical background; you will recognize her as Ms. Gardiner from the latest Pride & Prejudice.

The Staff (Rob James-Collier, Siobhan Finneran, Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Coyle, Jim Carter)

Downstairs within the staff, there are just as many personality differences and power struggles. Most of the staff endears themselves to your heart rather quickly but don’t you worry, though, there are a few that you will love to hate. The staff is relatively large, so here are a few stand-outs. Thomas (James-Collier) has a few secrets up his well-pressed footman’s sleeve. He’s in cahoots with the thoroughly nasty Miss O’Brien (Finneran). In the pilot, they hire on John Bates (Coyle), who attempts to hide his past and his disabilities with a decidedly British air. I’ve never seen anyone exemplify what “stiff upper lip” means more than Mr. Bates. Anna (Froggatt) is the head housemaid and acts as a gentle guiding compass to the rest of the characters. Oh, and then there’s Charles Carson (Carter), the butler and he’s just wonderful with his fervor and wit. I was just telling my roommate that if I ever buy a roomba, I’m going to name it Carson.

The Drama

Downton Abbey respectfully pays its dues to Austen-esque period fare while still retaining a sense that not everything was perfectly proper and prim back then. (In fact, in many ways it feels reminiscent of Monarch of the Glen, which is another wonderful BBC show. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend net-qwik-flixstering it or what have you.) The intrigue that naturally arises from the politics of the time is fantastic, and when mixed with the the complicated relationships that make up a household of this size, it creates an almost perfectly drama. I can’t give too much away, but events happen that will catch you completely off guard. As the tensions of the impending war grow closer and closer, so do the tensions between family members, embittered staff, and potential love interests.

Best of all, the series is still on the air. The second season started in Britain last week, but us Yanks will have to wait until January 8^th for it to cross the pond. If you’ve been waiting to watch Downton Abbey, don’t hesitate. It’s easily available on Netflix Instant Watch, and it’s a grand way to spend a weekend. And as the Dowager Countess might say, “What’s a weekend?”

Tags: Dan Stevens, downton abbey, Elizabeth McGovern, emmys, hugh bonneville, ITV, Jim Carter, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, PBS, Penelope Wilton