With back-to-back Sundays devoted to the Super Bowl and the Grammys, CBS has enjoyed a spectacular February so far. This Sunday, the only week in February with no major TV event — next Sunday belongs to ABC and the Oscars — the network's ratings will no doubt come back down to earth. But two of CBS' Emmy-winning crown jewels take center stage, and in one case shouldn't be missed.
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We thank Downton Abbey for many things, but most of all for the Dowager Countess.
Lady Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) doesn't let a little thing like being elderly get in the way of being awesome. We all hope to live to a ripe old age, but only if we can bypass the tiresome stereotype of being feeble and — let's face it — boring. Here's a primer on how to grow up funny, feisty and full of win, Dowager Countess-style!
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Send questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: [SPOILER ALERT for anyone who's fallen behind on Scandal] I'm a loyal reader of your column, and always enjoy hearing your well-thought-out and articulate opinions on TV's hottest topics. I'm writing to you for the first time now because I wanted to know your take on the latest installments of Scandal. I saw in your last column the tag line "Scandal is the new Revenge," and I agree Scandal has been far more gripping lately than Revenge.
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First there was Birdwalk Empire, and now there's Upside Downton Abbey. Sesame Street parodied the popular British import last week, as part of a lesson about the effects of gravity.
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[Spoiler alert: The following story contains spoilers from Sunday's episode of Downton Abbey. If you haven't watched it yet, read at your own risk.]
Although Downton Abbey's third season has already played in its entirety in the U.K., a majority of American fans of the series have kept scrupulously ignorant of what happens in order to enjoy watching the series unspoiled. And even for those who already knew what was coming, Sunday's episode was far more horrifying and heart-wrenching to watch than we could have imagined.
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