The hotly-anticipated miniseries from the mind of Julian Fellowes (‘Downton Abbey’) was expected to be one of the highlights of the centennial anniversary of the RMS Titanic’s sinking, however, a bloated cast, flawed set-up and overload of social commentary amounted to one massive disappointment.

‘Titanic’ is a 4-part miniseries which will document the experiences of various passengers aboard the infamous ship which sank on its maiden voyage on April 12 1912. The ship’s sinking has been depicted onscreen many times before, most successfully with the eponymous 1997 theatrical release grossing almost $2 billion, and soon to be re-released into cinemas in 3D. But this miniseries, penned by the same man who turned ‘Downton Abbey’ into a worldwide hit, does not seem likely to follow in the footsteps of Fellowes’ award-winning series.

For starters, there are too many characters. Plain and simple. Featuring 89 main characters in total, each episode will focus on a select group before ending with their efforts to escape from the sinking ship. Episode 4 will presumably tie all of the storylines together and then show which of the characters managed to survive.

Unfortunately, Fellowes has tried to do too much with too many characters, barely giving the audience a chance to learn their names or backstories before one is suddenly thrust onto the deck where hundreds of inter-changeable characters are running around, spewing out stock dialogue of  a dozen other disaster dramas.

Clearly trying to emulate the appeal of ‘Downton Abbey’, Fellowes depicts the servants and the first-class passengers, and every other group in between. However, unlike ‘Downton Abbey’, Fellowes does not have 7 episodes to tease out the nuances of their relationships, nor is there the opportunity to create compelling or surprising encounters between characters of different social status. Certainly, a variety of characters do interact in this first episode, but it is to no dramatic pay-off.

The most glaring and irritating aspect of the first episode is undoubtedly the inclusion of a social issue in every other line of dialogue. The very first scene, which lasted no more than 60 seconds, referenced: the judicial system, political protests, women’s right to vote, class bias, and even an allusion to homosexuality.

Moving beyond that, not an act break could go by without one nationality criticising another, with one American character awkwardly commenting, “I can’t see the English wanting to drop the class system anytime soon. It’s woven into their heritage.” Excuse me, but what was this character’s name? Who was he addressing?

Why should the audience care? The most laughable, and again awkward, piece of dialogue had to be when an upper-class American character told a man from an opposing political party that he could sit next to him – all while outside on the deck hundreds of passengers were clamouring onto lifeboats. It was ridiculous, and simply ineffective on any thematic level.

All in all, Fellowes is clearly eager to explore class, sex, politics, nationality, and countless other hot-topic issues. And who could blame him? The RMS Titanic was a melting pot of different cultures and classes, with the accounts of survivors offering up various threads for a story-teller to pursue in this type of series.

It must have been incredibly tempting to produce a big-budget series, guaranteed to be given a massive promotional push, scheduled in the exact same time-slot as ‘Downton Abbey’, and sure to attract interest from the U.S. and beyond. But all those lavish production values amount to nothing when you have bland characters, forced dialogue, predictable interactions, and an badly-executed premise made all the more frustrating by the possibilities for provocative storylines which it had to offer in the first place.

With three episodes still to go, one can only hope that things improve. If not, Fellowes won’t be worried. After all, ‘Downton Abbey’ isn’t going anywhere.

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The new season of “Downton Abbey” has begun, and its popularity has grown since its first season, which previously had aired on British television in 2010. The series has just been released to Netflix in the past year, allowing viewers to stream it on their phones, computers, and televisions at any time.

This could have contributed to success of the first season, but season two has seen even more viewer popularity despite only being available on the PBS network. Downton Abbey is a historical drama that follows the ups and downs of an aristocratic British family set in Edwardian times. Reuters.com says that it is “a show we shouldn’t be watching,” but that “the hype about ‘Downton’ is deserved.”

American television viewers are used to the repeating and uncreative plots of daytime soap operas and the reality shows like the “Housewives” series and “Mob Wives”. Downton Abbey does not have much in common with any of these shows and lacks the typical nudity, swearing, cat-fights, and bursting out in song like many other popular American shows.

Yet, despite being a complete outsider in terms of American television, Downton Abbey has inspired a line of jewelry on PBS.com (the network on which the show airs), food articles based solely upon the food scenes in the show, and even has book publishers scrambling to put together publications on par with the show in hopes of getting fans to buy their products. Julie Bosman of the New York Times says that “Publishers are convinced that viewers who obsessively tune in… are likely to devour books on subjects the series touches.”

Why has Downton Abbey caught the attention of the American audiences? Reuters.com believes that in line with the recent cancellations of daytime soap operas, viewers are turning to series like ‘Downton’ which has a soap opera feel, but with a more original storyline and plot twists. The actors are also key to the viewer success.

Reuters.com claims that the actors and actresses of this series are “just good-looking enough” for the audience to concentrate more on the storyline and lives of the characters rather than getting distracted by the sex appeal and private lives of actors used in the popular show.

Not everyone seems overjoyed and addicted to this new series though, especially historians. Just days after the show was awarded a Golden Globe, historian Simon Schama called Downton Abbey ”cultural necrophilia.” He went on to say that the show is historically inaccurate and that the show’s creator, Julian Fellowes,  has romanticized the history to attain better ratings.

In its defense, producer Gareth Neame said that “‘Downton’ is a fictional drama, not a history program.” Mail Online points out that Schama is known for numerous historical documentaries, but has been criticized for “‘dumbing down’ history and being a ‘populist’.”

Despite the criticism, Downton Abbey has made it through to a second season, even though Fellowes had only planned it to be a mini-series. Viewers continue to tune in to this melodrama and British culture seems to be taking off in America, perhaps aided by the popularity of the recent marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

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