Turns Out Maggie May Be Staying
I guess PBS executives must have had a giant collective heart attack the other day when Maggie Smith told a Sunday Times interviewer that she would be leaving “Downton Abbey” after its next season. Because “Downton” without Maggie would hardly be worth watching, and PBS without “Downton” would be a fundraiser’s nightmare. So “Downton” publicists are now doing damage control and saying that Smith has always agreed to stay with the show “for as long as the show runs.†Smith has the right idea: it’s time for the show to end: too many of its characters — Edith, Barrow, Mary — have become tiresome. The sixth season should be the last.
