For the Love of God, It's Not 'Downtown' Abbey!

Have you seen the extremely popular British period drama called "Downton Abbey"? It's all the rage right now. It won a Golden Globe! People are talking about it, watching it, DVR-ing it, weeping with joy and raising their glasses to it as we speak. And people and news organizations, which are bigger than people, are writing about it, and sometimes they're spelling it wrong. If you have, too, you are in good company. This is not to shame but in the interest of learning -- that wee "w" is tricky! Here are a few of the transgressors. Also, this is totally to shame.

Let's start with Facebook, where there are numerous pages for "Downtown Abbey." One of them has nearly 11,000 people who like it. Little do they know, that show does not exist.

Another "Downtown Abbey" page gets it.

Wikipedia, our sweet, darling Wikipedia, clearly got it wrong upon the first try -- while the description is fixed, the URL remains something of a blemish.

While this piece from ContactMusic.com questions the historical accuracy of the show, it fails to question the accuracy of its own headline.

These two stories, from the Hollywood Reporter and the Telegraph, have been corrected, but Google has retained the mortifying memory of what was.

In this transgression, Reuters, The Wrap, and Yahoo are all implicated: "'Downtown Abbey' officially takes its place among the best of 'Masterpiece' titles since the series began in 1971," executive producer Rebecca Eaton said of the series. "It's beautifully done and draws in millions of viewers - what more could we ask for?" [For it to be spelled properly?]

The Observer figured it out...

The New York Post, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, the Contra Costa Times, the Times Union, EW, and even the New York Times have all messed up, the latter on a "Downtown Abbey" photo caption after the Globes!

(When in doubt, check the URLS.)

All of this has us wondering, why shouldn't there be a Downtown Abbey, the funkier, hipper version of the other, the countering Julie Brown of a lower hemisphere, the FOIL? It worked for MTV. Meme-makers, get on that. If we're gonna be wrong, we might as well be right. Right?

Would so watch that.

[JDoll / @thisisjendoll]

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