A welcome return for 'Downton Abbey,' despite sloppy writing
Buy This Photo Joanne Froggatt plays Anna Smith on "Downton
Abbey," which starts its third season tonight on PBS.CARNIVAL
FILM & TELEVISION LIMITED  The more things change ... well,
that's it, isn't it? Things do change, no matter how fervently
Lord Grantham and fans of “Downton Abbey” may wish otherwise.
The third season of the justifiably popular British import,
created and written by Julian Fellowes, comes to PBS on Sunday
with the first of seven new episodes set in 1920.     Perhaps
that solution might be found by hitting up Cora's visiting
mother, Martha Levinson (Shirley MacLaine), a cross between
Dolly Gallagher Levi and Molly Brown, who swans into the Abbey
with her rough-hewn ways and a forthrightness that adds an extra
inch to the Dowager's frequently raised eyebrow.  Just as Lord
Grantham battles to keep things from changing above stairs,
butler Carson (Jim Carter) struggles to maintain decorum among
the household staff. Footman Thomas