I visited my Mom several days this week, and she is one of those people in this world who refuses to pay for television (what we fondly call an Amish TV watcher –  I mean no disrespect). While I believe her ideas are founded, I’m not sure I can do without Project Runway, House Hunters and Design Star in my life.  As for me and my house, we shall watch cable.

Well, you can imagine just how far my eyes rolled when Mom got excited Sunday evening the moment she realized it was Downton Abbey night. I’ve been reading all the hype and hearing about this riveting program for a while now but figured it was just for those stuffy intellectual types, people with a British accent or people who have no other choice because they refuse to subscribe to cable — i.e., my Mom (no, she’s neither stuffy nor British). I even learned one important thing before the show even began – it’s Downton Abbey (one “w”), not Dowtown Abbey (Oops, my bad. But sounds the same when you have Southern roots). To my surprise, it was a quick moving and interesting show about a used-to-be rich family struggling to keep the manor afloat, the soap operaish lives of their house staff and the day-to-day life of the surrounding community. In a word, it was “good.” Drats, now I may have to rent seasons one and two just to catch up with these crazy folks and see where it all began.

So Monday night rolled around, and Mom got really excited because apparently this is, as she put it, her favorite night of TV. Yes, you guessed it, more public broadcasting, this time filled with new episodes of Antiques Roadshow and Market Warriors. Again, a very good night of television — one that HGTV might find hard to beat.

Who knew PBS rocks? Maybe it was because I didn’t have much of a choice, or perhaps I was trying to humor my mother, or dare I say, it was just good entertainment. . . I’ll let you know when I figure it out, but right now I need to set my DVR to PBS.