“It would be bad enough if this were cable, but the Public Broadcasting Service, which receives public funding, should be held to the highest standard.”

Last Sunday, PBS aired the premier of Downton Abbey’s sixth and final season, beginning the end for the popular period drama. While a bittersweet moment for anglophiles everywhere, FCC complaints released to Robert Delaware show that at least a couple people were not down with the Abbey.

To be fair, a majority of the grievances aren’t directed at the show itself, but rather the PBS affiliates denying fans their fix …

(including this irate viewer from Ohio who tuned in expecting post-Edwardian social upheaval and instead got an eyeful of hardcore pornography)

The complaints that do concern Downton Abbey’s content are in keeping with its trademark genteel-ity - one chastises PBS for not being specific enough about “the kind of violence that would be on the program.”

While the other is this masters class in prudishness worthy of the Dowager Countess of Grantham herself.

Proving that, like public television itself, PBS FCC complaints should be held to the highest standard. Read the full complaints embedded below, or on the request page.

Image via Wikimedia Commons