• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, Yesterday

Facing financial shortfalls from lost funding, PBS is rolling out its biggest gun to drive viewership to its streaming platforms and restore the luster of “Masterpiece” on Sunday nights.

Starting March 1, the entire six-season run of “Downton Abbey” will become available on PBS’s own subscription streaming service, PBS Passport, and its Amazon streaming platform, PBS Masterpiece on Prime Video.

Then on Sunday, May 17, all 23 episodes (plus two specials) of the show’s first three seasons will start running weekly through September 13. 

The remaining three seasons, comprising 24 episodes and three specials, will air sometime next year on dates yet to be determined, PBS announced on Tuesday.

“Downton Abbey” is rightly described as the most successful series PBS has ever aired.

It is no wonder that PBS is choosing to bring it back now as the network and its affiliate stations struggle to adapt following the loss of funding from the federal government last year.

Public TV and public radio received financial assistance from the U.S. government from 1967 until last year, when Senate Republicans voted to end federal funding for public broadcasting estimated at $1.1 billion annually.

The cancellation led to the closing of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity that distributed the funds to public radio and TV networks and stations.

Now that this financial source has dried up, public TV is looking for ways to make up for the shortfall.

If PBS’s plan to bring back “Downton Abbey” is part of a strategy aimed at drawing much-needed attention to itself, then “Downton Abbey” is its best promotion tool. 

Considered by many to be the highest-quality television series ever produced, “Downton Abbey” aired from Sunday, January 9, 2011 to March 6, 2016 on “Masterpiece” and became the most talked-about TV show of its era.

Starting on April 15, 1912 -- the day after the sinking of the Titanic -- the show told the story of a family of English aristocrats -- the Crawleys, their grand house known as Downton Abbey, and their downstairs service staff.

Created and written by Julian Fellowes, “Downton Abbey” became famous for the sumptuousness of its design, its painstaking re-creation of the era in which it took place, and its unforgettable characters and storylines.

Among the best-remembered story arcs in the series’ first three seasons was the romance of Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery) and her distant cousin Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), both seen in the above photo.

Since “Downton Abbey” ended its run in 2016, “Masterpiece” has continued as PBS’s Sunday-night mainstay.

Dozens of series have aired on “Masterpiece” over the years, but none have come close to the phenomenal success of “Downton.”

Whether or not “Downton Abbey” can boost subscriptions to PBS Passport, its return gives a new generation an opportunity to experience the best that television has ever offered.