Complete Jane Austen airs Sunday!

[waterhouseemrys]

Hey all! I just wanted you to be aware that PBS (Masterpiece Theater) is airing all six Jane Austen novels plus a biopic about Jane Austen (not Becoming Jane, Miss Austen Regrets) this season. If you haven't seen any Jane Austen, I would highly recommend that you give her a chance. She is not at all stuffy, and although her books appear to be period stiff chick flicks/books, men and women I've known who previously turned their noses up at it, have loved her work (film or book) if they give it a chance. In fact, some people I have known who were not book lovers at all became converts to good literature after being introduced to Austen. Although Austen is passionate, her writing style, wit, and analysis of the human condition and the age she lived in leads most personality/intellectual profilers to label Austen a Rationalist. Hey, I am the type of girl who would rather watch a bad action flick then submit to most romantic comedies. But there is always the possibility of someone who does not follow the normal --abnormal?--Austen addiction, and if you have tried Jane and failed to love her, I guess I can understand.

The first film adaptation airs this Sunday (January 13). Four of the six novels have BRAND NEW-- NEVER BEFORE SEEN --UNLESS YOU LIVE IN UK OR HAVE ACCESS TO REGION 2 DVD PLAYERS--ADAPTATIONS! The other two, Pride and Prejudice and Emma, are the ones that aired in the mid nineties on A&E, and if you haven't seen them, you must, and if you have, you like me are probably not disappointed in the slightest that they are re-airing these films! I cannot wait; I've been looking forward to this since summer when I first heard that The Complete Jane Austen was coming.

I loved the BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice, and I have come to love the work of its teleplay adapter, Andrew Davis. He has written the adaptation of the brand new Sense and Sensibility that will air during this season on PBS. I love the Emma Thompson adaptation of Sense (directed by Ang Lee, starring Emma, Kate Winslet, academy award winning movie...highly recommended if you haven't already seen it), but I can't wait to see how Davis interprets and if he stays truer (which is usually his pattern when adapting literary classics) to the original novel. It will be something to see.



Here's a link if you wish for more detailed information about this programming from the official site! www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html

[Maidryn]

Ya know, I've been watching some of the Jane Austen stories on Masterpiece on Sundays; tuning in here and there. Last week they had a version of "Sense and Sensibility". Now , if you like Jane Austen at all, you've probably seen the feature film of it starring Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman. I have it on Video and I've seen it many, many times. But when I watched part 1 of the Masterpiece version I found it fascinating how the exact same book can look so different when it is made by a different group of people. The basic plot is the same but it's truly "apples and oranges". A good story, an interesting comparison, great acting, directing, costumes and NO COMMERCIALS. What more can you ask for? Wow!