Jane Austen on PBS

Knowing how many Jane Austen fans are on here I wondered if anyone has started watching the adaptations of her films they are showing on PBS the next couple of months. There are some that are never done like Northanger Abbey that I am looking forward to seeing.

Anyone else watching?

Is PBS on cable?

I don't know. I don't have cable. It is public broadcasting so it shouldn't be. I think it is being done as part of the Masterpiece Theatre Series. They are rebroadcasting two that are old (the Pride and prejudice is the Jennifer Ehle/ Colin Firth one) and some are new for the series.

I don't have cable, either. That's why I wondered. It seems I miss all the good shows. My tv is nearly always off.

Where did you hear about this, or rather, do you know when they'll be on PBS?

K- I saw a preview on my PBS station. Yes I have to check things out on DVD later all the time but if I had cable it would be a real time and money sinkhole.

Here's the masterpice theater link. I hope it works. It should link you to times at your local station. It is on on Sunday nights in Chicago.

http://pressroom.pbs.org/documents/masterpiece_theatre_complete_jane_austen_rls

My cable has the local PBS stations. I think it might be required for the companies to carry them.

Thanks, Maren! You're the best. :)

#6 cable companies generaly carry all the local channels. the only times they don't is when there is a disagreement over the contract.

Thanks for the heads up! I'll have to check it out too!

I watched persuation the other night on PBS. It was okay, but I'm not a Jane Austen fan

I love Jane Austen and watched Persuasion on Sunday night and liked it very much. I'm looking forward to the others. Of course, I own the Firth/Ehle version of Pride and Prejudice on DVD and have seen it and other versions of it many times, and I've seen several versions of Emma and Sense & Sensibility, but the others I've only read.

I watched Persuasion Sunday and I have to say it doesn't hold a candle to the 1990's version that starred Amanda Root. I will keep watching Masterpiece Theatre each Sunday to see the other adaptations. I am really looking forward to Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park, because I have never seen an adaptation of either one that I have liked. These versions won't have to compete with anything.

Go Jane!

There are old films of Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park that leave A LOT to be desired. Northanger Abbey is lovely to look at for scenery and costumes, though.

I'm looking forward to the new ones (I guess they've already aired in the UK).

Edit: I checked the old ones out from the library.

Looks like I'm going to be working the night that Mansfield Park is on. :(

Edited for touchstone.

Oh compskibook I loved the 1990 adaptation of Persuasion. I too am excited to see Northanger Abbey which I think is very funny and Mansfield Park They are also doing a biopic on Jane Austen at the end I own the Ehle/Firth P&P but I'll happily watch it again. . .

I really should read the books...but I couldn't get past the first twenty pages of Pride and Prejudice, and I didn't like the movie either. So...I'm not an Austen person.

AR do you like gothic novels? If so it might be easier to start with Northanger Abbey which makes fun of reading too many gothic novels. . .

I watched Northanger Abbey last night and really enjoyed it!

Me, too. Much better than Persuasion, but not as good at the 90's Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice.

Blast, I forgot! I was probably working when it was on, anways. :(

I liked it too!

I enjoyed it as well. It was a little rushed but it captured the ambiance and the humor of the novel admirably. I was glad to see an adaptation of it.

Ditto #22. :) Of course Northanger Abbey is one of few Austen's that I have not read and now I'm eager to read it. Add another one to the good ol' TBR pile!

Oh you'll love it el. It is lighter than some but I think also funnier since she is making fun of the gothic novel.

I need to read Persuasion too but Abbey is next in line when I read another dose of Austen. I could tell that they were trying to cram a lot into the movie. I wish it had been at least 2 hours instead of 1.5.

That's also my beef with the Keira Knightly version of P&P. I liked it fine but I felt that the Colin Firth A&E version was much truer to the book simply because they had more time to fit things in. I can understand that PBS can't make a 6 hour miniseries for each novel but I think 2 hours would have at least been a better summary.

But just ignore my complaints because I already set up Mansfield Park to record. :)

Hee Hee. I love Persuasion but I liked the 1990s version. I didn't see the Keira Knightly one but adore the Ehle/Firth one.

I am nervous about Mansfield Park because it is my least favorite of the novels and because Billie Piper doesn't seem to have a period costume or hair. It is strange- all the photos look like she is in a different movie. But I'll watch it anyway if I can.

I really liked the 1999 movie of Mansfield Park with Frances O'Connor and Johnny Lee Miller. Curious to see how the PBS version will compare.

I didn't see that one. I may have to do my own personal comparison afterward. I understand Fanny in the movie was much more self-assured and less trod upon than she was in the novel which would help.

Yeah, I actually read it after seeing the movie so I think that gave me a better image of her character. I may not have liked the novel much if I had not seen the film.

Did anyone watch Mansfield Park last night? I thought it was okay once I got over the fact that the lead was the girl from Dr. Who. Oh, and once I got over her hair!

Trivia: What Mansfield Park character did JK Rowling name a character after?

I don't know and now I am very curious!!!

I hated the Mansfield Park movie last night. Well, maybe not hated, but didn't like very much.

I missed it last night I was seeing a play Journey's End about British Soldiers in WWI - Beautiful and heartbreaking.

I was worried about the adaptation though both because Mansfield Park is not my favorite and because they seemed to make Billie Piper look modern and not period.

I don't recall the charcters apart from Fanny to answer your trivia CB.

As long as I pretended it had nothing to do with Jane Austen's book, I liked it. As an adaptation it sucked, but as a cute timewaster of a romantic movie, it was ok. Billie Piper was horribly miscast as the mousy, meek Fanny - she couldn't do mousy or meek if her life depended on it.

Oh, and the answer to Compskibook's question is ... Mrs. Norris!

>27 elbakerone: I loved the 1999 version of Mansfield Park too. I briefly flipped over to the one on PBS last night, but I couldn't get over that horrid actress playing Fanny, and so flipped away pretty quickly.

#33 -- But does this mean that Filch is a Jane Austen fan? Hmmm . . . whole new layers to that character, eh? ;-)

#30,33,35 - LOL!! Picturing Filch huddled in his office reading Emma! Maybe that's why he's so grouchy is cause the students keep interrupting his reading time!

33: DingDingDing to tardis! Does that by any chance stand for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space?

35,36 LOL!!!

#34 - Now I'm worried about watching the PBS version. I taped it but haven't watched it yet... From the previews I agree that the actress doesn't seem to fit the part as well as O'Connor.

She is badly, horribly miscast.

37: yes, sort of.

38: pretend it is just some random period romatic comedy, and not actually Mansfield Park at all, and you might enjoy it. I did.

39: agreed. Quite a good actress, totally wrong for this part. On the other hand, a more faithful adaptation and a director who actually understood the story and characters might have made this odd bit of casting work better.

Agreed. I sometimes think screenwriters don't actually read the book they are adapting. They read a review, or a cover, and then make up the story they think should be.

One Mansfield Park movie I saw had Uncle going to the West Indies for perverted sexual activity, or slave rape, or something. I've forgotten now, it has been so long. I saw this movie before I read the book and I kept waiting for the "unmasking" of all this perversion when I was reading. I am still shaking my head... :)

Oh I think Filch is definitely a disappointed romantic.

#42 -- this does not bode well for my future.

*has mental image of self in dingy office reading Sense and Sensibility and thinking up ways to torment library patrons*

Did anyone watch Miss Austen Regrets tonight? My husband was very patient when I changed channels and only switched back to see the scores twice.

I liked it.

43 Oh foggi you will not be a disappointed romantic and presumably you don't want to string any library patrons up by their thumbs in the dungeon. . . or do you?

Only the teenagers who look at inappropriate content on the children's dept. computers and then give me attitude!

Isn't there a medieval Librarians code of torture for those who wuld dare defam and desecrete the tomes of writen words? I thought it was still studied in LibraryScience graduate programs.. . .;)

#44 - Oh I missed it! Is it going to be on again sometime this week?

It might be. You'd have to check your local station's listings

Today is the chance for anyone who wants to be a Jane Austen fan to become one. A great Pride and Prejudice miniseries starts tonight on PBS. It stars Colin Firth, the ultimate HEG. It goes on for three Sundays and totals 6 hours.

Don't you wish they would make the Harry Potter movies into miniseries? Six hours and they wouldn't have to rush and leave out so much good stuff!

Yes! But they couldn't get the same cast and that would be very strange.

I had wished that they would have made a fourth movie for the Lord of the Rings and included the end of the book with the retaking of the Shire.

Well I only saw a little bit tonight but I do on P&P on DVD so I can watch it whenever I want to.

How accutely she captures social embarrassment. I came in just at the disastrous evening in which her sister played the piano, her mother talked about the engagement with Bingley as a done deal, Mr. Collins approached Mr. Darcy it was deliciously disastrous at every turn.

I think I missed the end of Pride and Prejudice! I was *sooooo* enjoying it too. Dang!

I did too. I will just have to go back an rewatch the whole miniseries.

I kept on forgetting it was on! :(