Some Masterful Dickens

Hey folks out there,
Y'all doing good? I hope so. Today was a great capper to a fun week. The weather was awesome, people were protesting inequality en masse, and there was beer to be drunk. Good times ahead it seems.

Announcement
This week the series Masterpiece Theater announced their new group of programs for early next year. I loved their Jane Austen series from last year, which was followed by the amazing Cranford. If you haven't seen the new 3 hour Sense and Sensibility they put out here's a preview.



I highly reccomend it. It was spiffy.

Anyway they are going to be following it up with a Dicken's series. Here's a rundown:

Little Dorrit- 8 hour mini-series. Stars Matthew Macfadyen, Tom Courtenay and Alun Armstrong. Adapted by Andrew Davies.

The Old Curiosity Shop- 90 minute single. Stars Sir Derek Jacobi, Gina McKee and Toby Jones.

Oliver Twist- 3 hour mini-series. Stars Timothy Spall, Tom Hardy and Sophie Okonedo.

David Copperfield- 3 hour mini-series. Stars Daniel Radcliffe, Maggie Smith and Ian McKellen.

After the brilliant adaptation of Bleak House a few years back color me excited. The Brits are incredibly adept at creating quality top shelf lit adaptations. One part of it is that they are willing to take as long as they need to tell a story right. ITV and BBC don't blink at the idea of spending 3 hours minimum, whereas in the US we freak out over expanded sitcoms. The other element that the Brits have is writer Andrew Davies. The man is the best writer working today. Yeah I said it!
Here's a list of his triumphs: Pride and Prejudice (1994), Bridget Jones's Diary, Tipping the Velvet, Wives and Daughters, etc. For these anglophilic reasons I have complete confidence and can't wait for this coming January 2009.

This got me to thinking what other authors would I like to see adaptations of their works. Here's a list.
1. Wallace Stegner
2. Willa Cather
3. S.E. Hinton
4. Kurt Vonnegut
5. Sherwood Anderson

It would be great to see these authors get "The Complete" treatment. It would be awesome if the American public could pull it together intellectually and demand an upgrade in our standards. No instead we'll be excited for Dancing with the Stars.
Oh well.

Have a great weekend! Book Slave.