Masterpiece Theatre

I’d always heard it was good. Or at least, that’s what all my “elders” said. And though I knew my parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents had wonderful taste, I never thought Masterpiece Theatre was something a 21-year-old would enjoy watching.

But — wow — PBS does a damn good job.

We have just finished watching Jane Eyre, based on Charlotte Brontë's 1847 classic many children had to struggle through in grade school. (I was not such a youth.) My mother requested we watch it, and as I switched the channel, I expected a poorly lit, poorly captured, soft-spoken recreation of some drab novel. Instead, I was drawn into the movie with such intensity I found myself getting butterflies as the characters fell in love. And Toby Stephens, the villain in James Bond’s Die Another Day, was not such a villain in this flick.

It’s a love story — one full of hope. It was a pleasure to watch — and caused my mother and I anguish when the first half ended last night, promising a conclusion next weekend (thank God we tune into both the Providence AND Boston PBS stations, so we were able to find a conclusion this afternoon). It certainly makes me want to keep an eye out for future Masterpiece Theatre adaptations — and support the station. And, most importantly, it makes me want to read the book.