KSPS, You Have Been Warned!

Last week, Masterpiece ended up on Miss Nemesis's craplist. Today, my local PBS affiliate is on mine. Seriously, KSPS is one strike away from being Dead To Me. Forever. I was in my flannel pajamas, wrapped up in blankets (It is seriously cold here. Like, in the teens plus 20 mph winds) ready to enjoy another hour and a half of Austonia, when what should be on my television but some fundraising marathon of a travel show that only old people would watch. Until 10 pm. So I had to wait an additional two hours, for which I was already upset. THEN the fundraising didn't end at 10, it ended at 10:05. Followed by some distrubing blurb on astronomy! At 10:15 a title card came up informing me that since the program was already running, we would join it In Progress. AND THEN the title card stayed up for two whole minutes, meaning I missed 17 minutes of the show. The only thing that kept KSPS from getting an irate phone call was the fact that I have tomorrow off (Yay for working in an industry that depends on banks and government entities!) and can stay up until 1 o'clock to catch the first 17 minutes of the re-airing. And I didn't have their phone number handy. But on with the show.

Up front, I must confess that Northanger Abbey is my least favorite Jane Austen novel. I read it over ten years ago, but didn't enjoy it enough to read it multiple times like every other novel Austen wrote, including the novella Lady Susan and the uncompleted Sanditon. So I have to say that my anticipation for tonight's adaptation was half of what it was for Persuasion, maybe less. Which is possibly another reason KSPS hasn't been screamed at. Yet.

• I really like the young lady they cast as Catherine. She looks age-appropriate and believably innocent.
• Ding-Dong! Mr. Tilney is very handsome. I do remember liking him in the book. The actors are perfectly cast.


• Wow, John Thorpe is hideous.
• These dream sequences are hilariously perfect. I love the tree-leaning ecstasy. Hee!
• I forgot how perfectly repellent the Thorpes were. Especially in contrast to Mr. Tilney and his sister.
• I can't believe Isabella Tilney hasn't had a "wardrobe malfunction." She is totally popping out ALL OVER!
  
• General Tilney is scary. Captain Tilney looks like he could give you syphillis just by breathing on you. Ick.
• Okay, now I remember exactly why I didn't like the book. I spent the whole time being agonizingly embarrassed for Catherine and her ridiculous and silly imaginings. I had no sympathy for her at all when Henry berated her. And that embarrassment is making it hard to watch this.
• Looks like Isabella Thorpe had one ginormous wardrobe malfunction into Captain Tilney's bed. I don't remember if Austen intimated that happened, but I like the way the screenwriter handled it. Does that make me a bad person?
• I think we all got that Mr. Tilney rode a white horse, they didn't have to have one of the Moreland kids spell it out for us. Honestly.
• Oh, I forgot how much I liked Catherine's parents.
• I would totally make out with Mr. Tilney under an arbor. Way to go Catherine!
  
• I'm so glad Eleanor Tilney was able to marry her beloved. I remember that was a major concern for me when I read the book and I had forgotten the outcome. She was such a wonderful person.

All in all, still my least favorite. Although I will probably end up owning it, just to complete my collection, especially since Northanger Abbey isn't often adapted for the screen. Next week: Mansfield Park. It couldn't be less faithful to the book than the 1999 adaptation and its obsession with slavery in the West Indies. Plus, I like Billie Piper from her work in Doctor Who. If I have any great epiphanies after watching the first 17 minutes, I'll let you know.