No Air

[ninadedrap]

Glee

vs.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

LOL. I miss the old Buzzcocks team -Mark Lamarr included-, Noel Fielding is boring and childish and even with Phill and a good host it just feels silly and somewhat dispensable. I fear the era of the panel show could be coming to an end. QI on BBC1 is lacking and Mock the Week might be a train wreck without Frankie Boyle (I'm hoping this won't be the cese, but...)

The Era of Costume Drama at the BBC is coming to an end, too, apparently. It'd be a pity if the last two big productions they did were that bland and half-arsed attempt at Little Dorrit and this new Emma, which I'm liking despite the leads. I was expecting not to enjoy Jonny Lee Miller as Mr Knightley (he's dull, severe and insecure, not much of a Knightley IMHO, although I'm tolerating him much better than I expected, and even have hopes for him in the remaining episodes), but my doubts about Romola Garai came as a surprise. Especially because she's a great Emma, snobbish, effervescent and intelligent, but I hate that they have gone for the whole "modern" body language trend. It breaks the mood in an unpardonable way. The script is perfect, the supporting characters are a joy (Tamsin Greig's Miss Bates breaks my heart; Michael Gambon is a fantastic and believable Mr Wodehouse and Jodhi May is the best Miss Taylor I've seen) but seeing Emma running wild, slouching languidly on a couch and flailing her hands while she talks is not what I imagine when I read this:

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.

It's no use giving the actors beautiful, accurate costumes and getting gorgeous houses from the period and a little old village where you cover any sign of the modern times to create the perfect Regency setting when you are going to have the actors play the characters as if they were hanging around the pub, watching the football on a Saturday night. And I'm quite convinced this was a decision from the director because Romola has done many other period pieces and she definitely does 19th Century better than most.

Despite all this, I'm happy with it. Probably because Emma is not my favourite Austen novel*, and my love for the story comes from its abundance of interesting and funny secondary characters and a the glimpse at social differences between a small community it provides. In that respect the first episode was faultless. I can't wait to see the rest.

P.S.Yes, I love Glee. It's petty and silly but it's also ironic, cruel and funny. And the musical bits are amazing. And it had Kristin Chenoweth who was a star, as always. Speaking of "Bryan Fuller actors", isn't it great that, now that we have seemingly lost Ellen Greene on Heroes, we get to see Swoosie Kurtz/Aunt Lily there instead?

*My Austen "Major" Novels list in order of preference: Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey. I'd be crazy if I had to include her so called minor works there, because I really love them, in some cases more than the novels.