Comments on: PBS responds

By: Karen L

Karen L — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:51:59 +0000

I don’t think anyone would be sorry if Masterpiece Whatever cut out Gillian Anderson’s underwhelming and “spoilerish” commentary.

By: Baja Janeite

Baja Janeite — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:49:12 +0000

I just arrived home from a quick trip to the USA where I picked up my DVD “Persuasion” 2008 (the complete “Persuasion”, not the shortened, confusing version that I saw on Mexican tv).
What a difference those missing ten minutes make! We (all seven of us- my husband, my two teenaged sons and teenage daughter as well as our friends in California) enjoyed this version very much. I take back all my criticisms of the Mexican tv version. Even the music was quite nice when it flows and is not chopped up!
All that running at the end is still a little silly ….but I did not like the Italian circus at the end of Persuasion 1995, either.

By: Julie P.

Julie P. — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:25:59 +0000

Mags — It’s not so much that PBS didn’t want to tell us about the cuts, it’s that they were cut in the first place and that PBS is complicit by saying to ITV and the Beeb “Sure! We’ll take cut movies. Nobody’ll notice. Nobody in North America has access to your programming so we’re safe from criticism.”

THAT’S my point.

By: Mags

Mags — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:14:30 +0000

Laurel Ann: if the screener I received is any indication, about 15 minutes have been cut. It’s three hours long, they’re showing it in two 90-minute slots, we know they edit down 90 minute slots to 80-some, so there you go. On the bright side, it’s very likely that the DVDs will be uncut for S&S and MAR.

By: Laurel Ann

Laurel Ann — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:07:26 +0000

Interesting thread. Since US audiences got the snipped versions of the 3 new adaptations previously aired in full in the UK, and we got the first airing of the new biopic Miss Austen Regrets which was edited from the press screener, it will really be a slap to the US if UK audiences get the full version of MAR when it airs there. I am happy about new adapations, but totally perplexed by the choice to edit them down for US audiences. Will the new Sense & Sensibility be edited also? I hope not.

By: Zoe Rochelle

Zoe Rochelle — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:26:50 +0000

The PBS broadcasts of all the Complete Jane Austen airings have been of horrible quality in my area – grainy, dark and look like they were originally filmed in the 1970s. I get Sacramento KVIE 6. I have fortunately gotten DVD and HD quality versions from other places and the difference is monumental. They are beautiful. I also managed to acquire the complete version of the new SandS in HD and I am quite enamoured with it. I am told it aired in the UK in January? How it will look on PBS when it is aired is anyone’s guess.

By: Deb R.

Deb R. — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:11:58 +0000

“The poor quality of P&P is due to the age of the “print,” as it were. It needs to be digitally remastered, which would sharpen the image quality significantly. And if you have an HD TV is was probably even worse-looking. Changing technologies.”
Hmmm. I get 2 PBS stations and both showed this Sunday night – exact same broadcasts except that one was about 5 seconds behind the other. I immediately noticed that while the broadcast version seemed to be the exact same one I have on tapes and DVD, it was very sharp and clear and 3-D effect. I don’t have an HD-TV but that’s what it looked like! While the colors were muted like in my DVD’s (the entire Netherfield ball scene looked to be cloaked in a greenish fog), the people stood out sharply against the background. I was highly pleased! (Well, OK, Mr. Darcy may be given some credit for the good vibrations.) Isn’t Masterpiece Theater broadcast from one central location, so that we all see the same thing?

By: Mags

Mags — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:42:01 +0000

Julie, frankly I can’t imagine any scenario where PBS would say, “Hey, come and watch our incomplete Complete Jane Austen!” Know what I mean? Maybe I’ve worked in marketing too long, but I can forgive them for not mentioning it until others noticed. They may or may not have known that anyone would. People not in fandom are often astonished at how organized the Fangirl Underground is, in its anarchic and squabbling way. Certainly I understand your unhappiness with it, though.

Of course showing the cut films would have engendered complaints, but even if you go back to the first couple of posts about it, when we were first learning what was going on, there was some grumbling but a sense of “Well, I’ll just buy the DVDs.” It was when it was discovered that some of the DVDs were incomplete that the real howls of dismay began. (And of course after seeing the films that were not well-received.)

Forgive my fascination with all this, it’s the frustrated sociologist in me coming out.

And Meghan: Thanks for the kind words. Glad you’re enjoying the blog!

By: Meghan Belle

Meghan Belle — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:45:41 +0000

The cuts that these films endured at the hands of PBS shouldn’t be of any real shock. That is, seeing that they found the title of this long running series, MASTERPIECE ~~Theatre~~, way to wordy.

Mags, I have been reading your blog for several years now, and it is better than ever. Thank you for creating such a wonderful platform for intelligent, and frequently hilarious, Jane Austen intercourse.

By: Julie P.

Julie P. — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:48:22 +0000

I think they would have saved at least half the grief they’ve received over these if all the Region 1 DVDs were uncut. There still would have been complaints about the films themselves, and probably about the broadcast cuts, but at least they could say, “You can see the whole thing on DVD.” But they can’t even say that.

Mags, remember, they weren’t even honest enough in the first place to admit that the programs had been cut. When I opened my big mouth and told the audience that my friends and I had seen the British version of Persuasion, the question was then repeated for the audience and the person repeating it said that I had seen it “in Britain.” This isn’t the case. I had seen it in the comfort of my own living room in New York. And I wasn’t alone. Other people I talked to that night (not including my companions) said they’d seen it too and were also figuring out which scenes had been cut.

PBS is being completely disingenuous and are treating us like morons. They are also being naive if they think they can continue to cut scenes without anybody noticing and calling them on it. I really think they’re surprised at the reaction.