My dad always picks at me about my British obsession. I can't help myself...the majority of my favorite authors and books are English, I love the accents, and I want to visit there someday. So he has never understood why I love so many BBC programs.
When I told him about Cranford, he didn't understand how it could be interesting. {Have you ever tried explaining the premise of Cranford to anyone? "Um...well, it's this little English village. There are these spinster women who pretty much run things...one of them is Judi Dench and one is Professor Umbridge. Well, in one part, there's a cow in pajamas..."It's hard to make it sound as amazing as it is.} So I decided to ease my parents into the BBC mini-series scene with something good. Something with a lot of mystery and cliffhangers.
Something like Bleak House.
The first night, they were going to only watch one episode.
They watched three.
Listening from my room, I would hear the credit music start and my parents would groan and say, "Oh, no!! We have to watch another one!" I laughed sinisterly and gloated from my room. Before they started watching, I had given them this big lecture about how it's different from films they usually watch, it takes a while to get used to the time period, blah, blah, blah. Totally unnecessary.
{I'm currently reading Bleak House, my first Dickens novel. Before they had finished the series, my mom repeatedly tried to steal my copy of the book and read the last bit to see how it ended.}
They're officially hooked. Next up is Little Dorrit (the only other Dickens adaptation I own). After that, who knows? North and South? Jane Austen? *gasp* Cranford??
Until next time,
I never fully got "into" the story of Bleak House, but I do adore Cranford and Little Dorritt. Sigh. We are a house divided when it comes to BBC programming/shows/mini-series. My momma and I adore pretty much all things BBC (except that momma cannot stand to watch Doctor Who, while it is my fave BBC show ever!) and my dad and sister leave the room grumbling if we turn on anything turn-of-the-century or british.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you and I would get along splendidly, Kristin!
P.S. Thanks for following me on Oh, Restless Bird! I'm looking forward to getting to know you better.
Too funny! I love thinking of them wanting to watch one more show. Alex and I just watched the PBS version of Jane Eyre, and we really enjoyed it. Alex had never read the book! He kept asking me what was coming next, and I kept having to tell him that I wasn't going to say!
ReplyDeleteI loved Little Dorrit (I watched it per your recommendation!) and Bleak House was also good. You're right, the makers of it were very clever in hooking on cliff-hangers at the end of each episode!
ReplyDeleteAwesome. :)
ReplyDelete