War and Peace and Excellence

Months ago I wrote a blog post titled  Why No Dostoyevsky about how the great classics of countries other than England seem almost ignored by PBS. Most of us are fond of the novels of Jane Austen, and sagas about Henry VIII but the unending incarnations of their stories might weary even the authoress and the king.

The producers of BBC One's six part mini-series War and Peace have recognized there is an audience for Tolstoy and excellence. Judging from the direction, acting, and production values of the first episode broadcast last Monday this six part mini-series will be a splendid one. A reviewer for The New York Times didn't care for it. But then, who reviews The New York Times? I find its in-your-face, only for millionaires advertisements - if you can't afford a $13,000 Ralph Lauren watch you have no business reading the NYT - annoying.

Television broadcast standards are apparently non-existent, even for PBS. There is no legacy of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Arthur Conan Doyle in the gruesome “mystery” stories now on PBS that include murdered dogs and butchered women.

As a native New Yorker, a non-millionaire (40Nine watch), and someone who read the novel, I recommend BBC One's adaptation of War and Peace and hope brothers named Karamazov are waiting in the wings.