Tuning In

Austen on PBS

Jane Austen died almost two centuries ago, but interest in her and her work seems as strong as ever.

There was last year’s biopic “Becoming Jane,” with Anne Hathaway as the titular authoress. Now PBS has chosen to present adaptations of all six of her novels to restart “Masterpiece Theatre.”

Gillian Anderson, the “X-Files” star who made a memorable appearance on “Masterpiece” in the almost-perfect 2005 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House,” begins hosting duties this weekend on the “Masterpiece Classic” series of period dramas for this winter and spring. PBS will announce hosts for the summer’s “Masterpiece Mystery!” and the fall’s “Masterpiece Contemporary” later this year.

“Persuasion,” an adaptation of Austen’s last completed novel, opens “The Complete Jane Austen” Sunday at 9 p.m. on WMPT-22 and WETA-26. It’s one of the series’ four new productions, along with “Northanger Abbey” (Jan. 20), “Mansfield Park” (Jan. 27) and “Sense and Sensibility” (March 30 and April 6). The “Pride and Prejudice” shown on Feb. 10, 17 and 24 will be the celebrated 1995 version starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. (Producers knew they couldn’t top this one.) The “Emma” shown on March 23 will be the 1996 version starring Kate Beckinsale, which was far superior to the Gwyneth Paltrow feature film.

There’s also a new biopic, “Miss Austen Regrets,” that promises to focus on Austen’s love life, much as “Becoming Jane” did. It airs Feb. 3.

In Sunday’s “Persuasion,” Sally Hawkins stars as Anne Elliot, who at 27 is practically considered an old maid by Regency standards. She gave up her one love eight years previously on the advice of friends and family because the young naval officer who proposed to her had no fortune.

Now, however, Captain Wentworth (Rupert Penry-Jones) does, and it’s the Elliots who have fallen on hard times. Some rather pretty but flighty girls make plays for the dashing and rich officer — “Such manners.” “Such conversation.” “Such capital!” — but does he still have a soft spot for the more worthy Anne’s charms?

I’m not sure why, but directors of oft-adapted material often feel the need to make their films look modern, and “Persuasion” director Adrian Shergold is no exception: The dreaded shaky cam is here from start to finish. It’s too bad because the most beautiful of his shots are the still ones, as when two girls run across one of the many glorious English vistas.

Mr. Shergold’s other attempt to make a modern-looking film is having his star often look directly at the camera. It comes off as a bit silly, but luckily, little else here does, aside from Amanda Hale’s strange performance as Anne’s sister Mary Musgrove.

There have been changes from the book, of course, and the action has been greatly shortened — the running time comes in at less than 90 minutes. Nevertheless, screenwriter Simon Burke has kept enough of the original language — and has perfectly captured Austen’s tone in the lines that are his own — that it’s hard not to be beguiled, even if this isn’t quite as good as the 1995 film with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds.

Most beguiling of all is Miss Hawkins’ performance. She’ll be seen on the big screen next week in Woody Allen’s new film, “Cassandra’s Dream,” looking almost unrecognizable from the proper English lady she plays here. Perhaps she’ll be the next Kate Beckinsale, making her name in English period dramas and going on to become a Hollywood starlet.

’Sex’ tell-all in works

The next shocking “Sex and the City” installment could be a book, not a movie.

Clifford Streit, the former manager of author Candace Bushnell, is shopping a behind-the-scenes memoir of the series’ early days, tentatively titled “Unbecoming Stanford.” (Stanford Blatch, Carrie Bradshaw’s flamboyant homosexual best friend, played by Willie Garson, was intended as a caricature of Mr. Streit.) Miss Bushnell and Mr. Streit recently amicably settled a financial dispute over payment from the show, the New York Daily News reports.

Included in a proposal being circulated by Artists and Artisans agent Adam Chromy are details of a real-life affair that reportedly took place between two of “SATC’s” on-screen lovers — a story that will cause plenty of headaches if it gets into print.

Meanwhile, the book also suggests tensions on the set began because Kim Cattrall (who played Samantha Jones) was “a natural comedienne and a scene-stealer in the best possible sense — the camera went right to her.” Another tidbit: Executive producer Darren Star passed on Ashton Kutcher for the show because, he privately confided after a dinner meeting, “I don’t see this kid going anywhere.”

Weekend highlights:

Tonight

• Monk (9 p.m., USA) — Tony Shalhoub is back as the persnickety detective in the series, which continues its sixth season with the first of six new episodes.

Tomorrow

• Norbit (8 p.m. , HBO) — Eddie Murphy’s starring vehicle — with the talented performer playing dual roles as a henpecked husband and his grotesque, overbearing wife — managed to land on nearly everyone’s worst film list for 2007 (and likely was a contributing factor to his loss in the best-supporting-actor Oscar category last year). It makes its premium cable debut.

Sunday

• 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards (9 p.m., NBC) — The Hollywood Foreign Press Association on Monday officially pulled the plug on the Golden Globes ceremony, dropping the glitzy awards banquet in favor of a televised press conference announcing the winners in 25 categories. According to Zap2it.com, NBC News will carry the live press conference at 9 p.m., with a “Dateline” special about this year’s nominees preceding the show at 7 p.m.

Compiled by Kelly Jane Torrance and Robyn-Denise Yourse from staff, Web and wire reports.