TONIGHT: "ROOM WITH A VIEW" TO BE VIEWED

"A Room With A View" will be given the 'Masterpiece Theater' treatment. Not the 'Masterpiece Theater' of old however - some pixilation was required in scenes of exposed bottoms. There's at least one sex scene, some skinny dipping, and a few suggestions that certain characters are homosexuals. And the ending has been altered, as scriptwriter Andrew Davies has imagined Lucy Honeychurch's life beyond the finale dictated by E.M. Forster in his 1908 novel.

(To reflect the change in the series direction, the show is now called simply 'Masterpiece', and its season divided up into three different categories. We're in "Masterpiece: Classic" now.....)

Here's how the New York Times describes the change: "Forster ended, of course, with Lucy choosing George. Mr. Davies, though, projects ahead to 1922, just after World War I. The details won’t be revealed here, but suffice it to say that Mr. Davies weirdly goes for poignancy and prurience: Lucy is back in Italy, alone, and a minor character from earlier in the story looks as if he might be about to get lucky."

I know nothing about the story, so I hope that wasn't too spoilery. I'm glad for the change, though, because it makes this version wholly Toobworld's.

But this is cool when it comes to "relateeveety": Rafe Spall will be playing George Emerson. His own father, great character actor Timothy Spall, will be playing George's father. Can't complain about the casting for tele-genetics there!

"A Room With A View" airs tonight on 'Masterpiece', on most PBS stations. It was originally adapted as a theatrical film during the mid-1980s which made a star out of Helena Bonham-Carter.

BCnU!

Toby OB