Drink a cup of tea, watch "Sense and Sensibility"

Confession time: Sometimes I pretend I'm in a 19th century British novel by drinking tea and proclaiming that "Mr. Darcy will be here shortly" to no one but myself.

Anyway, if you’re sick of college basketball (how could you be?) or you have TiVO/DVR/fancy recording system, you should take some time out this Sunday night to watch the Masterpiece Theater version of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" on PBS (the first part airs at 8 p.m.).

"Masterpiece Theater" isn't everyone’s cup of tea. But in our oversexed, overindulgent, over-the-top television world, it's occasionally nice to retract into the comforts offered by 19th century Regency England with all its pomp and ruffles. Minus the rotting teeth and lack of deodorant, of course. This version of S&S - not to be confused with the excellent Emma Thompson-Kate Winslet movie from 1995 - is written by the equally excellent Andrew Davies, who was responsible for launching a newfound Darcy-mania with his six-hour BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice."

Although Mo Ryan of the Chicago Tribune laments that this version doesn't have the snap and crackle of the movie, I'm willing to give it a shot simply because Davies (a former English professor) is brilliant at making Austen's words come to life in a compelling way. How else can you explain the legion of faithful Austenites? (Jane-ites, whatever "we're" calling ourselves these days). You probably haven't cracked open a Austen novel since that horrible English teacher in high school forced you to, but if there's anything Austen knew, it's how people and relationships work. And that's timeless.

--Malavika Jagannathan, mjaganna@greenbaypressgazette.com