A review by caitlinxmartin
Making Masterpiece: 25 Years Behind the Scenes at Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery! on PBS by Rebecca Eaton
2.0
I loved Masterpiece Theatre when I was growing up, especially in middle school. I got new books to read from watching both it and Great Performances and these enriched my life since many were things I might not have ever known about. I was really looking forward to this book, but it turns out the Masterpiece Theatre presentations I loved the most were not made/purchased during Ms. Eaton's time at the helm. My favorites are Upstairs Downstairs, Duchess of Duke Street, and Poldark (and handsome - as my father teased me). I like Downton Abbey, but I won't watch it again and again as I have the latter two. I thank the author, however, for Sherlock and its brilliant and totally in character with the book update.
There's some fun stuff in here - stories about actors and writers and trying to get something produced. Stories of figuring out how to stretch the dollar, of turning people onto good books and British actors. The backstage tales are the best - it's just fun to read about people like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Despite this, Making Masterpiece has some flaws that diminished my enjoyment. The writing is all over the place and the author's focus on Jane Austen and other well-known classics illustrates the problem I've had with the shows for a long time. I just want more variety and to be introduced to something I didn't have to read in my literarture classes. Mystery! has fared somewhat better, although tends to be very very cosy.
Not the worst book, but not the greatest. As a diagnostic tool for helping me understand why I quit watching these shows, it was useful, but that's not why I wanted to read this book. I wanted more from this than what is essentially a really long dish on how the author got to Downton Abbey and why she's so great.
There's some fun stuff in here - stories about actors and writers and trying to get something produced. Stories of figuring out how to stretch the dollar, of turning people onto good books and British actors. The backstage tales are the best - it's just fun to read about people like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Despite this, Making Masterpiece has some flaws that diminished my enjoyment. The writing is all over the place and the author's focus on Jane Austen and other well-known classics illustrates the problem I've had with the shows for a long time. I just want more variety and to be introduced to something I didn't have to read in my literarture classes. Mystery! has fared somewhat better, although tends to be very very cosy.
Not the worst book, but not the greatest. As a diagnostic tool for helping me understand why I quit watching these shows, it was useful, but that's not why I wanted to read this book. I wanted more from this than what is essentially a really long dish on how the author got to Downton Abbey and why she's so great.