I see from the Associated Press that PBS is giving Masterpiece Theater a makeover, starting next month with the debut of "Masterpiece Classic," to be hosted by Gillian Anderson. "Through May, she will present 10 programs that include adaptations of all six of Jane Austen's novels plus a new biopic; Cranford, a three-part miniseries starring Judi Dench; My Boy Jack, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Kim Cattrall; and a new adaptation of E.M. Forster's A Room with a View by Andrew Davies," starring Sinead Cusack and Elizabeth McGovern to boot. (Davies is the screenwriter for both Bridget Jones movies, and a slew of literary adaptations for British television; as it happens, he also wrote the Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility that are part of the Austen package.)

Mystery! will become part of the "Masterpiece" franchise in the summer of 2008, followed by contemporary dramas in the fall.