To Be Discovered: THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES (2012)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune MUST be in want of a wife. 

You might think that line to be the opening to Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, but it's actually something that Mrs. Bennet, 2.5 WPF (White Picket Fenced) suburbanite neurotic housewife, printed on t-shirts for her 3 daughters Jane, Lizzie, and Lydia. Because in 2012, suburbanite moms (especially the ones voting for Rick Santorum in the presidential primaries) still aim above all to marry their daughters to a rich doctor. Especially in this financial climate where a family like the Bennets have a hard time making ends meet. Thus begins the new web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

I admit I have quite an aversion for "modern adaptations" just as I do for unnecessary remakes. And that is the spirit with which I checked out the first episode of, thinking it would be so homemade-dreadful I'd get a good laugh at it. And admit again I do, I instantly fell in love with it. The producers of this thing (yes, producers, because this looks way too professional to be made in an actual student's bedroom) managed to keep the wit and the bite of Austen's social class commentaries within the confine of a three-character, 3-minute-a-week play. 

Jane Austen: All About the Style

The series concerns "Lizzie", aka Ashley Clements, a college student who's been coaxed by her lifelong friend Charlotte Liu (yes, Charlotte's Asian, Political correctness and all that, get over it) into doing a video diary for Charlotte's film class project. All she has to do is talk about her life, and at the moment it means her mom's shenanigans for her daughters to meet the new med student neighbor, Bing Lee (I mean really, get over it). Lizzie illustrates the players in her life through her witty impressions (I particularly coughed my lungs laughing at her take on a drunken jock that hit on her at a bar) and with the sometimes-unwanted help of her 2 sisters (yes 2, I mean come...). 

Episodes are short but full, easy to watch and very well written. To all purists out there, get a life. To all others, get some free time and catch up while you can. Series is already 22 episodes in (again, 3 minutes each, easy to watch) and has so far covered about maybe a third of the book. And since I'm such a good guy (no snarking, I am, ask my mom), here's the first episode right down here. 

And you can catch the rest of the episodes Right Here.