After all the excitement and media attention of the first few weeks, perhaps, as the sole Mansfield Park 08 review we found (actually Alert Janeite Lisa sent it to us) says, we have reached adaptation fatigue with Jane Austen.

It’s hard not to wonder, three weeks in, if PBS’ decision to air “The Complete Jane Austen” in single-episode weekly installments does a disservice to its subject. As early scenes of “Mansfield Park” unfold there is no denying that the bloom has faded a bit from the rose. The manor houses, the décolletage, the inevitable brass candlesticks do not provide quite the cozy respite they once did. The characters too seem a bit worn about the edges: Here is the spirited but disenfranchised heroine, the noble man she loves but seemingly cannot have, the scheming female friend, the charming rake, all vying for income and position with marriage based in love being the ultimate and elusive prize.

So one can be forgiven a little armchair psychoanalysis — is a country walk in Austen ever just a country walk? And why are all the rakes and rogues instantly identifiable by the wildness of their hair?

But it would be a shame to take what may be a flaw in the concept out on its parts. As itself, “Mansfield Park” is as charming an adaptation of the novel as one would wish, and if American television viewers can find value in weekly weigh-ins of the morbidly obese or soap operas thinly disguised by surgical scrubs, they can certainly look past the repetition of skirt-trailing picnics and thundering carriages bringing dire messages in the middle of the night.

Hear, hear! And it’s awfully early in the Complete Jane Austen to be getting bored with it, especially with Miss Austen Regrets and a new S&S, both of which have received very positive reviews, on the way still. While MP is not perhaps the most inspiring film in the current set, taking a glass-half-full attitude, we are looking forward to seeing James D’Arcy in Gaping Frilly Shirtage™ (one of his best looks in our opinion), not to mention Sir Walter Elliot’s brocade suit from P95.

Who says we’re dried-up tar-hearted spinster purists, anyway?

The PBS Remotely Connected blog has posted the guest blogger reviews for Mansfield Park. Lori Smith also concentrates on the positive.

So, the great triumph of this adaptation, to me, was that I actually liked it, and I liked Fanny. The screenwriter took liberties to make her run around, flirt a bit, smile all the time. Her energy makes her more attractive. They managed to do that without sacrificing any of her goodness, which is crucial.

The way the Lover’s Vows scenes were handled helped me understand why it would have been so scandalous, which made the whole book make more sense. If it’s a very shortened story, you get the sense that pug-loving Lady Bertram is ridiculous for her indolence, that Edmund is kind and conscientious, if tempted, and that the Crawfords are charmingly deceitful.

Diane K. Danielson insists she’s “not a purist.” Back there again, are we?

Alert Janeite Lisa also sent an article about the composer of the soundtrack for Miss Austen Regrets.

Based on the life and letters of Jane Austen, “Miss Austen Regrets” tells the story of the novelist’s final years. The drama provides an insight into Austen’s own romantic life, examining why, despite setting the standard for romantic fiction, she died having never married or met her own Mr Darcy.

Ugh. It’s hard to get a grip on this one; some things seem so good, and some seem so…ugh.