"Emma Approved," the new web series from the creators of "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries," launched this past Monday, airing the first of what will apparently be twice-weekly installments updating Jane Austen's novel Emma to the twenty-first century. (The characters' Twitter and Pinterest accounts were up even before Monday: social media will again be an integral part of the storytelling, we're promised.)
Monday's four-minute episode introduced us to an appropriately, if obnoxiously, self-involved style guru named Emma Woodhouse -- in this version, she runs "the matchmaking and lifestyle division" of the Highbury Partners Lifestyle Group -- taking credit for the coming marriage of her friends Ryan Weston and Annie Taylor. We even got a look at Alex Knightley, presumably the love interest: no putting him off until Episode 60 this time.
It's early days, of course, and those of us who suffered through this team's misfiring "Welcome to Sanditon" over the summer are bound to be wary, but it looks promising so far. Austen's Emma -- poised, bossy and socially self-confident -- has the personality for a video diarist. Personally, I'm looking forward to meeting the Eltons. . .