Emily of New Moon

after the relatively lighthearted tales of life around the turn of the century in rural Prince Edward Island, brought to the viewer in Anne of Green Gables, and Road to Avonlea, it was almost hard to watch, to have to endure the dark depressing episodes in the life of young Emily Murray and her misbegotten family in this new and (thankfully) short-lived series from the works of E M Montgomery... a series filled with incidents covering madness, murder, treachery, ghosts, religious intolerance, betrayal, disease, lost unrequited love, such as hasn't been seen since the novels of Charles Dickens... The mood of most of the episodes being so intense, it seems to have been reflected in the performances themselves, with the result that it was so rare that any of their characters were allowed even a brief moment of happiness and when it came, you were left waiting, watching for the moment when that moment would be shattered by even more doom and gloom... Viewers obviously did not take to this series as happily as they did Avonlea and Green Gables...it may have reflected a much more realistic portrayal of a way of life in bygone rural Canada, but unrelenting misery is not a promising premise for family viewing...

I must say that this is one of my favorite shows on TV. Whether or not the show follows the story presented in the books, which I haven't read, this is a far better young adult option than 99% of anything I've seen on Nickelodian or even Disney.

In the show the life of a young writer is portrayed with dead-eye accuracy. Maybe not the way adults perceive these "dark and disturbing" plot lines, but nevertheless accurately. The life of a writer is not the same as the life of a non writer and I would recommend this show to ANY child or even young adult in less than a heartbeat, knowing that it will encourage them to be themselves, despite the undying efforts of Aunt Elizabeth types who squash dreams like bugs. Or fall victim to The Aunt Laura's spaghetti backbone. Their use of archetypal characters and imagery is phenomenal- nothing like it on TV these days. I wish Netflix would get more than the first 2 seasons. I discovered this show late, whenever the US made the switch to all digital broadcast.

I just finished reading the series for about the zillionth time and decided to take a chance on the television series. I read reviews here and thought i should be alright until the second season. I was wrong. I am halfway thru the first episode and have already asked my husband not to bother getting the rest of the dvds on netflix. I am so disappointed. i'm going to try to finish the disk but the massive alterations. So far the only similarities i've found between the book and the series is a girl named Emily and a father named Douglas both with the last name Star. Scenes, characters, location, plot line etc are all changed. Oh wait they did get the names of the aunts and cousin correct but... the cat is wrong.

Sigh. Perhaps if i had never read the books i'd be OK with just watching this as a stand-alone piece. Even Emily's essential personality has been changed from the character i adored in the trilogy.

It's a shame that people will see the t.v series and think that what happened there, in the show, is what happened in the book. The sub-stories with-in the books (there were 3 books in total) and the characters are so different and so much better in the book trilogy. The makers of the show for some reason did the book a dishonesty by making the series trashy and more adult oriented than it was meant to be. Lucy M. Montgomery wrote those as children books. Yes, the books were somewhat darker than the Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea but they were still well written and very enjoyable. Please don't follow the show, read the books instead.

I have to say, that I have only recently begun to watch Emily and have fallen in love with all of the characters over again. Although the books are truly amazing pieces of literature, I must admit that the actors portraying the beloved characters are what drew me into watching the show. I am truly amazed at the raw talent coming from Canada and an glad to see that many of these great performers are being recognized. I would also like to say, that although the television show does take some liberties and has added story lines and details that were not in the novels the stories do draw you into the trials and tribulations of the community of Blair Water and the family, and extended family, of New Moon.