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Masterpiece Theatre
The Masterpiece Theatre
Genre	Anthology
Presented by	Alistair Cooke Russell Baker
Theme music composer	Jean-Joseph Mouret
Opening theme	Symphonies and Fanfares for the King's Supper
Country of origin	United States
Broadcast
Original channel	PBS (1971-present)
Original run	January 10, 1971 – Present
External links
Official website

Masterpiece Theatre is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971, making it America's longest-running primetime drama series. The series, which is credited with introducing American audiences to high quality British drama, has presented hundreds of acclaimed British productions. Many of these are produced by the BBC, but the line-up also include programs shown on the commercial ITV network and Channel 4.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Scheduling 3 Awards 4 Hosts and Producers 5 Funders 6 The Best of Masterpiece Theatre 7 Parodies 8 References 9 External links

Masterpiece Theatre is best known for presenting adaptations of famous novels and biographies, but it also shows original television dramas. The first title to air was The First Churchills, starring Susan Hampshire as Sarah Churchill. Other programs presented on the series include The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Elizabeth R, I, Claudius, Upstairs, Downstairs, The Citadel, The Jewel in the Crown, House of Cards, Traffik, and Jeeves and Wooster. More recent popular titles include Prime Suspect and The Forsyte Saga.

The theme music played during the opening credits is the Rondeau from "Symphonies and Fanfares for the King's Supper" by French composer Jean-Joseph Mouret performed by Collegium Musicum de Paris, Roland Douatt, conducting (recorded in 1954). One of the most highly recognized themes in television history, the music has served as the bridal processional for countless fans.

In 1979, Masterpiece Theatre gained a sister series, Mystery!, featuring a mix of contemporary and classic British detective and crime series such as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries; Agatha Christie's Miss Marple; and Touching Evil. In 2000, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the show, it presented Masterpiece Theatre: The American Collection, nine works by American writers, including Thornton Wilder's Our Town, starring Paul Newman.

Masterpiece Theatre airs Sunday nights at 9pm on PBS from October through May. In the summer, Mystery! airs in the same timeslot.

One of television's most honored series, the various shows aired on Masterpiece Theatre have garnered 33 Primetime Emmys, seven International Emmys, 15 Peabodys, and two Academy Award nominations

Masterpiece Theatre was hosted by British/American broadcaster/journalist Alistair Cooke until 1992; Pulitzer Prize-winning author Russell Baker hosted from 1992 to 2004. Since 2004 it has been broadcast without a host.

The original series producer was Christopher Sarson. He was succeeded in 1973 by Joan Wilson. The current series producer, Rebecca Eaton, took over in 1985.^[1]

From its 1971 premiere, the series was underwritten by Mobil (which later became Exxon Mobil). After an unprecedented 25 years of support, the series added the funder's name to its title. ExxonMobil ended its sponsorship in 2004, and the series remains without a corporate sponsor. The show is currently funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to various PBS station from, as PBS puts it, "Viewers Like You".

In March 2007, PBS aired an entertainmenet special produced and directed by Darcy Corcoran. “The Best of Masterpiece Theatre” was hosted by Derek Jacobi and featured interviews with Helen Mirren, Hugh Laurie, Damian Lewis, Robson Green, Ian Richardson, Gillian Andersen, Charles Dance, Alex Kingston and Jean Marsh. The countdown special was based on more than 20,000 survey responses posted to the Masterpiece Theatre & PBS affiliate web sites, the top 12 series were:

• Upstairs, Downstairs
• The Forsyte Saga (2002 adaptation)
• I, Claudius
• Bleak House (2006 adaptation)
• Prime Suspect parts 4-7
• The Jewel in the Crown
• Poldark
• House of Cards
• Reckless
• The Fortunes & Misfortunes of Moll Flanders
• Wives & Daughters
• Jeeves & Wooster

• A series of movie, theatre, and television show parodies were shown on Sesame Street as "Monsterpiece Theater", hosted by Alistair Cookie (an alter ego of Cookie Monster) in reference to Alistair Cooke. (Reportedly, Cooke enjoyed the parody.)
• On Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd, playing the high-bred but low-brow Leonard Pinth-Garnell, hosted "Bad Theatre," in which horrible, pseudo-intellectual skits were presented.
• Pirate TV did a parody called "Rastapiece Theater".
• MADtv did a parody called "Master P's Theater".
• Disney Channel had a show titled "Mousterpiece Theater" hosted by George Plimpton featuring classic Disney cartoons.
• On In Living Color during Season 5 a sketch called "Parody of Masterpiece Theatre" aired in which Jamie Foxx and David Alan Grier recited the lyrics of popular gangster rap songs of the early 1990's by artist such as Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. Cast member Marc Wilmore was the host imitating James Earl Jones
• Yakko Warner played a Cooke-esque host in "Disasterpiece Theater", a cold opening leading into an Animaniacs episode, in which a wrecking ball obliterates a library set.
• The Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Storyteller" opened with the character of Andrew Wells introducing the episode in the style of Masterpiece Theatre.
• In the film Heartburn (1986), Rachel (played by Meryl Streep), at two points in the story, is watching a Masterpiece Theatre style program, wherein she imagines that the Alistair Cooke-esque host (played by John Wood) is narrating the story of her own life.
• Tracey Ullman's early television special Tracey Ullman: A Class Act (1992) starts out with the famous opening fanfare from the series and a set made up to look like Masterpiece Theatre's with Tracey Ullman "standing in for Alistair Cooke."
• The sitcom My Name Is Earl had an alternative reality themed episode called "Bad Karma" in which Jason Lee (Earl) introduces the episode in a set made to look like that of Masterpiece Theatre. While there Lee shows the viewers that he really is on a set and not in a real room.
• In the television series Arthur which is seen on the same channel, in the episode "Phony Fern", Fern and Muffy claim to have the theme of Masterpiece Theater, in another episode, Kate declares "Welcome to Mashed Peas Theater!"
• In the Taz-Mania episode "Dr. Wendel and Mr. Taz", Mr. Thickley introduces the story as part of his series, Taz-Manian Theater.
• The South Park episode Pip is based on Great Expectations. The episode is hosted by Malcolm McDowell as a British person ala Alistair Cooke.

• Masterpiece Theatre: A Celebration of 25 Years of Outstanding Television by Terrence O'Flaherty (1996), ISBN 0-912333-74-X
• Masterpiece Theatre and the Politics of Quality by Laurence Jarvik (1999) ISBN 0-8108-3204-6

• Official web site, including a List of all programs.
• ExxonMobil will stop underwriting Masterpiece Theatre, a 2002 article in Current