The message he essentially relates is this: the BBC is old and tired and sticks to a formula for dramas that consists of 19th century storylines and conservatively wavers not much beyond this.
His line about "I suppose this taste for Victoriana means its executive producers don't have to deal with the over-stuffed egos of authors or the palaver of copyright" may be accurate, but in a country where the word "palaver" shows up in the newspaper, maybe Victorian dramas are apropos for the audience.
The author's comment about "Americans – having almost no history of their own" stuck out as yet another bash in line with what many foreigners feel is a country devoid of it's own culture. Weren't we also around in the Victorian era? I don't think we need to borrow Victorian dramas; we're just too busy making CSI spinoffs and hospital shows.
That all being said, some of my favorite movies are those that are set in an earlier time than the present. I often seek these movies out even though it's hard to find the single copy sandwiched in between the 500 copies of Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Carribean at Blockbuster. I ran across this list of period films sorted by popularity which you may find useful if you are also a lover of "old" movies.
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