Is it OK if I just watch them on PBS instead?

No. The BBC-TV version sucked. You will be completely unimpressed if you see that. Did you ever watch some of the older Doctor Who shows? The TV version of H2G2 seemed to have about 1/10th the budget of those old Doctor Who shows. And the DW shows were put together on about 1/10th of a shoestring.

Definitely get the novels and read them that way. You will have an immense appreciation for his wit and his ability to string words together, and you will laugh your ass off in the process. I know you appreciate good writing, and Adams delivers that in spades.

There was one redeeming factor about the TV shows: The "Guide" itself. In the story, it's an electronic encyclopedia, with each entry animated via pictures and voice-over. In the TV show, the book entries were done PERFECTLY and were hilarious. They used Douglas' exact words from the novels, and the narrator voice read them perfectly in a sort of matter-of-fact style, and the animations they did to illustrate each entry were just drop-dead funny.

But the rest of the TV show was a complete bomb. The low budget just didn't cut it. Douglas' penned vision of this interesting universe was just not meant for low-budget production.

Fortunately, Douglas is working on a feature film version now, with computer graphic special effects and a decent budget. We'll see how that one goes. It'll hit the streets in a year or two.

___________
Tony Fabris