“Masterpiece Theatre” (8 p.m. Sunday, PBS) throws longtime viewers a curve ball with a surprising new version of “Dracula.” This is not so much a faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel as a meditation on some of the darker undertones of the Victorian era that produced it.

Marc Warren plays the dark count in a black wig and with the sensual swagger of an androgynous rock star. But his performance is not the only aspect of the movie that will give “Dracula” purists pause. The vampire arrives in England at the behest of an occult conspiracy that dupes the dour Lord Holmwood (Dan Stevens) into thinking that their blood ritual can cure him of the dreaded venereal disease that sent both of his parents howling to their graves. The fact that Holmwood wants to purify himself before consummating his marriage to Lucy Westenra (Sophia Myles) leaves the voluptuous lass open to the vampire’s amorous embrace.

If you’re looking for the typical “Masterpiece Theatre” presentation of Dickens, Austen or Thackeray unfolding over nine hours in six weeks, you are out of luck. “Dracula” proceeds at a galloping pace and is over before you know it. This occasionally requires the cast to spit out rather incredible dialogue to keep the story moving. Some may quibble and find this closer to “Dark Shadows” than “Bleak House,” but I rather like the fact that even a well-established institution like “Masterpiece Theatre” can take a chance on something different.

¢ Released in 1999, the comedy “Office Space” (8 p.m. today, Comedy Central) has become a generational touchstone, a rebellious celebration of slacker attitudes in the face of corporate double-speak personified by the manipulative Boomer boss Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole). Writer and director Mike Judge also created “Beavis and Butthead” and “King of the Hill.”

Given Judge’s track record and the cult-status of “Office Space,” it was interesting to see how his more recent work has been received. His last film, the savage satire “Idiocracy,” was released by its studio with contemptuous indifference and vanished without a trace. It remains to be seen whether the film will be discovered on DVD and enjoyed repeatedly like “Office Space.”

¢ Cupid’s arrows hit many marks on the memorable and amusing Valentine’s Day episode of “Brothers & Sisters” (9 p.m. Sunday, ABC). Among the show’s highlights is the arrival of Emily (Margot Kidder), Nora’s (Sally Field) rather frisky friend, who gets the matriarch to lighten up.

Meanwhile, things heat up between Kitty (Calista Flockhart) and Sen. McCallister (Rob Lowe).

Tonight’s highlights

¢ NASCAR racing (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ Our hero pines for the little red-haired girl on the 2002 special “A Charlie Brown Valentine” (7 p.m., ABC).

Sunday’s highlights

¢ Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): An avoidable death casts light on the plight of 300,000 mentally ill inmates in America’s prisons; interviews with Sen. Barak Obama, D., Ill., and singer Norah Jones.

¢ Musicians from every category perform on the 49th Annual Grammy Awards (7 p.m., CBS).