I think it's pretty funny when Sherlock is puzzling over the "ear hat" (the deerstalker) while having a simultaneous conversation with John about their coverage in the press.

Also, it's pretty hilarious when John, rather nonplussed, walks by the mannequin hanging in the flat and asks Sherlock, "Did you just talk to him for a really long time?"

I also like when Sherlock presses Molly into service at the lab and points out all of Jim's crimes subsequent to Molly's breakup with him.  "For the sake of law and order, I suggest that you avoid all future attempts at a relationship, Molly."

And maybe just one more:  Sherlock telling Kitty that there are 2 types of fans.  Catch me before I kill again (Type A).  And Type B:  Your bedroom is just a taxi ride away.  Haha.

Sam wrote:

I mean, chances were low because he's the underdog......but still!

I actually got my hopes up when Cumberbatch was apparently listed as the favorite over at the Gold Derby and MetaCritic sites (at least that is what someone had posted on another board).

Highly disappointed, but there's always next year.

Well, probably 2 more years before anything Sherlock-related could ever be nominated, right?  If new episodes of the show will not air until after the Emmy eligibility period closes (sometime in May or June), then it won't be eligible for next year's Emmy awards.

kazza474 wrote:

What interested me most was one of the  comments:

"If you ever required proof that it's all about the money and not at all about the programme then here it is." I think that maybe some UK folks do not understand the nature of PBS. It is paid for solely by donations from the public - there are no commercials. So the sponsors here are not advertisers, but individuals or private trusts, that donate money to keep the channel running. I for one am glad of that - PBS concentrates on showing a high calibre of programme - music, drama and history for example. No reality shows or soaps in sight !!!! So dedicating a few minutes an hour to say "thank you" is a small price to pay for no commercials and good quality television.

I don't know a whole lot about it, but while there are still no commercials during PBS programming, there are corporate sponsors of at least some programs now.  I think that is a change that has been made in the past 15-20 years, back from when it used to be only individuals, trusts and charitable foundations that were "thanked" at the beginning of a program.  These days, you may see very short corporate promotions, too (not really full-on commercials) for commercial entities.

What also specifically eats into the time set aside for Sherlock on PBS in the U.S. is that it airs as part of a show called Masterpiece Mystery!.  So if you are watching this show on PBS, you also see the Masterpiece Mystery! credits and a brief introduction to the specific miniseries being aired that night (all this before the Sherlock credits also run).  The current host is Alan Cummings, and for Sherlock, he either said a little bit about the show generally (how it is a modern update, etc.), or he did a voiceover previewing what episode you would see that night.  I would guess that all this takes up an extra 2-3 minutes of airtime that they must correspondingly cut from the show.

I actually found the cu

Milkomeda, I love, "Oh No!" too.  It's so great.  I also love KatrinDepp's videos.  Everything about them is flawless:  coloring, song choice, clip choice, advanced effect use.  It's staggering how good she(?) is.

A few other videos that have made their way into my favorites list.  Have you all ever seen any of these?

I Crashed to Earth.  This is the video that made me seek out and watch this show.  I had never even heard of the show before:  I was just searching for any fan video set to "The President" by Snow Patrol, and I came across this back in January, and I was just like, "what kind of amazing show is this that I am not watching, and how do I rectify this terrible oversight?"  (And yes, I saw Sherlock commit "suicide" before ever seeing ASiP.)  This remains one of my favorite fanvids.

007 Is Also Gonna Die || SHERLOCK.  Love it beginning to end--just great execution.

Sassy Gay Sherlock.  This uses the audio from one of the "Sassy Gay Friend" videos posted by The Second City Network (idea:  Juliet from Romeo & Juliet would not have committed suicide if she had had a Sassy Gay Friend to talk her out of it) and video clips from Sherlock.  It's pretty funny, although the language is pretty raw, for anyone who may be sensitive to that.

jenosborn, thank you for taking all that time to document what was cut. I do find it interesting to consider what they felt they could drop.

I find specially weird cutting the "if I'm not what I think I am". For me it was a big deal... Sherlock telling someone (even if it is Molly) that he could be not what he thinks he is...

That is the cut that stands out most for me, too, Irene_Adler.  It is not crucial to the plot, but as you said, it is an important character moment for Sherlock to show vulnerability like that.  (Of course, maybe Sherlock was just being calculating--did you read the PBS chat with Moffat where, when asked whether Sherlock's rooftop tears were real, Moffat said that Sherlock "knew what he was doing" with the crying?  Yikes.) Anyway, I also think the cut line is important for Molly because she is showing a lot of fortitude there.  Sherlock is saying some rather unsettling things, and she doesn't blink:  she is there for him.

I never knew what to make of Mycroft reading the paper.  It is interesting to scrutinize, though.

Thanks for making that list, Sherlock Holmes.  I agree that the cut scenes did not seem that important.  They seemed more to be scenes of additional exposition, rather than illuminating character moments.

kazza474 wrote:

And the pants one, you've completely lost me on. Should be received perfectly fine; I don't see a problem with it.

It's not that I think it was received poorly or that the humor was completely lost here, just that if you subscribe to a theory of comedy that hilarity = being relatively more undressed, then it is funnier to think of Sherlock being completely naked underneath that sheet than it is to think of him not wearing trousers but having on pants (or "underwear" in the U.S.).  And someone in the U.S. might think the latter due to the terminology we use here.

kazza474 wrote:

As for WHO edits the show, that doesn't really matter. What matters is that those scenes were known to be ones that the Americans wouldn't care too much about.

Well, I actually don't know that there is a deeper meaning behind cutting those particular scenes or some motivation that the Americans would not care about those scenes - like you say, the episode can stand on its own without the additional insight into Sherlock's character that they provide.  For example, John asking Mrs. Hudson whether Sherlock had ever had a significant other is already duplicated by Irene "indelicately" asking Sherlock whether he has ever "had anyone" and her repeating Moriarty's nickname of "the virgin."  I somewhat contradict my previous post by saying this, but I don't necessarily think that the cut scenes were eliminated to play to some perceived American bias.

kazza474 wrote:

And please, step back & see the real picture everyone. DO you REALLY believe those scenes give a 'big insight' into anything ??

A big insight?  No.  Nice moments that it is too bad the American audience didn't get to see?  Perhaps.  I don't think it ruins the episode, but hey, if we are all fans of the show enough to write about it on a message board, then isn't it interesting to compare notes about what individual scenes mean to the overall story?  The Jeanette scene shows exactly where Sherlock

Sherlock Holmes wrote:

John almost fainted in the pool scene just after Sherlock removes the bomb from him, so it doesn't seem to un out of character to have him fainting...or at least being weak at the knees (with shock, not in a johnlock way, lol).

Good point about nearly fainting after losing the bomb vest.  He was also kind of staggering backward a little bit in the rooftop scene when Sherlock was dumping all those lies on him.  He looked a little unsteady even before he got flattened by the cyclist.

42_and_221B, good point about society moving a lot faster these days.  I do think that Sherlock should probably not be gone longer than the length of time he and John lived/ worked together (just for symmetry, I suppose).  So yeah, 18 months at the outside seems like plenty long enough.

Oh, man, I love the acting, writing and direction in that scene.

I think Molly is trying to say that Sherlock is putting on a "brave" face in front of John during this whole Moriarty situation to try to protect him, but Sherlock isn't bothering to maintain that facade when John isn't looking.

Some of the lead-up to that line involves Sherlock pensively mumbling, "IOU."  Molly asks him what he means right as John passes in front of them to move to the other work station, and Sherlock just stills and watches John very carefully, not responding until John is safely out of earshot.  Molly appears to notice this, which prompts the comparison to her father.  Her father was "not okay":  he was experiencing deep sadness at his impending death but didn't want to burden his family with his personal grief (a natural reaction not to want to burden loved ones).  Molly sees how Sherlock is acting one way in front of John and another way when John is absent and deduces that Sherlock is likewise "not okay."

I find it to be an interesting contrast with the 221B scene just prior to the pool scene in The Great Game.  There (at least how I interpret the scene), Sherlock waited until John left the flat so that he could (somewhat gleefully) engage in his game with Moriarty because he didn't want John in the way or judging him again about seeking out the thrills.  Now, it's not that he wants John out of the way to engage in games of which John would not approve.  He just really, really wants to protect his one friend from everything - not just the physical danger of another bomb-vest-type situation (after all, John is Sherlock's "pressure point" as Moriarty referred to it), but also the emotional burden of facing the truth that this may be a battle that Sherlock cannot win.

I'm sure John won't faint like in the original story. Too Victorian a behaviour...

Interesting observation: I guess fainting is often associated with Victorianism. It happens, though. They could have John getting knocked out cold (maybe even accidentally by Sherlock) upon learning of the news as a "twist" on loss of consciousness. It would bookend his (nearly) getting knocked out upon witnessing Sherlock's death.  Although the concussion helped, he nearly fainted there. Sniff.

I think that by now, so many people expect a "punch" to such a degree that the writers may not have John do it just to zig when everyone expects them to zag.

I don't know how much of a gap in the story they're gonna have between the jump and Sherlock making a reappearance but in the stories it was something like 3 years right...

I hope that it is not this long, even though the books call for it. John was pretty full of rage on Sherlock's behalf when Irene faked her death for a week.  And that was an indirect impact.  How would John forgive 3 years of no contact?

Maybe John will even have already married Mary Morstan (please, God, no -- that is my very worst case scenario), or simply moved on with his life in some other way.

I know: bite your tongue! One difference between the books and the show seems to be that this show has really, really played up how much John has invested his happiness in his professional and personal relationship with Sherlock. John works with him almost exclusively (i.e., his work at the surgery, if he still even works there, is an afterthought), whereas Watson from the books had his own practice.  Plus, Sherlock fulfills John's personal happiness quotient to such a degree that it completely drew John back from implied suicidal thoughts.

John feels that he owes Sherlock "so much". That's powerful stuff.  Yes, they are way, way, way co-dependent, but that dynamic is entertaining as hell to watch. It just seems like t