greed. The scriptwriters laughed a lot and said, 'They (meaning the American Producers) just don't get it.'

Having viewed both of the trailers in this thread, I believe the show might be pretty good, meaning it could provide an enjoyable escape and maybe even a little intellectual exercise. But that, of course, doesn't make it a reasonable representation of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

The magic of Sherlock is that we, the viewers, feel like we're watching and getting to know the "real" Holmes and Watson. Benedict and Martin don't come across as two actors putting on a show--they convince us that they really do roam the streets of London, that they belong here, in the modern era with us, and that they aren't made less real because of where and when they are. That, to me, shows the genius of Moffitt and Gatiss, and that's what makes Sherlock the genuine article and this other, thing, just a story about a couple of blokes with names that sound familiar to us.

I don't watch television, so I doubt I'll see Elementary. Nonetheless, I imagine it will survive for a few seasons, simply because most Americans won't have any point of reference to know that it's a fake. It will be viewed simply as reasonable entertainment to pass the time.

There definitely won't be forums like this one devoted to it. And, sadly, there will be millions of viewers who will perhaps forever remain ignorant of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

kazza474 wrote:

I agree 100%.
It will be 'just another cop show'.
And I don't think it will last long at all. The world is changing now; more is available online & people there have just seen some of the most beautiful work in TV production in decades.
People have been exposed to brilliance, anything less now would be a futile exercise.

I've watched the first trailer over again and laughed more than anything. Second one isn't available anywhere that I can see at the moment and I'm not that fussed on searching. Had my laugh for today.

CBS will try to shove it down people's throats; they'll be excited for the first few weeks of ratings, but as soon as the curiosity factor dies down they'll start to panic. It's just another cop show & will go down the track of other copycat cop shows, eg Unforgettable.

I think another issue is the networks that these two shows are being aired on. Although Conan Doyle never considered Sherlock Holmes to be actual "literature", it's definitely a time honored story that people read. It's literary, even if some (especially its AUTHOR!) don't consider it "literature". So when we look at the two networks the supposedly literary shows are aired on, we see PBS and CBS.

One of these things is not like the other.

(Here, in parentheses, brief summary of the differences for people who might not be familiar with American television. Skip it if you're already familiar with the two. PBS is a government-subsidized network of television channels in both Spanish and English ((mostly English)) that is free for anyone who has a television. They air mostly documentaries, local programming, and educational children's shows. In the time slot before Sherlock my local channel aired a fifteen-minute spot on a local native American artist, for example.

CBS, by contrast, is available to people with a basic cable subscription. They air How I Met Your Mother, The Amazing Race, and a whole host of dramas, sitcoms, and reality shows.)

So we can tell already which of these shows is likely more cerebral. Unfortunately, while the 3.3 million figure that watched Sherlock on PBS these past few weeks is astronomically larger than anything PBS has aired in a lonnnnnnng time, that only represents about 1/100 televisions in a country that, regrettably, has a television for just about every person. How I Met Your Mother, by contrast, nets three times that for every season finale. Sherlock's scope just doesn't compare, especially if CBS really pushes this show. 3.3 million people (probably more, because it's not like people use separate television sets in one house) have become acquainted with brilliance in a modern Sherlock Holmes adaptation. Unfortunately if 9 million households watch Elementary, that may not be enough.

In my opinion, that second trailer looks just as you said. Another cop show.
Probably not worth my time because those kind of shows tend to bore me a lot if they don't have something special to add. But I guess I'll have to give it a try to form a real opinion.

People on tumblr point out quite often that Sherlock is not entirely canonical either. I tell them, in terms more suited to my vernacular, to sod off. I think that people have a valid excuse to dislike Elementary. While Sherlock might not be quite canon, like I said before, it is completely lousy with references to the original canon, both serious and humorous, that make it such a joy to watch for people that have read the stories.

What makes it even greater is that even with all these esoteric (my English teacher would be proud) references, people who haven't read the stories or even people who have only seen the Guy Ritchie films can enjoy the series almost as thoroughly as people who have.

The main thing that I notice about Elementary is that it does not push the inside joke aspect of the canon in nearly the same way. I don't know how others feel, but when I first watched SiP every reference to A Study in Scarlet just made me want to leap out of my chair and do a happy dance because, while it wasn't canon, in a very sneaky way it very much was. The first small bit is close to verbatim, sans Lestrade's press conference, what with their meeting and Stamford and everything, but they change the language to suit modern RP.

Elementary doesn't seem to have any of that. We have an entire thread on this board devoted to counting canon references in Sherlock. In the trailer for Elementary I see three: the names Sherlock Holmes, Joan Watson, and Tobias Gregson.

I just did another one of my epic posts again, didn't I? Sorry! :/

I think the main thing is that there is NO PROOF that the makers of the show thus far have ANY respect for the original.
They are just making a show to jump on the bandwagon of the resurgence of popularity of Sherlock Holmes.

I have a great aversion for bandwagoners. Its not THAT hard to be either original or at least respect the roots of the subject matter.

That would have been an excellent idea, Davina!  If CBS had taken the core premise of modernizing a classic detective, and used an American one instead, they wouldn't have to be concerned with infringing on Sherlock's copyright and could have lots of fun with bringing Spade or Marlowe or whomever (Ellery Queen?) into the 21st century.  Those detectives, like Holmes, have been portrayed on TV before but not in today's world; producers could have had a lot of fun updating them.  And there probably wouldn't be so many comments comparing the US version unfavorably to the British one, since there wouldn't be a Brisish version.  Oh well.

Last edited by Sherli Bakerst (June 3, 2012 7:41 pm)

Davina wrote:

I also think it is such a pity that they didn't take the opportunity, as Americans, to try and update classic American Detectives from literature, such as: Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe or Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade. They could have, possibly, produced something worthwhile and original without appearing to be bandwagon jumpers, which they do now.

But that wouldn't have made nearly the money. Most people at least recognize the name of Sherlock Holmes, though they don't necessarily know anything about him. The name gets people watching, and if the producers/writers/actors, etc. do a fair job, they'll make a reasonably exciting show that will make money. What else matters? Bandwagoners (nice word!) indeed.

(Is there a sarcasm smiley...)

Yes! Of course. Another contender!

He's still fairly well known though SLA,

Although I agree Dupin wouldn't have put that automatic 'bad fence' up around the CBS production.

But they weren't going for cutting edge contemporary art, were they?

-m0r