Let me throw my two cents

I’m not in the group of Sherlock fans that hate the show but I certainly don’t go along with any its fans who want to claim that it is “Better than Sherlock.”
 
I like it but I don’t love it. It’s the kind of show where I will watch it if happens to be on but if I miss any episodes (or an entire season for that matter) it is no big loss. It can be a good watch yet it has never been a show that I could get really excited about.
 
Johnny Lee Miller is competent as Sherlock Holmes but he is not spectacular in the role. Miller certainly can act yet it seems like something is missing. He does a good job at portraying Holmes’s articulate nature, his aloofness, and some his eccentric behavior. However, I don’t think he can really capture his sense of grace and his charm in general. I sometimes wonder if Miller actually enjoys playing the part. Yet despite my criticisms, his interpretation of Sherlock Holmes is far from being the worst and it is still much better than many other actors who have played the character in the past (actors like say Roger Moore, Rupert Everett, or Charlton Heston for example).
 
I will also state that this show does prove that Lucy Liu can act. Even though I’m not crazy about the idea of a female Watson (as it is inaccurate), she is pretty good in this show. I think she and Miller are starting to have chemistry together even if it has taken them awhile. Although it is still a far cry from the “Bromance” we see between the Cumberbatch and Freeman’s Sherlock and John or Downey and Law’s Holmes and Watson.
 
The writing is solid but it does follow the usual procedural formula. It is traditional “case of the week” format where a crime always happens and the police always has Sherlock Holmes acting as a consultant to help. The cases are interesting even if they are also rather forgettable. Holmes does make deductions to solve the cases although deductions don’t carry a wow factor to them. I have to say that the general style of the show owes more to “The Mentalist” rather than something inspired by the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. Not saying there is anything wrong with that but to Sherlockians it will feel as if this is a Holmes show in name only. Still, it is never dull and I personally do enjoy seeing Aidan Quinn as Captain Gregson.
 
The series does do references and interpretations of characters in the Holmes canon but only now and then. They did a take on Colonel Sebastian Moran and they did an episode featuring Charles Augustus Milverton. There was also one were Holmes returns to London to reunite with Inspector Lestrade and Mycroft. Although, its idea of making both Moriarty and Irene Adler as one and the same as certainly different and completely unexpected.
 
So what I’m trying to say is that “Elementary” is a good show in its own way but it does come across as mediocre when compared to the Jeremy Brett series, BBC’s Sherlock, or even the Guy Ritchie films. I can certainly see why it has been successful with audiences, as it has done well in the ratings.  It could be better but it could also be a lot worse.