Well. . . . Huh. . . .  Whatever we may have been saying about this series, and aforementioned problems aside of weaknesses I agreed with, I gotta say, this particular one was a pretty interesting episode.  They kept it moving, they threw in some twists, they kept Watson wanting to stay purely for Holmes and her own interest, not to mention three different canon elements at once with a helpful street Irregular, Moran, and Moriarty (and I like how they twisted those two, and kept the latter in the 'shadows' of his 'web', and the taut verbal exchanges....)
So... yeah.... couldn't help myself with slightly bemused intrigue and immediately wondering if any of you fine folk had also watched. 

Hi!
I just registered after watching the first episode of Sherlock on iTunes. I watched the first episode of Elementary yesterday (like many in Germany I guess).

When I first heard about a Sherlock Holmes tv series set in modern times I hadn't the slightest interest in it, simply because the historical setting of the Sherlock Holmes stories is what is a big draw to me, so I thought 'Interesting' but not something I'd really want to watch.

So there I was watching Elementary yesterday, (it was on TV anyway so why not watch?) after it was over I thought that it wasn't half bad, I like shows like Monk, Castle, Mentalist etc. and as others have said the show is quite similar.

So then I wondered how the UK version would compare to the US one (I had heard a lot about the two shows being compared to each other).

I went to iTunes and bought the first season (7.99€, for three almost feature film length episodes.. what can I say?)

Just finished watching and I have to say its awesome.. I am blown away, I loved it! (though the actual means of murder of the perpetrator seemed a bit poorly thought out to me). Minutes after watching the first episode I bought the second season and am downloading it now. (And then I read that the third one won't come out before 2014... so sad).

Elementary might be a good cop show but Sherlock is something special, I can't wait to see all the other episodes!

Russell wrote:

So... yeah.... couldn't help myself with slightly bemused intrigue and immediately wondering if any of you fine folk had also watched.

Yep, just 'caught up' with the series now.
As a detective series, yes it's ok.
I have more comparisons to the canon & BBC ones but will leave it for a moment but suffice to say I don't count it as a Sherlock Holmes adaptation.

That said, onto the recent episode.
MMMMMMM
My initial reaction is 'I hope they don't try turning this into a Red John thing'. If you don't get my meaning, Google Red John, lol.
But I can see they may be tempted to drag it out as such; but then isn't that where Red John probably came from? An adaptation of the Moriarty character?
To do that would make them lose all credibility as a creative writing team; grabbing a bit from here & a bit from there. I daresay if they DO, it will spell the ending of the show.

But again, it's got a charm in its own right; I just wish they didn't try so hard to be a Holmes adaptation.

I have a screenshot that made me laugh; probably only canon fans will 'get it' though.
I'll post in a minute.

At a quick glance is this something canon fans or Jeremy Brett fans smirk at ????

If there won't be a fourth (Heaven forbid!! *), then we just stay here in the forum, discussing scenes and texts of the third one over and over and over........................ and after some years we rename it into "All Sherlock Holmes related fan forum" or something like that.

*note: I consider myself as atheist, but still............

Kazza - Exactly...  I really liked the Mentalist, as well....  unfortunately, about a season behind.  And all things aside, it was a pretty neat twist of elements with M.  Wondering what they'll do with that, too.

Mary - Well..... while part of me is inclined to agree (I mean, just look at all the other similar shows mentioned... although also granted, the majority of them are simply in the same genre/style, and not straight 'adaptations'), and liking the BBC one far far more and having been leery of Elementary since I first heard of, part of me is still compelled to play a tiny part devil's advocate here with the 'unnecessary' comment.  I've seen a few people say they came across the BBC version simply because of CBS's (either through seeing first and being curious, or all the mentions of them in tandem in reviews), and became fans of the BBC version, maybe never heard of before because they didn't watch other british shows/pbs or see articles.  Whoo!  Yay for Sherlock, yes?  Yeah, it's a pain tv shows/movies jump on the bandwagon more often instead of always being original, but 'original' doesn't happen all the time either, being as originality is pretty fickle, too.  Elementary isn't horrible, thank god.... I just hope that A. it continues to stay that way and at least not ruin the idea of Sherlock, partly so that B., hey, the canon and BBC get a boost as a result of people trying it as a result (and getting curious about the main actors and resultant movie parts), since they deserve it, and yay, more happy fans.

....Or, I could just be blabbering and you could argue there's such a thing as 'too many on the bandwagon'.  :-PPP  Just a few thoughts.  Feel free to counter.

Mattlocked wrote:

If there won't be a fourth (Heaven forbid!! *), then we just stay here in the forum, discussing scenes and texts of the third one over and over and over........................ and after some years we rename it into "All Sherlock Holmes related fan forum" or something like that.

*note: I consider myself as atheist, but still............

And after some years we will have a thread for each word that was ever spoken during the series 

I would not insult Elementary that way, if they didn't try so hard to appear like a Holmes adaptation.
Why isn't the name of the protagonist a typical american name? Would have saved them some trouble - hm, and viewer ratings too, I must admit. 
 

Mary Me wrote:

I would not insult Elementary that way, if they didn't try so hard to appear like a Holmes adaptation.
Why isn't the name of the protagonist a typical american name? Would have saved them some trouble - hm, and viewer ratings too, I must admit. 
 

Ratings?
This was discussed in another thread, they are doing very well in ratings actually.
I've voiced my discontent with their use of the Holmes name; but once you get past that the show DOES have some good points. Initially  I was very vocal about it simply because of the premise & the obvious bandwagonning which I detest.
But I will give credit where it is due and this one at least deserves an unbiased watch.

And for the record, there really is NO typical American name these days.

However I do find it amusing that you take offence to them trying to be a Holmes adaptation, you've said yourself that you're not familiar with the canon Holmes. So you are a fan who knows Sherlock, which is ... an adaptation of the Holmes stories.

Sorry I don't follow your reasoning on the 'not necessary' part; but even more so how can you tell what a good adaptation is if you don't know the original?
It's all very well for anyone to say this one or that one is a good show, which both are in their own way.  But adaptation, you need the original to compare it with.
My advice to you is the same as to many others, take a break from fangirling and go watch or read the original with an open mind and see where this all came from.

kazza474 wrote:

Mary Me wrote:

....... Would have saved them some trouble - hm, and viewer ratings too, I must admit. 
 

Ratings?
This was discussed in another thread, they are doing very well in ratings actually....

I think that is exactly what Mary wanted to say. They would not have such good ratings if they didn't use the name of Sherlock Holmes. Right?

Back once again to the canon-theme.
I didn't read it either, YET. Still meanwhile I think I learned a bit about the canon, also by reading your and others posts about it in this forum.
While I'm reading here I get more and more curious what's all about the canon.
But even without knowing everything about the canon I think it is possible to distinguish between a "well done" and a "not so well done" adaptation. Or just say: between a good and a not so good series. 
I agree that it must be an enrichment to get to know the canon, and I'm really looking forward to it, but still this is the BBC Sherlock - Fan Forum.