"Elementary"

[Lord Jim]

(I know somebody else started a thread about this earlier, but I'm too lazy to go find it...)

The show Elementary ; the show with an up-dated Sherlock Holmes in New York with a female Watson....

I know, it sounds awful just to say it....

I watched an episode, fully prepared and expecting to hate the show, but I have to say...

I don't...

It really isn't that bad....

We've now watched four episodes, and if you get past the idea of the show as a realistic modern representation of the Holmes saga, and judge it on its own merits, it's pretty good...

The "Holmes" character as portrayed by Jonny Lee Miller is actually more a cross between Holmes, Monk, and House...(and that's really not a bad pedigree...and given the fact that Monk and House were both sort of knock offs of Holmes themselves, it kind of works)

Somebody around here, (maybe Crackpot) said that the producers were denying that they cast Watson as a woman in order to create sexual tension between Holmes and Watson...

Well, if they said that, that is a flat out lie; the sexual tension is so strong between them, you could cut it with a chainsaw...if the series goes on for two or three seasons, I have no doubt that they will be hitting the sheets....

The biggest weakness of the show is the soap operaish back story of Watson's personal life (which thankfully the creators of the show seemed to recognize, and it takes up less screen time as the series progresses)

Another weakness has been Lucy Liu's performance which seemed a bit stiff and wooden in the earliest episodes, (but gets better in the later ones)

The shows greatest strengths are Miller, (who really carries off this Holmes/Monk/House blend very well) his dialog, and the writing of the mystery story plots themselves...It's a very well written show...

It was a very bold thing to do, and I have to say, despite my expectations, it really doesn't suck...They seem to have set out to create a quality program, and not just make a quick buck off the popularity of the British modern Holmes series...

ETA:

This should probably have gone in "Arts"...

So if somebody gets the chance, please feel free to move it...

[dgs49]

I have watched every episode, and found them very entertaining.

But somehow I just don't think it can last. The writers will have to go further and further into unreality to make up new story lines.

Still, I like it for now.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I don't watch much "regular" TV anymore. I go to meetings every night then get whatever "chores" done that need doing, then go to bed. Duck Dynasty, Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead are about all I try and catch. Otherwise, I am TV deprived (not such a bad thing).
but I have always liked Lucy Liu

[Daisy]

I've watched a couple of elementary, it's ok ... but no Sherlock!

I've just watched the Fringe finale ... spent most of it in tears. I was never prepared for this series to close, but they did it beautifully.

[Gob]

I refuse to watch Elementary on principle.

[Lord Jim]

I refuse to watch Elementary on principle.

And what "principle" would that be?

The "I'm too much a purest prig to give the show a watch even if people who approached the show prepared and expecting to dislike it didn't" principle?

[Gob]

That's the one!

[Gob]

American production drone 1; Ok, the BBC have a mega hit on their hands with this "Sherlock" thing, how can we rip it off?"

American production drone 2; "Well first off, lets move the setting. All that "London" stuff is far too foreign for normal people to get."

American production drone 1; "Sweet. Ok, how's about we set it in Chicago, is that too "out there"?

American production drone 2; "New York would be better. That's more like London, but with you know, less foreign bits."

American production drone 3; "Ok, our London will be New York. That's really putting a new spin on the tales."

American production drone 1; "How about we make it modern day New York, that would be original, and save on production costs."

American production drone 3; "Cool, give it a contemporary spin, make it more relevant to kids. Save them having to think."

American production drone 2; "We could have American accents too, you know how people struggle with the English accent and their funny use of the American language."

American production drone 1; "Ok, you're going to love this, this is so incredibly way out there, it's scratching the moon's butt, its stratospheric. How about we make this "Watson" person a W-O-M-A-N!?!?!"

American production drone 3; "Way to go man, has that been done before?"

American production drone 2; "Who knows, who cares? It's not like we have to give any thought to this. Maybe Albert Connor Boyle wanted Watson to be a woman."

American production drone 1; 'Think of the possibilities! Sexual tension!!! "Will they? Won't they? Jump each other's bones!!!"

American production drone 2; 'Winner!!"

American production drone 1; We can introduce some male and female friends too."

American production drone 3; "And a coffee shop setting."

American production drone 1; "Hey, maybe for some drama, in the later episodes we can have Shulock Homes wrestle a shark to save Watson!!"

American production drone 2; "I bet that was in the original films, has anyone watched them?"

American production drone 1; "Not me."

American production drone 3; "Me neither. hey why don't we bring out some Sullock Homes books, that would be a real winner. That's bound to have not been tried before!!"

American production drone 1; "Nah, books? no one reads books these days..."

[Lord Jim]

I had every single thought that is expressed in that list, and approached watching the first episode from that perspective....

Is it The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes?

No, not really....

Is it still a pretty good show, better than many in current production?

Yes....

If I could get you to watch just one episode, I would recommend Season 1, Episode 12, "M"....

[Gob]

Cheers Jim.

I now know to avoid that one like the plague, just in case I enjoy it....

[Lord Jim]

Har har hardy har har.....

[Sean]

I've watched the first four or five episodes now and I think Jim has nailed it. The lead character has much more in common with House than with Sherlock Holmes. It's easy to forget that it's meant to be Holmes and that, IMO, is a good thing. It doesn't work as Holmes but it works pretty well as a regular detective show... except for Lucy Liu who adds nothing to it and seems to be there for the sole purpose of making me want to throttle her.

American production drone 2; "We could have American accents too, you know how people struggle with the English accent and their funny use of the American language."

At least Jonny Lee Miller is English...

[Big RR]

I watched one episode and didn't like it, although I admit I might have seen a bad episode. But I still have problems when a known character is taken, name and all, and changed by writers. Do we really need Holmes to be updated, even to the point of adding a female Watson? I don't see why. Does CBS need to call these characters Holmes and Watson to get people to watch? Apparently so. USA didn't need it to attract viewers to Monk; Fox didn't need it to attact viewers to House (nor NBC, ABC, etc. to other detectives who applied deductive reasoning to solve mysteries), but apparently these wroters and the network didn't trust the show to stand on its own--they had to trade on another writer's work to attract viewers. Pretty sad IMHO, and the real reason I won't watch.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I don't watch because I am usually at a meeting.

[Lord Jim]

We rarely watch shows when they actually air because we can pull them up from Xfinity and watch them any time after the day they're on, without having to sit through the commercials...

Except of course for FOX programs, because that no-good Nazi bastard Rupert Murdoch has his network, (alone among all the broadcast and cable networks) disable the fast forward feature so you can't zoom past the ads...

[Rick]

It gives the anchors a moment to rest, even the day after...

[Lord Jim]

It gives the anchors a moment to rest, even the day after...

I'm not talking about the news channel Keld, I'm referring to the entertainment network....

They've had a number of good shows, including House and Bones.....

[Rick]

Hmmmm that Rupert Murdock is a commercial Nazi...

[dgs49]

Does it matter that they used the names "Holmes" and "Watson," and borrowed the basic scenario? The program succeeds or fails on its own merits.

But as pointed out above, it is one of many analogous programs in which a preternatural genius solves crimes through the powers of observation and deductive reasoning (e.g., ,The Mentalist).

And while Lucy is not my preferred sort of eye candy, I'm all for the concept. I watch Vegas mainly to see Sarah Jones.

[Crackpot]

If you want to watch something for Lucy try Payback. Not in it a lot but where she is is worth it.