Sherlock vs. Elementary: Why CBS Isn't Getting It Right - Part 2

*Before continuing, be sure you have read Part 1 of this blog series. The article can be found here: http://julyburnsred.blogspot.kr/2012/10/sherlock-vs-elementary-why-cbs-isnt.html

   Welcome to Part 2 of the blog series "Sherlock vs. Elementary: Why CBS Isn't Getting It Right." In this part of the series, I will be looking at the pros and cons of the television shows, Elementary and Sherlock. Well, there really aren't any cons for Sherlock. But in the interest of fairness, we will look at both shows equally. Allons-y!

   In part one of this blog series, I remarked that when Elementary was first aired, Sherlock fans everywhere groaned. It was with good reason. Elementary gives a bad first impression to any true fans of Sherlock Holmes. Just looking at the name, Elementary refers to the non-canonical phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary"; non-canonical meaning that it doesn't come from the original stories. No one knows where exactly Holmes' famous line came from, but many people speculate that it originated from the films of the 1920's. The point is, if you are going to jump on the Sherlock Holmes bandwagon, you'd better make sure you are keeping it true to the original stories. This brings us to CBS's next mistake.
   
   With Warner Brothers making Sherlock Holmes films, and BBC making a Sherlock Holmes television series, there wasn't much room left for CBS to try and make their own mark on the screen. But that didn't stop them from trying. The problem is, however, that they came along and had to make theirs so fundamentally different than the other current adaptations. They made Watson a girl, Sherlock now lives in New York, Captain Gregson instead of Detective Inspector Lestrade. It was mistake after mistake. Although, admittedly, Aidan Quinn as Captain Toby Gregson was the one character in the show that made me laugh. He nailed his role perfectly as the student attempting to learn from the great Sherlock Holmes, just like in the original stories. But overall, CBS changed so much that Elementary is barely recognizable as a Sherlock Holmes story at all.

   The list continues on and on. Dr. Joan Watson was sent by Sherlock Holmes' father to watch over him in his rehabilitation. Really?! His father?! The Sherlock Holmes I know doesn't have Daddy watching over his shoulder, breathing down his neck. There shouldn't have been any mention of his dad at all. Miller's Sherlock is also not opposed to having casual relationships with women for no other purpose than as a distraction. The real Sherlock Holmes would never be so shallow to do such a thing, nor so immoral, for that matter. 

   The final problem with Elementary is the mysteries themselves. They don't seem very Holmesian. They're too common; too regular. Sherlock always solves mysteries that no one else can. The mysteries he solves in Elementary are a little too normal for me. Take the pilot episode as an example. Its your standard murder by a man manipulated by the victim's husband. There was no great challenge for Holmes.

   But for all its mistakes, Elementary succeeds in some places.The format of the show is in CBS's favor. The weekly, 45-minute episodes work well for it. Sherlock Holmes' personality was just the same as ever with the insults and arrogance and temper-tantrums. Watson wasn't bad. She didn't really feel like a female inverse of Dr. John Watson; she was more like her own character, a whole new person. Just the same, though, she made a good companion. As I've already said, Aidan Quinn was great as Captain Toby Gregson. The one part where I smiled and actually felt for just a moment like I was watching Sherlock Holmes was when he was on the roof writing the "Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen" in his head. I enjoyed that part because it was the Sherlock that I knew and loved.

   That's what it all comes down to. That's why I like BBC's Sherlock so much. It departs from the known just enough to keep us excited, but overall, it stays true to the original works. Elementary doesn't do that. It strays too far away from the true Sherlock Holmes. As a crime-drama, Elementary is actually pretty good. But as a Sherlock Holmes story, it falls much too short. It just isn't Sherlock Holmes. It's Elementary. I, for one, won't be wasting time watching it. I'll be waiting impatiently until Sherlock Series 3 comes around in 2013. 


Until then,
Ryan McLellan, Jr.

Sherlock vs. Elementary: Why CBS Isn't Getting It Right - Part 1

  

On July 25th of 2010, the first episode of the BBC drama, Sherlock, was aired. A Study in Pink it was titled, a nod to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story and the original Sherlock Holmes' first adventure with Dr. Watson,  A Study in Scarlet. Pink was followed by two more episodes, The Blind Banker and The Great Game.  The first season of Sherlock received much attention from both the U.K. and the U.S. Not long after, the go-ahead was given for a second season to be aired in 2012. Season Two consisted of A Scandal in Belgravia, The Hounds of Baskerville, and finally The Reichenbach Fall. With an enormous cliff-hanger in the season finale, fans are left waiting until summer of 2013 for a resolution.

   Then, September 27th of 2012, the world was introduced the CBS crime-drama, Elementary. Sherlock fans everywhere groaned collectively. So far, six episodes of the show have been aired, with more to come. So far, Elementary has received relatively positive critical reviews, with Metacritic giving the show a 73% based on 29 "generally favorable" popular reviews. ^ "Elementary: Season 1". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. http://www.metacritic.com/tv/elementary/critic-reviews.
But its number of U.S. viewers has been declining episodically, with an initial 13.41 million viewers for the pilot, and eventually retiring down from 11.13 to 10.91 to 10.31 million for the fourth and most recent episode, Rat Race. The fifth episode will air on November 1st.

Finally, a poll by entertainmentwise.com shows that 6.16% prefer Elementary over Sherlock, while 93.84% voted vice versa, placing Sherlock far above Elementary.

   Allow me to explain why I have presented you with the facts I have. I am, if you haven't yet figured it out, a Sherlock Holmes fanatic. Not just of the BBC show, but also of the Robert Downey, Jr. film adaptation and, most of all, the original works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I like to think that I know Sherlock Holmes very, very well. I've been a fan for many years now, beginning with my first reading of the Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes, which I have since reread twice. Then, I saw Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law take on the role of the Victorian-era consulting detective and his loyal biographer. RDJ added more of an action-adventurer feel to it, a popular ingredient in today's films. RDJ's Holmes, however, still retained every bit of the classic Bohemian's arrogance, intelligence, and unfailing loyalty. Then, only a few months ago, I came across BBC's Sherlock series on Netflix. In three short nights I had devoured all three, 90-minute episodes. Very much impressed, I quickly jetted over to iTunes in order to purchase the full second season in HD. Only a week later, I had watched the full series on my iPad. I have since watched them a second time. Then, mere weeks later, Elementary was introduced to the airwaves. I, for weeks before it was shown, had been denouncing Elementary with everything I had. As far as I was concerned, no adaptation of my favorite book, film, and television character could be successful with such mangling as was given to Elementary.
"Watson is a girl?!" I cried. "Blasphemy!"
Not to mention New York. Spider-man stops crime in New York. The Avengers take down criminals in New York. The NYPD put men behind bars. Not Sherlock Holmes. He belongs in London, on Baker Street, pacing 221B, in a dressing gown, smoking a pipe, bemoaning the idiocy of those around him, and pondering the sheer intelligence of Professor James Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime.
But my arguments against the appeal of Elementary were lacking. I could only base them off a thirty-second TV spot. However, the second I found the pilot episode to be free on iTunes, I quickly downloaded it. That night, I sat down, grinning mischieveiously to myself, anxious to begin denouncing every place CBS got it wrong. How surprised I was when I was able to watch through the first ten-minutes of the episode with nothing to scoff at, besides the obvious Dr. Joan Watson. But I still had 35 minutes of material left. Believe me when I say, I was scrutinizing every word Johnny Lee Miller said, cross-referencing it against every bit of Holmesian knowledge I had at my disposal. I wasn't wasting my time. As the credits began rolling, I sat back, thinking hard and analyzing every second of the show. Suffice it to say, I was disappointed. I had been desperately wanting to be proven wrong; I was begging CBS to give me something Sherlock to whet my appetite until Benedict Cumberbatch of BBC's adaptation returned. But they let me down; big time. Thus, the reason for this blog post. But, as it is unraveling to be much longer than I had anticipated, it will now become a two-part argument. This will become the introduction. Tomorrow's post will be the main piece. In part two, I will break down both shows and compare the pros and cons of each.

Until then,
~Ian James~