Elementary

[CBStew]

They decided to update the canon.  It takes place in New York.  Holmes is a recovering addict.  Watson is a Chinese/American woman.  It works.  Holmes is observant and brilliant, but not the almost supernatural sleuth that Doyle created.  He has personality flaws that make him somewhat like the Jim Parsons character on Big Bang.  He is rash and says and does highly inappropriate things with almost no appreciation as to how he is being received.  Nor does he care.  Watson is not the blithering idiot portrayed by Nigel Bruce in the Basil Rathbone series of movies.  She is smart and sympathetic.  She is a no longer practicing medicine.  No, she didn't take a bullet in the shoulder or leg (If Doyle couldn't remember which, why should we?)  Now she babysits recovering addicts for a fee, and  gets hired to oversee Holmes by his wealthy father, not his brother Mycroft.  The plot in the pilot was clever and engrossing, if somewhat unbelievable.  The main drawback is that the actor playing Holmes not only has a thick English accent, he speaks so fast much of what he says can't be understood by my laid back Californians like me.

[Slaky]

And did you see the BBC Sherlock series? Completely different? Similar?

I'm getting a Mentalist vs. Psych vibe.

[CBStew]

And did you see the BBC Sherlock series? Completely different? Similar?

I'm getting a Mentalist vs. Psych vibe.

The BBC Sherlock series is very good.  But the actor who plays Sherlock is very callow.  However, I think that it is truer to what Doyle would be writing if he were around today.  Time will tell with "Elementary".  Doyle featured the characters of Holmes and Watson when he began the series, but then the plots and the mysteries took over.  He eventually got tired of Holmes and killed him off.  But the public wanted more, and business is  business, so Holmes miraculously survived his fall into the Falls, and offered a lame explanation of where he had been in the intervening years.  But the mood, in my opinion, was not the same.  The Robert Downey Jr.  movies are very entertaining, because of Downey, but they bear no relationship whatsoever to Sherlock Holmes.  As for Psych and the Mentalist, no.  Think "Perception".

[J. Walter Weatherman]

As for Psych and the Mentalist, no.

I think Slak just meant that in terms of the latter being a pale CBS imitation of the former.

[CBStew]

As for Psych and the Mentalist, no.

I think Slak just meant that in terms of the latter being a pale CBS imitation of the former.

Oh.  Right.  I am not sure what they had in mind with Mentalist.  But a lot of people apparently like it.

[Tinker to Evers to Chance]

Holmes being in recovery sucks.

Holmes depending on support from his dad sucks.

Holmes fighting with Watson sucks.

This show sucks. 

Watch an episode of "Sherlock" for 5th time or an episode of the Jeremy Brett series for the 38th time instead.

[Slaky]

Holmes being in recovery sucks.

Holmes depending on support from his dad sucks.

Holmes fighting with Watson sucks.

This show sucks. 

Watch an episode of "Sherlock" for 5th time or an episode of the Jeremy Brett series for the 38th time instead.

That's what I needed. Now I can safely ignore.

[Quality Start Machine]

Holmes being in recovery sucks.

Holmes depending on support from his dad sucks.

Holmes fighting with Watson sucks.

This show sucks. 

Watch an episode of "Sherlock" for 5th time or an episode of the Jeremy Brett series for the 38th time instead.

That's what I needed. Now I can safely ignore.

Plus, Lucy Liu's crooked eye is creepy as fuck. I don't even think Pex would hit that.

[Slaky]

Holmes being in recovery sucks.

Holmes depending on support from his dad sucks.

Holmes fighting with Watson sucks.

This show sucks. 

Watch an episode of "Sherlock" for 5th time or an episode of the Jeremy Brett series for the 38th time instead.

That's what I needed. Now I can safely ignore.

Plus, Lucy Liu's crooked eye is creepy as fuck. I don't even think Pex would hit that.

[CBStew]

This show has gotten progressively stronger.  And Lucy Liu was stunningly beautiful in several scenes in the last episode.  Is it true to the canon?  No.  Is it worth watching for other reasons?  Yes. 

Last night Homes reveals how and why he became addicted and left London for New York.  It seems that a serial killer known only as "M" killed his girlfriend, Irene Adler, (I know, I know).  Holmes fell apart and his father paid Dr. Joan Watson to baby sit him.   Now "M" has apparently shown up in New York and Holmes sets out for revenge.  Any more would be a spoiler.  But the show is intriguing on its own terms and not because it re-tells the Dolye stories.  They use elements of the original without a slavish devotion to the original.