It's just starting to sink in. Elementary has been renewed.
The news coming in through various channels today wasn't really a surprise. It's been doing consistent enough ratings to hold it over, and the mere fact CBS used it as their Super Bowl go-to indicated a belief in the show by the network. So I didn't really react right away.
But slowly, the full weight of the announcement started to sink in.
Elementary gets another season. It doesn't go out with its fans going, "Too soon! Too soon!" It doesn't quietly fade into the New York grate steam. No, like most American TV shows, it's going to take its ratings success and grind away until its inevitable failure.
As a lone blogging voice, I don't have nearly the powers of persuasion to convince its devoted followers of its failure as a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. But a network television show is a much more powerful voice, and what is that voice going to do in the year(s) ahead?
Prove my point for me.
Mark my words, gentle readers. Elementary will fail. And it will fail slowly, sadly, possibly ugly. Those who now call themselves fans of the show are very liable to quit watching it before I do. Why? Because, a.) That's the way television shows usually work, more often than not, and b.) I'm looking at this like a marathon. Sure, it may be a little painful here, a little dull there, but eventually I'll be able to look back and go, "Wow, I made it through that!" It's the Sherlockian version of Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me experiment, being documented in html instead of film.
As the announcement of another season of Mr. Elementary, once it had time to fully sink in, did not elicit any wailing or gnashing of teeth in the subterranean lair where Sherlock Peoria houses it's secret blog machineries . . . no . . . no . . . no. Just the gentle stroking of a cat, and the slight turn of what might be a smile. And if you pullled back, receding into the distance outside the walls of said lair, you might have heard the beginnings of a muffled "Bwah-ha-hah . . ."
With that, I'll leave you with the rare link posted to this blog, a little reminder of the last pretender to the Sherlock Holmes deerstalker whom I completely disagreed with. Enjoy.
The ongoing investigation of Sherlock Holmes, reported from the Peoria, Illinois outpost of Baker Street's dirtiest half a dozen.
I have long stopped seeing it as a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. It's a super generic procedural at its best and there's a reason such genre doesn't die and is continued to be patronized by the people in US.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to be rude but I think those people who still follow it feel intelligent watching an intelligent looking drama that they can understand with out any effort from the brain whatsoever. Humans like it when they feel that they are more in advantage than others. :)
Well, it does have a good side to it, because I'd really have missed your blog posts in my Elementary-less future. ;-D))
ReplyDeleteWhat's the connection between Rick Astley and Sherlock Holmes?
ReplyDeleteWell, I for one am delighted and look forward to another season.
ReplyDeleteAll television series die, Brad. So, if that is your definition of "failure," then I suppose every series which has ever aired was ultimately a "failure." Frankly, considering how many Sherlockian movie and television series have fared in the past, renewal for even one more season on the nation's number 1 network seems to me to be a success rather than otherwise. And I wonder if "Sherlock" was producing 24 episodes a year rather than three if it would be able to hold viewer interest for the long-term. Even with Sherlockians. I do recall Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes devolving to a perfectly awful jerky and hollow shadow of his early-episode excellence in the later episodes. Need I say more than "The Last Vampyre"?
And I wonder why an obnoxious and petulant Sherlock Holmes sitting naked in Buckingham Place (would Sherlock Holmes really do that in any age?) is more real and palatable to you than an obnoxious and quirky Sherlock Holmes living in New York. Don't get me wrong, I like Cumberbatch fine and enjoy that series; I don't find it astronomically better than "Elementary" though.
But I am glad that you get so much energy from your anti-Elementary crusade. I never fail to thoroughly enjoy your blog.
(And, NY, if you don't want to be rude, then you shouldn't be.)
I concur with you, Mr. Mason. And with Ms. Ketelsen--Brad's anti-Elementary blogs are worth the Blofeld-like machinations, even if he ends up only as effectual as Blofeld.
DeleteThe 'people' I am referring to are the general public who aren't really interested in Sherlock Holmes, just mindlessly consume procedural shows, and have more power in numbers than us in the unpopular opinion's side. I didn't mean to include you or any of the Sherlockians but my mastery of the English language is so poor(I'm a non-native English speaker) so it may have come across that the net I cast caught you too.
DeleteAlso, I'm not sure how much it will offend people so I put 'I don't want to be rude' in front. I don't understand human emotions very well you see.
If it did offend you, good sir, then I wholeheartedly apologize.
In the end, it is the canon that matters most.
But you should also know that I have encountered a comment from a person who was inducted into the Sherlockiana by Elementary that says, "Why is Joan Watson a male? And why is he white? This is so racist!" when they first watched BBC Sherlock. I find this both funny and irritating.
BBC Sherlock, on the other hand, while it promotes reading the canon, queer-baits so much that most of the fans thinks Holmes and Watson are gay for each other even in the canon.
TV shows are the representations of the canon to the general public.
Sherlock made the decision NOT to go for the 24 season format for a very good reason. Unlike Elementary the episodes are actually based on canon, large parts of the dialogues are direct or slightly modernised quotes.
DeleteAnd Jeremy Brett was deathly ill during the filming of the last episodes. Naturally he wasn't as sparkling as in the first episodes, it was a chore just to reach the set. But he was devoted to the role, so he played it as long as possible. But even if he hadn't died: He already decided that he was to ill to carry on.
What I miss the most is Holmes being a Victorian/Edwardian. Which is why I'm sticking to the Canon and ONLY the Canon these days.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, it really does lead to less stress...