Why CBS's Elementary is just as good as BBC's Sherlock and deserves to be treated with equal respect and given Emmy nominations, too!
By Kendall J. Pagan
I like CBS's procedural starring Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller as Dr. Joan Watson and Sherlock Holmes. It is presented weekly on the same 26-inch cathode ray tube made by Samsung that once showed me a PBS show about a modern day Sherlock in London, but that show is hardly ever on, and yet people want to tell me that it's better than the modern day Sherlock show we get here in America. In America! Made by Americans! Yes, they had to hire one British guy to be Sherlock Holmes, but Dr. Watson, Captain Gregson, Mrs. Hudson, and Detective Bell are all from the U. S. of A., and I have to respect them for that. Too many American shows are hiring British guys with fake American accents these days or filming in Canada. So before anybody goes claiming that that Sherlock show that PBS had made in England is better than good old American-made Elementary, know this fact: Kendall J. Pagan is an American, where we're free to watch the Sherlock Holmes show we want instead of one the government forces upon us, as happens in small European countries.
But I didn't mean to get political, here. I want to talk about Elementary, and why its as good as any old Brit show. Like I said, it's on TV, too, and every week! It's set in the modern day, which is ground-breaking and new, and in New York, which is even more ground-breaking and newer. But let me address some specific gripes about Elementary that I've heard:
"Elementary doesn't use the hot movie actors that Sherlock does." Jonny Lee Miller was in Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp is a lot hotter than Chris Pine, who starred in Star Trek: Into Darkness with Benedict Cumberbatch. And Martin Freeman is in a Peter Jackson movie or three. Well, Lucy Liu was in Quentin Tarantino movies. Quentin Tarantino. There.
"Elementary doesn't follow the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle original stories." No TV show ever did follow the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories, including that PBS one from before where Mycroft had x-ray vision. There.
"Elementary sucks!" People say other Sherlock Holmes shows suck, too. I have actually heard people say that the BBC's Sherlock sucks, too, and people don't usually say that about shows from England, like Downton Abbey. There.
"Elementary copied off of Sherlock." Both shows use actors. Both shows are shown on television. Both shows use the name "Sherlock Holmes" to get people to watch their show. So if one of them sucks, they both suck. There. Oh, wait, that part about sucks should be in the last paragraph. But, there, anyway.
"There is plenty of room for hundreds of books and movies and television shows about Sherlock Holmes, and we should like them all equally and not criticize any of them, because all of them have fans, even if it's just the one guy that wrote it. The more Sherlock Holmes the better." I don't like Sherlock Holmes. I like Elementary. You can gripe about all those other Sherlock Holmes things all day long, and I don't care. But Elementary is a good show because I like it. There.
I hope that explains my point and I don't have to create straw man versions of a specific Sherlock Peoria blogger to argue these points further. Because I can and will. And the internet is a big place, so I know someone will post my arguments somewhere, even if I can't get on here ever again.
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences should also nominate Elementary for an Emmy for something besides editing, sound, music, and craft services. I forgot I was going to say something about that, too. There.
I see what you did there. Ha.
ReplyDeleteWell, if presented like that - who could disagree? ;-D))
ReplyDeleteI dunno....Downton Abbey wasn't too great after the epidemic of Convenient Influenza. I didn't even tune in to see Dan Stevens die. So.... My husband does agree with you about the whole Lucy Liu-Tarentino thing, though.
ReplyDelete(Leah)
Well..it's your blog Brad. But if you really wanted to offer space to defend the merits of "Elementary" (and there are indeed many merits to it), you could have found someone competent to do it. One such is sitting in this chair, typing to you.
ReplyDeleteAside from this silly little exercise, I will say again that I fail to see the need to compare "Sherlock" and "Elementary." I like them both, and I think they can be judged on their own merits. Some devotees seem to have the curious notion that this is an either-or proposition. That one cannot like or appreciate both. That to enjoy "Elementary" necessarily requires the denigration of "Sherlock." That "Sherlock" fans must, for some reason, be resentful and contemptuous of "Elementary." I never miss either series. They are not in competition with each other. It's not a football game or a political election, where one must choose one side to the exclusion of the other.
Y'know, Bill, I was just thinking that very thing this morning! Would you like to review Thursday night's Elementary premiere with me? We could do a point-counterpoint (if, indeed, it turns out we disagree . . . who knows?). We both do a set number of words on the episode, oh, say 300, then exchange our 300 via email. Then we each do a 300 word reaction to the other person's 300. Then I post the whole thing here as one blog. Sound like fun? I'm sure it'll be a good step toward me behaving myself!
DeleteSure, we can do that. I guess it will take a couple of days to put it together. And I think we can do it the right way: serious styled fun. I will message you directly.
DeleteI'm confused...is that supposed to be a joke? It has to be, right? "No show did ever follow the original stories"....this part has to be. It is not really possible that one doesn't know the Granada series (or the Russian series, or the Wilmer/Cushing series), right?
ReplyDeleteThough on second thought...this is more or less in line of argumentation most "Elementary is the best adaptation" articles. They really tend to be that flimsy.
I hope this blog was a joke and the guest blogger doesn't think they actually made any points. If they were trying to be ironic, they failed.
ReplyDelete