Ah, the Big Game.
There is really absolutely nothing at all Sherlockian to do with Big Game Sunday. We can't even really watch it "just for the commercials," because the beer and truck and corn chip vendors of the world really don't care about using Sherlock Holmes to sell their products. You can't even find "Bronco" or "Panther" in the Canon to dole out a quote or two, which is the absolute base level of Sherlockian connection. So, yeah, the Big Game whose real name is trademarked, so one avoids using it in print . . . .
But once upon a time, it was not thus. Once . . . in one Golden Age of Sherlockian Big Game almost-relevance . . . in that hazy, distance past of three years ago . . . the names "Sherlock Holmes" and "[Insert name of Big Game here]" were teamed up to bring an evening's entertainment to 20.8 million viewers. (At least that was the number that stuck around for the second "Sherlock" part. The first "game" part did considerably better.)
It was an episode of Elementary called "The Deductionist" back on February 3, 2013, and I did some of my most Sherlockian analysis of that particular episode. And the results were amazingly similar to what I found in the most current episode, so points for consistency, Elementary.
What hasn't been so consistent is the ratings Elementary has pulled in since then. Ostensibly, placing that single CBS show immediately after the Big Game was to boost its ratings and draw viewers' attention that, once gained, would cause them to stick around. After the peak Sunday night of 20.8 million, however, the show went back to its normal 10-point-something million in ratings for that season.
After a low point this season of 5.0 million viewers, CBS has decided to move Elementary to a Sunday night time slot every week starting March 20, where perhaps the ghost of its "Big Game" night past will give it a little more in the ratings numbers. What's it being replaced with on Thursday nights? A TV remake of the Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker movie franchise Rush Hour. (No comment.)
In any case, here we are again, three years later on the night of the non-Sherlock-related Big Game, a night that will probably never get a good Holmes connection . . . and maybe that's okay.
The ongoing investigation of Sherlock Holmes, reported from the Peoria, Illinois outpost of Baker Street's dirtiest half a dozen.
Re-reading your analysis from 2013 and your most resent post about Elementary I'm impressed that the show stimulates your best writing. If the ratings tank and you get your wish of permanent cancellation your blog will suffer for lack of inspiration. I know that we don't want a never ending story but there are so many loose ends that I want to know more about that even fan fiction could not satisfy. Let us hope that Sunday night will find enough viewers the keep the fun going.
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