New Holmes. New Watson. New Series... with nothing NEW to offer...

On the whole, I found it dull, uninteresting and unengaging.

I've stated in the past I like both Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. But they just didn't grab me as Holmes and Watson. They could have been any other addict (well, former addict) and councellor solving mysteries maybe I'd get into the characters. But not as Holmes and Watson. There was just very little chemistry between them.

And I was just not feeling this whole apologetic/sympathetic Holmes. It's so typical of American Television to try and make the character likable. Holmes would never admit he was making it up, guessing or apologize for his actions. Even at Benedict Cumberbatch's most angsty in the past season, you got the feeling he was only being apologetic because he had another trick up his sleeve.

I'm not going to get too much into their decision on casting a female Watson. I'm sure enough has been said. But I feel as though it's no longer Holmes by making that change. I'm well aware having a female Watson has been done before. First with a George C. Scott movie called They Might Be Giants and later in a made for television movie starring Michael Pennington called The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

However, in the first movie George C. Scott's character was a millionaire under the delusion he WAS Sherlock Holmes and the second movie Michael Pennington's Holmes was cryogenically frozen and the female Watson was the great-granddaughter (or something) of Dr. John Watson.

And I haven't even gotten to the mystery itself. The crime, the characters and the story were so forgettable. It's bad when a show loses your interest in the first three minutes. They tried to make Miller look like a cross between Robert Downey Jr.'s slovenly unshaved Holmes with the way Benedict Cumberbatch wears his scarf. Worse than that, you have Holmes spouting lines like "Sometimes I hate it when I'm right" when they found a body just irritated me. Again, I could never imagine Holmes saying such things.

True. Many of Doyles original stories could be very slow and plodding. However, it was Holmes's snappy dialogue and the way he would solve the crimes (as well as the crime itself) that would make the story intersting.

This episode had NONE of that!!

And the frustrating thing is American Television HAS done successful variations on Holmes with House and Monk. Not to mention not ALL shows over here are bad. Criminal Minds (also produced by CBS) is a great show. Good characters and great storylines. WHY couldn't the production team take a tip from any of those shows?

In all, I go back to my original feeling that this series's is just trying to ride on the coattails of the BBC series's success. So CBS threw this together as quickly as possible.

And the result is a very dumbed down and shallow Holmes and Watson.

Elementary, my dear Watson. It's going to be awful!

What made Sherlock a success is what's going to make Elementary a disaster. Writing! Let me start out by saying I like Jonny Lee Miller as an actor. He's very good. But seeing CBS's teaser for their version a modernized Sherlock Holmes living in America, I thought the series looked awful. Syd and I watched in on her iphone and we sat there rolling our eyes and shaking our heads at the lines Sherlock Holmes was given. None of which we could ever imagine Sherlock Holmes EVER saying.

One of which when he discovers the dead body in the safe by rolling a ball bearing towards a safe to discover a body and then utters "Sometimes I am sorry when I'm right" Or apologizing to Dr. JOAN Watson (played by Lucy Lui) about wrecking her car. Both of us just felt Sherlock Holmes would never do that!! He would never apologize for his actions. Especially if he felt the ends justify the means. I suppose it's American television's attempt to give Sherlock Holmes some humanity and humility. Make him a flawed hero.

I'm not buying it.

In all of his incarnations. From Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Robert Stephens, Peter Cushing and most recently with Benedict Cumberbath and Robert Downey Jr. the thing that has made Sherlock Holmes's character great is the fact he's so unapologetic. Actually, he's just a downright jerk. Probably Rathbone's portrayal of Holmes is by far the warmest and most sympathetic of all the Sherlock actors mentioned.

They even got that right in House. What made Hugh Laurie's character so popular is the fact he was such a jerk.

I should probably state that Sherlock Holmes is public domain. Which means ANYONE can do something with the character. My gripe is that the whole series seems very lazy and this is just American Television capitalizing on the success of something Steven Moffat, wife Susan Vertue and Mark Gatiss worked very hard to create. A modernized Holmes HAS been done in the past. But not nearly as successfully as team Moffat/Vertue/Gatiss has done. And this just feels... well... really lazy.

I understand Moffat and Company's irritation with the American series. They've worked really hard to cultivate this idea and make it a success. As a spectator looking in from the outside, all it seems like to me is CBS just riding on the coattails of Sherlock's success. And doing so in the most contrived and unoriginal sort of way.

However, I do not agree with Moffat's statement that this series will somehow ruin the brand if it's a distaster. Honestly, I don't think it will make his series any less of a success. As a matter of fact, I think just the opposite will happen. I think people who view in on this Americanized Holmes in the Fall who are familiar with the BBC series will just say, "I think the British version is better".

If CBS had any sort of imagination (it's obvious that they DON'T) then they would do just the opposite and create a Sherlock series with Jonny Lee Miller in the States. BUT have it set in the 1890's. Larry Millett did a series of Sherlock Holmes novels set in the states. Why not use that.

Or they would pick another literary character to adapt. If they were smart (see above) they might consider being clever (again, see above) and do a series with Jonny Lee Miller based on A.J. Raffles. A character created by E. W. Hornung.

But I suppose Sherlock is more lucrative than Raffles. And it's easier to rehash something someone has already done than to take a chance and do something completely original.

I won't be watching Elementary this fall. Well, I might tune in on the first episode just to see if the rest of the show is as bad as the previews for it looked.

Either way, I see this making "Show Being Axed" list.

Elementary! (Or CBS capitalizing on the success of Sherlock)

The picture above is not from the series. It's from a movie called The Zero Effect which was a modern take on the Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia.

But it looks as though CBS wants in on the success that the BBC has been having with the series Sherlock by creating their own modern-day retelling with a series titled...

...wait for it...

...Elementary.

Although this is not really the first attempt at an American version of Sherlock Holmes. Along with the movie The Zero Effect mentioned above, both the series's Monk and House both take aspects of the character and the stories of Sherlock Holmes.

I mean House even lives on 221B Baker Street for heathen snakes!!

And to ensure the series is a dismal failure, it will take Sherlock Holmes and have him solving crimes in modern-day New York City.

However, if they end up enlisting someone like David Tennant, Eddie Izzard or Christopher Eccleston in the role I might change my opinion of the production.

I had heard a rumor from someone that Robert Downey Jr. might star in the series but I think that is total bullshit. Especially after the rigorous schedule of filming the series Ally McBeal nearly killed him.

Besides, given how much he probably made between Sherlock Holmes and Iron Man I don't think he'll have much interest in breaking his back making a weekly television series.

I really can't think of another American actor off-hand who could really pull off the eccentric qualities of Holmes. At least not in the way that Benedict Cumberbatch has made the part his own on television.

But I fear we're probably going to end up with someone like Ashton Kutcher or Charlie Sheen as Sherlock Holmes.