Lucy Liu cast as Watson in CBS' Sherlock Holmes show

[Guy Gardener]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346806/

Sherlock Holmes in los Angeles starring Steve Coogan.

Watson is the black grandson of Doctor Watson... And they fight crime together in the modern world.

"Kinda"

Sherlock Holmes in Los Angeles, was a TV Show that aired inside a TV movie called Cruise of the gods.

[Starkers]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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People who have read the books are the exception.

The rest of the filth don't know why they know these characters because the identity of Holmes and Watson has been programmed into them form a hundred different directions inadvertently by a living zeitgeist the size of human conciousness.

And yet there's a whole generation who likely think Holmes was created a couple of years ago simply to give Downy Jr a franchise where he didn't have to wear a metal suit

I think CBS didn't help the Sherlock comparisons when they hired Miller to be honst, given he's spent the last year or so alternating Frankingstein/the monster with Cumberbatch on stage.

I think what bugs me the most about this is that I'd be far more interested if Liu were playing Holmes. Much like Cumberbatch (and Matt Smith) she gives off a very distinct "Not of this Earth" "Not like everyone else" vibe. I think Miller will be a v bland Holmes by comparison--in fact we might see a situation where Watson is far more interesting

[RJDiogenes]

Well, first we had a Sherlock who inexplicably lives in the present day, then we were told about a Miss Marple who lives in the present day and isn't old, now we have a Watson who lives in the present day and is a women-- I suppose next we'll have a Miss Marple who lives in the present day and is a man.

Apparently self-parody has become the norm and nobody noticed.

[Guy Gardener]

I love her.

But I'm wondering about the process of casting Watson?

Did they offer it to Lucy outright, did she ask for the part outright, or did she go through a variation of the audition process that b-list actress have to go through?

Because it was either...

We got Lucy, lets write something for her.

Lucy would be perfect for this project.

We're casting an Asian female.

We're casting a female.

We're casting anyone.

We're casting a bloke

[Captaindemotion]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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Barney on Ice blows away either Downey JR Holmes.

Can't wait to see Holmes as a dinosaur.

[Christopher]

RJDiogenes wrote:

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Apparently self-parody has become the norm and nobody noticed.

Well, all these "Aaaahh, it's different so it must be totally wrong and evil and its creators should be slapped in irons" complaints about a show that hasn't even been made yet certainly sound like self-parody. You hear the same closed-minded, unimaginative crap about any and every new project, and it gets very tiresome, especially since the same people who trashed a new project before they'd actually seen it often end up praising it once they have. You'd think they'd eventually catch on how silly it is to judge a thing before they've seen it, but no, they just keep on going through the same repetitive cycle.

[Guy Gardener]

Was it Harry's Law earlier this year in which Harry sued a middle school teacher for not casting a black kid as Abraham Lincoln in the school play because it was unrealistic casting even though said lad of colour was the better actor... "The boy you cast, the white boy you cast, how much more realistic in this part is he? Is he 6 foot 8 inches tall? Does he have a beard? Was he born 200 years ago? Had he ever been President of the United States?"

David pulled the same thing a few years ago in Boston legal with a little black girl getting prissy that she wasn't cast as Little orphan Annie despite having the chops to pull her weight.

[wamdue]

they were talking about this casting on The Wright Stuff today

[Hound of UIster]

Christopher wrote:

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Well, all these "Aaaahh, it's different so it must be totally wrong and evil and its creators should be slapped in irons" complaints about a show that hasn't even been made yet certainly sound like self-parody.

It's done by CBS. Of course it's going to be shit.

[Christopher]

^Case in point.

[Forbin]

I wonder if the show will be saying that this Holmes is "the" Holmes, and Conan-Doyle's 19th century Holmes never existed.

Getting back to the sci fi Holmes, there was a collection of such stories printed many moons ago in a book called "Sherlock Holmes in Orbit."

[Cutter John]

Actually I think I'd be more willing to give it a chance if they did go totally overboard and set it in the future, or use an all female, or african american cast. At least that would be an interesting variation.

As it is, despite what anyone says, this whole production smells to me of some tv exec who heard that there was a modern day Holmes series in England thats well regarded, and that their studio wanted a piece of that action.

And with that, I think I've belabored my point enough. I'll just step back and quietly follow the thread from hereon in.

[Captaindemotion]

^ That's probably true. But it doesn't mean that the show will be bad. Good art can still be born out of commercial reasons!

[Greg Cox]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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^ That's probably true. But it doesn't mean that the show will be bad. Good art can still be born out of commercial reasons!

Exactly. I don't think anyone in the world would argue that the success of Twilight didn't make it easier to get Vampire Diaries green-lighted, but that doesn't mean that VD is automatically a rip-off and not worth watching.

Heck, let's be honest here. The only reason Star Trek is still a going concern is because the success of Star Wars got Star Trek: The Motion Picture green-lighted at last. If not for Star Wars, we'd still be watching nothing but reruns of TOS.

Going back further, it's an undeniable fact that the only reason Batman (and every other comic book superhero) exists is because Superman was selling like hotcakes and publishers demanded more of the same. And the entire Marvel Age of comics was launched because Stan Lee's boss noted that DC's new Justice League book was selling and told Stan to whip out a superhero team book fast.

Does that mean that the Fantastic Four is a worthless rip-off of no artistic merit?

[Relayer1]

Greg Cox wrote:

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Oh, you need to see Sherlock. It's brilliant. I've had a couple of friends who reacted with skepticism to the idea of a modern-day Holmes, but once they actually watched it, they realized just how cleverly Sherlock was executed.

I mean, I enjoyed the first Downey/Law movie (haven't see the sequel yet), but the modern show blows it away.

I think you've undersold it a bit there Greg ! It surprised me, but I genuinely think Sherlock is the best thing on T.V.