US fans - Sherlock Tonight

[OmahaStar]

The new Sherlock Holmes miniseries starts airing tonight in the US as part of Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. This is at 8 pm Eastern, 7 Central.

Sherlock is, from what I can tell, an update to the Sherlock mythos, bringing the characters into the 21st century. It is written and executive produced by our own Steven Moffat, so I expect lots of Doctor Who references.

It will air in three blocks. Two episodes tonight, two next Sunday, and the last two the following Sunday.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^It is a modernisation of Sherlock Holmes. It isn't a mini-series, it's 3 90 minute episodes, there's a second series due towards the end of next year. There's not a great deal of Doctor Who references really. First one is written by Steven Moffat, second by Stephen Thompson and third by Mark Gatiss.

First and third episodes are brilliant, second is merely worth watching.

 

[Starkers]

^ What Bob said!

 

[Worf2DS9]

The series is quite good. The Sherlock actor, Cumberbunch (or whatever), is quite good and has a vibe about him that suggests he'd be a great Doctor in an alternate universe where Matt Smith didn't get the role of Eleven.

And new Bilbo Baggins Martin Freeman is also very good as Watson.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Why is it only 3 episodes a season?

 

[Samurai8472]

The series is quite good. The Sherlock actor, Cumberbunch (or whatever), is quite good and has a vibe about him that suggests he'd be a great Doctor in an alternate universe where Matt Smith didn't get the role of Eleven.

He was almost cast as the eleventh doctor but turned it down. He didn't want his face on lunch boxes.

 

[Rosalind]

Why is it only 3 episodes a season?

"they are 90 minute episodes, that's longer than a season of sitcoms!" -- Moffat on BBC Breakfast

It took them 3 months to shoot the first season, so I think 3 episodes is a reasonable length. With Cumberbatch starring in Spielberg's War Horse, and now Freeman going to be Bilbo Baggins, this schedule will mean these two will probably stick around for a few years (fingers crossed).

 

[Anachronus]

It does have a very Dr. Who feel but that is a combination of Moffat and the cross fertilization between the two characters over the years.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I second, third, umpteend (?!?) that the show is utterly brilliant and well worth checking out. Waiting for the second season is almost as bad as waiting for the next Doctor Who episode at any given time. Almost.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I only saw the second episode. But definely worth watching. I wish I could go back 24 hours and watch the final episode last night.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

About the 3 episodes, it's better than it could have been because it was originally commissioned as a one off 60 minute and they liked it but felt it needed reworking, so the one off became a non-broadcast pilot and they commissioned 3 90 minute episodes.

 

[Cutter John]

About the 3 episodes, it's better than it could have been because it was originally commissioned as a one off 60 minute and they liked it but felt it needed reworking, so the one off became a non-broadcast pilot and they commissioned 3 90 minute episodes.

And a darn good thing too. I've seen the unaired pilot and theres just no comparison to the broadcast episode.

Don't forget Mark Gatiss plays a small but important part too if you need a further Who connection.

 

[Neroon]

Off to TVM......

 

[Lindley]

My boss said this was good, I may take a look.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I saw the first episode and it was pretty good; well written and a nice little mystery, with almost an entirely intellectual showdown (ruined by gunplay). It's not Sherlock Holmes, though, so anybody expecting that is likely to be disappointed. They should have just given the characters original names; the use of familiar names was more distracting than anything else.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I saw the first episode and it was pretty good; well written and a nice little mystery, with almost an entirely intellectual showdown (ruined by gunplay). It's not Sherlock Holmes, though, so anybody expecting that is likely to be disappointed. They should have just given the characters original names; the use of familiar names was more distracting than anything else.

Nope.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I saw the first episode and it was pretty good; well written and a nice little mystery, with almost an entirely intellectual showdown (ruined by gunplay). It's not Sherlock Holmes, though, so anybody expecting that is likely to be disappointed. They should have just given the characters original names; the use of familiar names was more distracting than anything else.

Yeah, I'm with you there. I actually found the modernism distracting to the whole mythos.

 

[DarthPipes]

I thought it was outstanding. Proof that with the right team involved, Sherlock Holmes is still very much relevent today.

Showing you that the more things change, the more they say the same Watson is still a veteren of Afghanistan. Both leads were outstanding and Martin Freeman (along with Jude Law in the rent Holmes movie) has rescued Watson from the bumbling portrayel the character has suffered for almost seventy years. The recent Sherlock Holmes movie was long, boring, and incoherent. Despite its modern setting, I felt THIS was a far better Holmes story and one that captured the spirit of the stories better.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I loved it. It was brilliant!

The only thing is, I hate the lead actor, Benedict Cumberbatch. I hate his guts!

Why? Because HE was so bloody brilliant!

I resent the fact that he tuned down Doctor Who! This is what the 11th Doctor should have been, and instead we get Matt "Rubber Face" Smith!

 

[Christopher]

It's not Sherlock Holmes, though, so anybody expecting that is likely to be disappointed. They should have just given the characters original names; the use of familiar names was more distracting than anything else.

Huh? Come on, these characters were very much Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Their personalities and relationship were very closely based on the way Conan Doyle originally wrote them; the only difference is that this show places those personalities in the modern world and adapts them to it. Also, the plot was a loose adaptation of A Study in Scarlet, the novel that introduced Holmes and Watson. It's the same characters, the same series premise, just in a different setting. Changing the names would make no sense.

And the attitude that Sherlock Holmes has to be stuck in the Victorian Era to be true to the character is exactly what Moffat and Gatiss sought to challenge by doing this show. Their goal was to strip away the distracting period elements and focus on the real core of Doyle's creation, namely the characters of Holmes and Watson and their relationship. Great characters are timeless.

And it's not the first time Holmes has been modernized. When Universal Studios began making Holmes movies in the '40s, it was in the era when all US movies were under pressure to be wartime propaganda, so they updated Holmes to what was then the present day and had him take on Nazis (even though stars Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce had already done two Fox movies and a radio series set in Victorian times). And after the war ended, they still kept Holmes and Watson in the present for the rest of the film series.