Elementary

I’m no fan of the adaptions of some of my favorite thrillers when they are presented on television. It seems that they (whoever “they” are) believe that intelligent, brave, and honorable women have to the dumbed down to silly, shallow women—like Kathy Reichs’ character, Temperance Brennan, and Tess Gerritsen’s characters, Rizzole and Isles. They have nothing in common with the characters in the novels. I watch them sometimes, but I accept them for what they are. 

I was prepared to hate the CBS  “Elementary.” When I heard that Lucy Liu was portraying Dr. Watson, I was appalled. Dr. Watson is either Nigel Bruce or David Burke. I reserved judgment on Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes.

Over the years, there have been several acceptable Holmes (what is the plural of Holmes?). William Gillette set the standard in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s. I probably would have loved him. He appeared on stage over 1300 times as Sherlock. Of course, Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, and Jeremy Brett ARE Holmes. I even liked Rupert Everett in the role. I didn’t like Nicol Williams, Robert Downey, Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Caine, or Matt Frewer as Holmes.

When the pilot program came on last week, I have to admit that I was playing a word game on the computer and didn’t pay too much attention to it. I wasn’t even following the plot line. Today, I watched it on the computer prepared to be unimpressed.

Okay, it wasn’t great. Holmes was far to manic. I prefer a more laid back version. Maybe they’ll tame him a bit for future episodes.

Lucy Liu was terrific! She carried the show for me—a treat to watch and the writers didn’t resort to dumbing down the character. I’m looking forward to Thursday night for the second episode.