Lucy Liu is Dr Watson...

[Ursa major]

The existence of the unisex bathroom is the only thing I've ever known about that show.


(Well, that other actress inadvertantly making her face look like a duck's was in the news, I suppose, but that wasn't necessarily show-related.)

[Interference]

Originally Posted by AnyaKimlin

....but I struggle see her playing second fiddle.

As we know, Holmes played fiddle quite well

But you've actually hit on something that might have made me more interested in seeing this "version". Casting Holmes as a woman would have been seriously intriguing.

I also wondered if the male-female dynamic might have been a focus-group decision to steer them clear of the tired old sexual-orientation theme. Unfortunately I imagine that two or three seasons of will-they, won't-they will be the alternative we have to face instead, which is, for me, even more tedious and unexciting than are-they-or-aren't-they - which is a dull enough preoccupation.

[Ursa major]

Regarding the 'will they, won't they'.... Presumably, in the last episode, they'll explain why they didn't: because of their sexual orientations.

[Interference]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

Regarding the 'will they, won't they'.... Presumably, in the last episode, they'll explain why they didn't: because of their sexual orientations.

Though I thought only Lucy Liu had genes from that part of the world.

[AnyaKimlin]

I agree with that and that is my gripe with this casting - not that Watson is a woman, but the woman they cast would've made a fantastic Holmes. Conan Doyle's Sherlock was so completely asexual and kind of transcended gender that I actually don't think it matters if he his played by a man or a woman.

[Ursa major]

Don't worry about it, Inter: the whole show will have gone west by then; so far, indeed, that it'll be coming back round.

[Interference]

And it'll be no occident

I agree, Anja, that Doyle seemed to go to great lengths to, as it were, de-sex Holmes. In fact, whatever the gender of the character, he or she would clearly have been far to focussed on their work to consider such dalliances as anything other than a distraction.

[paranoid marvin]

Originally Posted by Interference

And it'll be no occident

I agree, Anja, that Doyle seemed to go to great lengths to, as it were, de-sex Holmes. In fact, whatever the gender of the character, he or she would clearly have been far to focussed on their work to consider such dalliances as anything other than a distraction.

Well back in Doyle's day , it would have been inconceivable for Watson to be anything bt a man; a woman as a sidekick would have been more science fiction than Verne's journey to the moon.

[Abernovo]

As with others, I worry that this is just more jumping on the band wagon (studio execs: What do we make next? Sherlock Holmes is popular - we can make money with that!$$$), but I may be letting my cynicism run loose.

Time will tell, I suppose, but it would need to rely on more than the single quirk of Watson's character being changed to a woman. So, will there be a Mr Watson in the background?

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Abernovo

...(studio execs: What do we make next? Sherlock Holmes is popular - we can make money with that!$$$)...

But possibly not with two white men, heavens forsake they might be gay and living together!!! However, it is perfectly okay to make her a woman from a racial minority. That ticks all of their boxes and won't make half of America switch off. I may be being very cynical, but I was just reading about Rush Limbaugh (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17241803) and he just couldn't broadcast in the UK.

[Ursa major]

Originally Posted by Dave

and he just couldn't broadcast in the UK.

To risk thread hijacking, that whole issue sounds bizarre; not because of the particular details of that situation - we've had vaguely similar arguments over, say, adoption agencies - but the thought that the specifics of one's health care provision could be dependent on the moral view of one's employer.

[AnyaKimlin]

I think if Rush Limbaugh lived in the UK he would be an oddity to be laughed at. However we have that one with the gay rights that supported the 'cure' the gays lobby. He seems to have pulled back from that.

OK now having derailed the thread I'm off to see what else is on chrons this morning ?

[steve12553]

I have been a Holmes fan for over half a century. I've watched Holmes outside the canon simply because I had seen all I could access that was made from the original stories and that's what was presented. The idea of bringing up something new with so many radical changes makes me cringe, but I will at least start to watch it. I really enjoy Lucy Lui as an actress but if the storie are littered with creeping political correctness I'm out. I enjoyed the interpretations where life was returned to Victorian England and crimes were solved without cell phones and modern forensics. Holmes (and Doyle as his creator) was way ahead in the forensics department but much of his detective work was done by hard work and very intense deductive reasoning. A good Holmes story has to be based on that rther than use technology to bail out the story.

[Interference]

Originally Posted by Dave

But possibly not with two white men, heavens forsake they might be gay and living together!!! However, it is perfectly okay to make her a woman from a racial minority. That ticks all of their boxes and won't make half of America switch off. I may be being very cynical, but I was just reading about Rush Limbaugh (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17241803) and he just couldn't broadcast in the UK.

And so it's clear the Republicans are doing everything they can to avoid the presidency. They obviously don't think the economy is recovering yet.

And back OT:

Of course! A minority ethnic Holmes and a minority ethnic Watson solving the problems of New York! It has international appeal.

On the question of whether or not there will be a Mr Watson, can you imagine the RL repercussions of such a triangle? And can you imagine how Hollywood would treat it?

Oh, despair, thy name is television....

[Dave]

Steven Moffat 'annoyed' at American version of Sherlock

"The bigger problem for us with Elementary is, what if it's terrible? What if it's awful? Then it degrades the brand," he said. "I remember there was a legitimate American version made of Coupling, actually adapted from our version. It was terrible and it was a disaster and it did sort of diminish the original. So if there's this completely unrelated rogue version of Sherlock going around and it's bad, it can be bad for us."