Sherlock Holmes is a popular character these days, between a popular film franchise and an acclaimed BBC TV show, there are several ways to enjoy his particular brand of inductive reasoning. So popular in fact that BBC has ordered up a third round of Sherlock episodes, according to the trustworthy official twitter of show creator Steven Moffat.
Add that popularity with a recent trend of taking quality foreign programming and re-purposing it for American audiences and it will come as no surprise that CBS has ordered their own Holmes pilot as well. Elementary is planned as a modern take on the classic detective, putting Holmes in the middle of New York City.
This is not the first time a network wanted to put a Holmesian character on the mean streets of the big apple. Law and Order spin-off Criminal Intent was originally conceived as a way to put a detective like Sherlock in the Law and Order universe. That worked well, but the character was only loosely based on Holmes, it will be interesting to see how the character fits into the CBS style drama mold.
The nature of the BBC series should keep it separate enough to not interfere with CBS’s new show. The seasons are super short, and each episode is more like a mini movie than a simple TV show. That and the fact that recent British to American conversions have been very good give us hope that Elementary can deliver the goods on a weekly basis.
