CBS Releases Trailer For Elementary

After the success of Sherlock, the modernized take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, CBS decided “Hey, we could do that.” We heard about it last year, snippets of casting and location. Lucy Liu would be Joan Watson and Johnny Lee Miller our Sherlock. Nothing so bad there, female Watson could be interesting, although surely CBS will make it a sexual chemistry thing. It’ll take place in Manhattan, which is where CBS lost me. Sherlock Holmes has an encyclopedic knowledge of London, it helps him solve crimes and is part of the character. So either CBS would give us an American Holmes or one transplanted. Mostly I just figured CBS wouldn’t be able to recreate the quality of the BBC version. They have a million police procedural shows, why take a beloved character and force him into a mold he doesn’t fit?

Now that you’ve seen it what do you think?  A few things really make me wonder. Firstly, Sherlock being fresh out of Rehab seems a bit odd. In the books he occasionally used drugs and even had a bit of an opium habit, have they made him a recovering heroin addict? Secondly, he doesn’t seem very confident. Shaky voice and just a bit of a frightened look. Thirdly, they seem to have directly taken his coat and scarf from the BBC version. Super nitpicky I know but it bugged me a tad. Lastly, the tattoos. I have plenty of them myself and I have no issue with them but for me they just don’t fit Sherlock. Watson being hired by Holmes’ father to be his Sober Buddy doesn’t quite fit for me either, his brother would make more sense. I know it’s only a trailer and I because of that I think I may give it at least one episode possibly two to change my mind but right now it isn’t looking so good.

Am I being overly critical? Is there things about this you liked or other things that may turn you off of this? Let me know in the comments.