I don’t want the American Sherlock. Let’s be honest. Are there any shows here that could ever compare in intelligence? They’d have to dumb it down for Americans and make it overly dramatic to get an audience. And really? Who could ever compare to Benedict and Martin and the chemistry they have?
The British “audiance” gave a BAFTA to The Only Way is Essex over Sherlock, Downton Abbey, and Miranda. Arguing the intelligence of one country of viewers over the other is ludicrous. Both have quality programming, both have shit programming, and both are full of the lowest common denominator who would rather watch people make assholes of themselves on trashy reality television than watch a scripted drama that might actually engage their brains.
I’m not terribly excited about the idea of the American series myself, but this argument is fucking tired. Going on about how stupid it’s obviously going to be because “americanz r dumb lolz” doesn’t make you look like an intellectual, it makes you look like a condescending moron.
I frankly think the American version is a terrible idea, but this, for heaven’s sake. There’s a casual anti-Americanism vibe ‘round here fairly often and it’s really starting to bother me.
I think I’ve realised that it’s not the fact that Americans are making a modern Sherlock that concerns me, it’s the fact that CBS is doing it. Their track record with me lately is less than stellar. I still enjoy NCIS and Hawaii 5.0, but generally all their new shows are over-acted, over-saturated, over-produced pieces of unintentionally campy dreck with laugh tracks where there shouldn’t be laugh tracks. They’re trying too hard to make them look like movies, and it’s distracting and irritating. Sherlock works so well because while they are like movies, they’re so slick and seamless that you forget they’re “only” tv shows. They’re also longer than your average TV show, but I can’t imagine one of the mainstream networks ever giving the OK for a show to regularly run over an hour, minus ad breaks.
If HBO, FX, or hell, even Fox (look at House - not counting the Huddy era) were at the helm, I’d be less concerned.
