is sherlock holmes now redundant?

[lechat]

so, watching some elementary lately and it occurred to me in these times of CSIs and NCISeses (pretty sure that's the plural) there just isn't a place for old sherlock any more.

it seems to me that sherlock's crime solving abilities are more related to the incompetence of those around him and less to do with his superior intellect. every time i see him pick up on an important clue that the rest of the team missed i can't help but think that Abbie would have noticed that... and looked a damn sight more sexy while doing so

could it be that sherlock holmes in these modern times is dead in the water?

yeaaaaaaahhhhhh!!

 

[Stasisesque]

Considering the popularity of:

A). The films starring RDJ.
B). Elementary.
C). Sherlock, and
D). The continuing good sales of the original novels and short stories,

I'm going to have to go with no.

 

[Eleuthera]

You're probably right. Holmes real strength was having an incredible amount of knowledge on hand. Now we have computers for that.

The deductive reasoning he used to display is also pretty much standard for those types of shows nowadays... Though I think Detective Goren (of L&O: CI) was usually depicted most Holmes-like of the modern characters.

 

[King Billi]

I don't think Sherlock Holmes can really be equated to modern american cop shows? Any stuff that deals primarily with crime scene investigation and forensic evidence tonally is just in a completely different class to him.

Sherlock Holmes has more in common with traditional British Murder Mysteries as they are closer to the kinds of stories Arthur Conan Doyle originally wrote for Holmes, stuff like Midsomer Murders or Agatha Christies Poirot. The kind of stuff which focus more on deduction and intelligence to unravel a mystery.

There is as much of a following for this more old fashioned style of detective fiction as there is in the more modern stuff like CSI or NCIS(Are they seriously all abbreviations?).

So no... I'd say Sherlock Holmes is as dundant today as he ever was.

 

[Dryk]

I don't think Sherlock Holmes can really be equated to modern american cop shows?

You haven't seen Elementary have you? The entire premise seems to be "Let's make a modern American cop show, but with a British guy called Sherlock Holmes!"

 

[Tom_green_day]

CSIs and NCISeses (pretty sure that's the plural)

Maybe this is because I don't live in America, but in England those series aren't really relevant. The actual Sherlock show and shows like Dirk Gently and Jonathon Creek, as well as the films etc, are much more popular.

 

[___________________]

Sure, for people who watch those crappy "everything is the same every time" shows.

 

[SecondPrize]

CSIs and NCISeses (pretty sure that's the plural)

Maybe this is because I don't live in America, but in England those series aren't really relevant. The actual Sherlock show and shows like Dirk Gently and Jonathon Creek, as well as the films etc, are much more popular.

Wait.... There's a Dirk Gently show? How long has it been running? Is it good?

 

[Angie7F]

NCIS ans CIS and stuff are science based.
I think the old school detectives are more based on people and messing with peoples heads, so no.
However, compared to Bones and stuff, maybe a little bit.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I... I... I don't... I dont even... What!?

Seriously... How can this even be a question!? That's like saying is Tom Sawyer irrellevant because who makes kids paint fences nowadays... or Of Mice and Men is irrelevant because noone works as drifters on plantations anymore, and George would be arrested as part of a murder case...

It's a classic story, like any Dickens and any Shakespear, and should never become discounted or discredited due to modern technology!

Also... The new US programme Elementary is a discrace, a monstrosity and an embarrasment!

 

[Tom_green_day]

wurdz

Yeah it's brilliant, Steven Mangan is a great actor (don't know if that's how you spell his surname though). It's been over a while and I don't think it was based on the books but contains multiple references.

 

[UBERfionn]

Have you watched Sherlock?

He's still awesome in that. He uses his deductive reasoning and forensic evidence in most episodes.

 

[CriticalMiss]

CSIs and NCISeses (pretty sure that's the plural)

Maybe this is because I don't live in America, but in England those series aren't really relevant. The actual Sherlock show and shows like Dirk Gently and Jonathon Creek, as well as the films etc, are much more popular.

Wait.... There's a Dirk Gently show? How long has it been running? Is it good?

There was a one-off episode with Steven Mangan a while back, if it was made in to a full series then I need to crawl out from under my rock. Can't remember which channel it was on though.

 

[Blunderboy]

Well the best adaption of Holmes into modern times is House.

But no, Holmes is still relevant.

 

[Ferisar]

I think what you're experiencing are the effects of a bad depiction of Sherlock Holmes, not the redundancy of the Conan Doyle's character.

Aka, watch Sherlock.

 

[octafish]

CSIs and NCISeses (pretty sure that's the plural)

Maybe this is because I don't live in America, but in England those series aren't really relevant. The actual Sherlock show and shows like Dirk Gently and Jonathon Creek, as well as the films etc, are much more popular.

Wait.... There's a Dirk Gently show? How long has it been running? Is it good?

There was a one-off episode with Steven Mangan a while back, if it was made in to a full series then I need to crawl out from under my rock. Can't remember which channel it was on though.

From memory, three episodes, the cat one, the university one, and the one with the dead client. They were good, if only tangentially related to the books.

Anything with Holmes doing things with his mind is by default less based in fantasy than any CSI or Navy Cops.

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

wait Elementary? What?

Were American audiences just unable to identify with the British cast of Sherlock? Or what reason would there be to make essentially the same thing again but - from what I've seen - less good?

sigh.

Go watch Sherlock. It's quite a unique take on the genre and feels very different to most modern detective TV shows. If anything, it shows how the character of Holmes is still very much relevant even today.

 

[TrulyBritish]

I don't think you could ever claim Holmes is redundant due to the rise in these crime dramas. For one thing Holmes stories are never really focused on the "real-life" aspect of crime so they fill different niches.
Secondly, claiming Holmes is redundant due to these is like claiming Tolkein is redundant due to all the fantasy stories we have now. Sure it's got a lot of the same tropes and ideas, but that's because everyones being saying "Hey look, that guy made a successful story about an eccentric genius detective that annoys his police friends, let's do that too!"
Of course I'm being pretty simplistic.

 

[Sixcess]

Were American audiences just unable to identify with the British cast of Sherlock? Or what reason would there be to make essentially the same thing again but - from what I've seen - less good?

It's really not very similar at all, and personally (and I'm a brit) I prefer Elementary to Sherlock by a long way, and think the US show has a far more interesting and original interpretation of the character than the UK show.

OT: I don't think there's a problem. The best of Holmes has always been much more about the characters than the forensics. That was true when Conan Doyle was writing them, and it's still true now.