While this has nothing to do with whether or not it's redundant, and I'm going to feel like such a hipster for saying this, but with the huge success of stuff like Sherlock, I feel as though classic Holmes has sadly been cast aside.
I grew up reading Holmes. I still read the classic novels and short stories every now and then, my high school yearbook quote came from The Sign of Four. I love my Holmes.
And it used to be I couldn't talk about Holmes because nobody around me had ever read the books or short stories, or had even heard of them.
But now I can't talk about them for a completely different reason, and that reason is Sherlock. Now don't get me wrong. I love Sherlock. I think it's an amazingly well done interpretation of the characters, I think the actors are phenomenal, I think it's a great show.
So now it's the same as before, but with false hope attached. I try to have conversations about Holmes, I ask what people's favorite story was, or what their thoughts on the Dancing Men were, but whenever I try to have a conversation about Mycroft's appearance in The Greek Interpreter, all I ever get is "Oh man, I LOOOOOVVE Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch is so cute when he wrinkles his nose."
I once tried discussing the novels with someone whose exact words were "I've loved Holmes my whole life" only for them to say "Oh no, I never read any of the stories. I just watch Sherlock."
I'm not trying to sound elitist or anything, but I feel like with Sherlock, it's become kind of annoying to be around all these Sherlockians who couldn't care less about the Conan Doyle works.
And again, I love Sherlock. I will have lengthy conversations about Sherlock...but trying to have a conversation about Holmes...I'm still pretty SOL.
EDIT: In regards to Elementary, I feel like the show must be judged on two things.
If you just judge it as a detective show, it's average, run of the mill, nothing special, but there have been worse mystery shows out there.
But the problem is, they wanted to be a Sherlock Holmes show, and I feel that's what hurts it the most, because you will ALWAYS have the comparison to...well...Sherlock Holmes. Honestly, they could have just called the show Murder Most Foul, the main characters names could have been Reginald Pendant and Michelle Wu, and it would have been the EXACT same show, but without all the people saying it's a bad Sherlock Holmes.
It really is a matter of "a rose by any other name..." here. The show would be the same show if the title and character names were changed, but our own perception of it would probably be different. I'm not saying that people who dislike it would magically like it just because the Sherlock Holmes goggles have been lifted, but it'd be easier for a lot of people to judge it on its own merits rather than having a basis of comparison.
