[Erin524]

(warning, my nerdy inner fangirl is showing in this post)

For anyone who is a Sherlock Holmes fan, I have to recommend this tv show

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/

It's called "Sherlock", and it's a 21st century retelling of Sherlock Holmes. He and John Watson are modern day detectives. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch (such a British name!) and Martin Freeman (he was Arthur Dent in "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy", and he's THE Hobbit in "The Hobbit".) Cumberbatch was in "War Horse", and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". Cumberbatch is also in the new Star Trek movie as a bad guy that I'm not going to name just in case any Trek fans are here and dont want to be spoiled yet. Oh, and he's also Smaug the Dragon in "The Hobbit".

Tonight (sunday, May 6th) is the premiere of season 2. They're showing season 1 of Sherlock this afternoon starting at 330pm CST. The first episode of season 2 will be on at 8pm CST.

The "seasons" are very short. Three episodes a season, but the episodes are 90 minutes long. So, there's currently only 6 episodes of Sherlock, but they are really really really really really really really good! Instead of giving us quantity, they gave us quality.

I fell in love with the show back in January when I was sick with the drop foot flare and was on steroids and really sick. I downloaded the first episode off of iTunes, and I think I was about 8 minutes into the show when I went back to iTunes and downloaded the other two episodes. It was THAT good! Then I got obsessed with wanting to see the second season, which had only just aired in England that week. I found out America wasnt getting the second season till May 6th, I ended up searching the internet and found the second season online. (I may or may not have the script for the entire series memorized now for how many times I've actually watched the show online...obsession can be fun) Yeah, I've actually seen it already, but on my computer screen. Tonight I'll be able to see it on a big screen tv in HD. My nerdy inner fangirl is really really excited!

Just thought I would throw the suggestion out for people to watch the show today. It really is a very well made show. The guys who created it are the same guys who brought us the current "Dr. Who". They are serious Sherlock Holmes fans, and I think they did a great job adapting Sherlock from the 1890s to the 21st century. Sherlock uses an iphone and computers. I think they did a great job with it. Sherlock Holmes has always been a modern man who uses science and deduction to solve mysteries, so I think modernizing him worked really well. (and having a drop dead gorgeous actor play him helps)

Because of "Sherlock", I ended up with an obsession with British tv, and have also been watching other British television shows. ("Whitechapel" is the other show that I'm nuts about) I needed something to get me thru that drop foot flare, and then the optic neuritis flare I just had.

"Sherlock" also got me back into reading the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Which have been fun for me to re-read. Read them when I was a kid. I was a big fan of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes back then, and every time there has been a new Sherlock Holmes movie with a new actor, I've watched them.

Have fun if you watch the show!

[Koala77]

We recently had this series here in Australia, and I admit that I enjoyed it. I rather liked Benedict as Sherlock.

[Erin524]

I think I like Benedict as Sherlock more than I like Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock. They both make it look like they had fun with making their movies tho.

I'm pretty much on a quest now to see everything that Benedict Cumberbatch has ever filmed...thanks to the internet, I've managed to see quite a bit of his stuff. (thank you innernets, and thank you youtube videos!) He really is an excellent actor. His movies kept me sane the past few months when I was bored to tears while being sick. I love his voice, he's done a few audio books, including a Sherlock Holmes audio book.

There's also a 15 minute youtube video that is nothing but voiceovers that Cumberbatch did for Jaguar cars. Apparently it's very popular with his female fans. I've looked at the video, and it did make me want to buy a Jaguar, and for some reason I want to have Cumberbatch's children after listening to him talk about Jaguar cars for 15 minutes...that must be some subliminal thing he can do with his voice. Love his voice.

It's kind of sad how I've gotten obsessed with the show. I'm following a bunch of people on Twitter and a few other websites who keep posting cute pictures of Cumberbatch and the other actors who were in Sherlock. Tonight I was stalking a few of the Star Trek actors twitter feeds because they'd taken Cumberbatch out drinking and they were all posting photographs of themselves all over twitter. (Cumberbatch doesnt have a Twitter account, so he's apparently having the actors he's with send out tweets for him saying hi to the fans)

One of my online friends went to a PBS special thing in New York earlier this week that Cumberbatch and a few of the other actors and producers of the show were at, and she got to meet Benedict. (I am so so jealous of her now!) So she's spamming her Tumblr feed and a few other sites with pictures she took of Benedict at the fan meet & greet. I would have loved to have been able to go to something like that. (I wouldnt be able to handle all the standing in line, or the flashing of cameras tho)

I cant wait till later tonight. I should go to bed, since it's only almost 3am here and I should probably attempt to sleep so I'm not sleeping when Sherlock comes on tonight, and I'll be able to stay awake and live tweet with the other Sherlock fans. It'll be nice to be able to watch Sherlock on an actual tv in HD. Watching it on my computer was nice, but big screen tv will be even nicer.

Just finished up an oral steroid taper, and I've still got insomnia from that. Wish I could sleep!

[ANNagain]

Erin,

I also enjoyed this version of Sherlock. We have been looking forward to his reappearance. Here, however, there is a problem w a large tower that several stations share forcing many of them off the air. We still got PBS, tho.' Then after about 2 weeks, PBS agreed to switch places w other stations and take a lower position on said antenna so no Sherlock for us. And no donation from us until this is fixed!

No spoilers!
ANN

[tkrik]

Thanks, Erin! I haven't watched it yet but I put Sherlock in my instant queue on Netflix. I'll have to see what time it comes on on my PBS station here. Not too sure but I think 9:00 as that is when most of the Masterpiece Theater shows come on.

[Erin524]

I watched it tonight and am REALLY ANNOYED with PBS!

They creatively edited a bunch of scenes out of it. Scenes that kind of help build the characters and show the relationships between Sherlock and John Watson. Plus, it seemed like they sped up the tape a little bit. I've watched this episode a few dozen...thousands...of times online, and it was really noticeable with the edits and the speeding up of the video in certain parts.

The speeding up of the video is probably only noticeable to people who've seen the U.K. version (it's available online. I know where you can see it streamed online) It was just enough that I could tell that the "flow" of the show changed. Felt like someone pushed a fast forward button on the tape.

The edits were done so that PBS would have the time for their little commercials and the intro by the famous actor who's name I cant think of who was at the introduction at the beginning.

It was really weird what little parts they cut tonight. I was expecting them to cut the bits that have someone who might not have exactly been appropriately dressed for the time it was airing, but they left that part in. Seemed like they cut a couple of the more important character development pieces. Very annoying to all the Sherlock fangirls that I know online. We were all kind of peeved.



Still, it was really nice to see it in HD on my tv and not on my little computer monitor. Just wish they hadnt edited it. Hoping they dont do major edits in the last episode when they air that on the 20th. That's probably the best episode of all six, and just hope they dont cut the important scenes.

I cant wait for iTunes to put the episodes up for download. Those I know are NOT edited. You get the full episode uncut when you download from iTunes. (been hearing episodes Netflix has had is edited for some weird reason) I pre-ordered the DVD's for the 2nd season (they come out 2 days before my b-day) and those are not edited either...and apparently the dvd has the fun little extras.

[KittyLady]

Im a huge PBS fan. My favorite show is Downton Abbey. They are in the middle of making season 3 so the show is on pause until they are done making the season.

[Erin524]

I cant wait till season 3 of Downton Abbey! I wanna know what happens to Mary and Matthew, and what happens to Mr Bates and Anna. I love that show.

I watched Downton Abbey on Amazon Prime. (streamed on my computer.) I have an Amazon Prime membership that lets me watch some tv shows/movies on my computer and not have to pay extra to see them. (I did pay Amazon a little bit to see the second season because you had to pay for that one. They only had the first season for free at the time)

Last night while watching Sherlock, was when I figured out what tv channel Downton Abbey is on. When it comes back I'll be recording it on my DVR. That's another show that I need to get the dvd's for.

Love all the costumes that the actors wear on DA, I think that's what first got me interested in it. The era that the show is set in, is one of my favorite eras for women and mens fashions. Love the clothing they wore back then.

Another PBS show that I watched online on Amazon Prime was The Last Enemy. Kind of a psychological thriller that starred the actor who played Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch. Also had Robert Carlyle in it. (Scottish actor, was in The Full Monty, and Stargate Atlantis and a few others...really good actor) I'm really into the PBS specials now. I ended up downloading The Last Enemy from iTunes (Amazon Prime wont let you download to a Mac for some reason. You can watch streaming shows on Amazon Prime, but movies you buy from them for downloading you have to have a Windows computer)