Elementary

So, evidently, everyone must love Sherlock Holmes. I've seen all of the BBC's Sherlock series, and just completed season 2 of CBS' Elementary. Now, on the whole, Sherlock is a far superior series. The leads are about evenly matched, but going for entirely different aims. I prefer the BBC's "modern translation" attempt much more than CBS' "reimagination', and I think the aesthetic of Sherlock is much more stylish, and engaging. Plot-wise Sherlock hangs together extremely well, and tells a coherent story, whereas Elementary is just a mess. But, one thing Elementary has is a sly sense of humor, and I wonder how much of that is in the lead- Jonny Lee Miller. I really suspect he is playing Sherlock Holmes partially for laughs. Just as an entry point- consider how much his Sherlock resembles Rik Mayall's "Rik" character from the Young Ones- short messy spiky hair, dark sport coats with buttoned up oxford shirts, and dark jeans- all of which is a bit too tight. The abrupt gestures, the arch, almost camp London accent, the tendency to stutter when flustered- if Jonny didn't model him on Rik, someone most certainly did.  Armed with that, tell me that Rhys ifans isn't doing at least a little bit of Neil. Well, more precisely, he's doing Filthy Ralph , Nigel Planer's character opposite Rik Mayall in Filthy Rich and Catflap which really was just a continuation of the Young Ones mixed with Neil. Now, I could get snarky and talk about certain other actors on the show who should never be taken seriously, ever, but you know what would be great? If they did an episode revealing the Holmes father, and it was this guy.