CBS has just launched an on-air campaign promoting its new fall show, Elementary. The upcoming series is a contemporary update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories, this time set in the United States. Jonny Lee Miller (who is British) stars as Holmes and Lucy Liu as Watson.
The casting of Liu as Watson has generated some reaction, obviously first because of the gender switch (the original Watson was a man), and to some degree because the actress comes with a lot of baggage (Ally McBeal, Charlie's Angels, Kill Bill) that might arguably prevent the audience from seeing her as Watson.
There's also the fact that the BBC has been producing Sherlock for two years now, an already established and successful contemporary update of Doyle's originals. Early this year, UK paper The Independent published an article in which the production company behind Sherlock stated, "We have been in touch with CBS and informed them that we will be looking at their finished pilot very closely for any infringement of our rights." You can see for yourself that the drama is already well underway, well before the fall season.
Take a look at this recently released extended teaser, much longer than the on-air promos, and see for yourself. Elementary premieres on September 27 on CBS at 10 p.m. EST.
