Lucy Liu to play Dr. Watson in CBS Sherlock Holmes pilot

[karadinart]

She's Joan Watson, a former doctor who lost her license because of a patient's death, and she formerly consulted with the NYPD. Sherlock Holmes, played by Jonny Lee Miller is a former consulting detective for Scotland Yard, who's in rehab in New York for drug addiction.

More train wreck to follow!
(as a commentor said, I'd be more engaged if Liu was Sherlock, and Miller was Watson! But no one NO ONE can match Cumberbatch and Freeman for sheer chemistry on screen)
(deadline.com)

I mind the most that Dr.Watson is no longer an Army vet, wounded in action, a crack shot, etc. Lost a license due to losing a patient? wth? And beyond the fact that Sherlock is in rehab, I miss LONDON!

Comments

[lunarising.livejournal.com]

I'll call the fire department now, lol. I almost want to watch it to see how farked up it gets.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I'll watch it between my fingers. I had said they'd probably make John a woman, watch Lestrade will be African American, but Latino would be nice.

[earthspirits.livejournal.com]

Meh! This does sound like a train wreck! While I like Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, but just...no, no, no to this scenario. I wonder if they'll have Johnny do an American accent like he did on Eli Stone, just to make things even more annoying.

I'll probably watch at least one ep, though, just to say I saw it (I watch all versions of Sherlock Holmes, at least once, just for kicks).

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Well it all depends on if the pilot is any good, and CBS picks it up.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Well, this Holmes is supposed to be British, I guess they had no rehab centers in the UK?

[earthspirits.livejournal.com]

Hmm, well that's something anyway. If it does fly as a series, I'll definitely give it a chance. At least I admire Miller and Liu, and that's also something.

This isn't the first time Hollywood's used a female Watson, or New York as a setting for Holmes and Watson. There was a clever film made back in the 1970's, "They Might Be Giants" with George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward. The premise was that Scott is a retired judge who believes he is Sherlock Holmes and and Woodward is Dr. Mildred Watson, his psychiatrist. The pair are drawn into a search for Moriarty in New York, where they find real danger, and much more. It was actually a fun little film.

We'll see how this new gambit goes.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I loved They Might Be Giants. :D

If they wanted to shake things up, they should have cast Sherlock as female.

[earthspirits.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind a female Sherlock Holmes (and I've read a couple of pastiches where Sherlock was female).

And I don't really mind Watson being female (to me, it really depends on how it's presented), but I don't like setting up the Doctor as losing her medical license (rather cliche). Nowadays she certainly could have been a former Army doctor, etc. returned from war (as there are certainly plenty of real American female veterans returned home), and therefore fit the basic Watson character premise more accurately.

Also, as exciting a city as New York is, I'd just rather have London as the background. However, I can see that it could be a problem to the new series, as they are probably trying to tread carefully, and make their series different to the BBC one.

That said, though, I wonder if this new series will just be a basic (dull) police procedural, complete with grit, gun fights and loud car chases, just with a Holmes and Watson involved? I'd rather see the pair investigating more unusual and intellectual cases, otherwise (to me) the series would lose that Holmes and Watson edge.

Well, as I said, I'll certainly give the series a look if it flies, and will judge at that time as to whether if works for me (or not).

[excused-early.livejournal.com]

....................... D:
What the.....

[karadin.livejournal.com]

My sentiments exactly.

[shadowfireflame.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'm withholding judgment. I really like Lucy Liu, and at least they can both act. Now let's see if they can get a good script together.

I would have liked Joan to have been in the army, though...

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Yep, I would also have liked her to be in the Army.

Main complaint from fandom seems to be: a) they changed Watson to a woman so that there would be no inking of homoerotic subtext. b) they changed Watson to a woman to hit all the demographics female and minority c) they changed Watson to a woman to avoid getting sued by the BBC.

I'd say it was predictable they'd make Watson a woman, but Asian is nice. An African American would also have been exciting. But it seems inevitable that they'd couple them up, see 'X files'

I'd watch it.

[elleesttrois.livejournal.com]

Interesting that Miller and Cumberbatch played both roles in Frankenstein. One played Frankenstein, the other the monster and then they swapped the next night. Positively brilliant!

And now, this. I'd watch it; Miller was as electric as Cumberbatch in Frankenstein. I'd say Liu is the weaker link acting wise. And doesn't she have a job on SouthLAnd?

Re: I'd watch it.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I think already it's getting too far from canon, it's not the casting, maybe the premise that Sherlock's in NYC in rehab, and Dr.Watson not being an army doctor, wounded in action, a crack shot, but lost her licence due to losing a patient. wth?

I miss London the most, London's a character just as much as Watson, Sherlock knowing it like the back of his hand, having his Irregulars (Homeless Network in Sherlock) so how is this Sherlock supposed to know the city from rehab?

[aidannwn.livejournal.com]

Well, she sounds very British :P ha ha, it's a bit like Dragonball with all the wrong actors.

Obviously they are going for the romance angle but really ...

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I don't know that you have to be British to be Watson, at least Holmes is British, but I don't like the Watson backstory, it makes this more XFiles than anything, and we all knew that despite the great platonic relationship there, it devolved into the regular pair them have baby tropes.

[pyroyale.livejournal.com]

Okay, +1 point for doing something different and not just copying the BBC version with a US setting.

However, -1,000 points for what has been suggested so far. Maybe it'll have crack value?

[karadin.livejournal.com]

It's funny you said, not just copy the BBC version, this may have been exactly why they cast a woman, so they can say, look we aren't copying! and avoid a lawsuit.

but it would also mean they can't use the floating type, and they can't have Joan Watson writing a blog.

so how is this going to be Sherlock Holmes again>

[goodbyemyfancy.livejournal.com]

This is just so ludicrous it makes me shake my head. Epic FAIL on so many more levels now.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Will Jonny be the first Holmes without hair?