I was a little late to the Sherlock party, waiting until Series 1 was on Netflix before I started to watch it. If you have no idea what Sherlock is or insist that Elementary on CBS is the modern Sherlock gold standard, you need to stop what you are doing and check out the BBC’s Sherlock. It is written by Doctor Who Show runner Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (also a Whovian who wrote the amazing “An Adventure in Space and Time” the story of the First Doctor William Hartnell). I am quite impressed by how well written and produced each episode is. At around 90 minutes per episode, each one feels like a movie rather than a TV episode.
Sometimes I think that less can be more for TV shows. Despite our incessant desire to have more and more episodes of our beloved favorites, there is something to be said for smaller runs to keep the show from becoming repetitive or dull. Absolutely Fabulous and Fawlty Towers are also examples of TV shows from the UK with limited runs that are great. I do think that is one (among many) things that the BBC and other UK broadcasters do better. Sometimes it is out of budget, but I think creatively it is a good idea vs. our US habit of running 22-28 episodes a year.
Sherlock is airing on PBS the next two Sundays and is also on Netflix or at fine rental outlets everywhere. Wait. Are there even rental outlets anymore? Just Netflix, Redbox, iTunes, Amazon, etc. Can you even go to a “video store” anymore??