Elementary

I was beyond chuffed that the second series (I'm English, I can't say season) of Elementary had started.  It doesn't appear to be shown on the BBC, obviously because they have their own Sherlock, but this is a dreadful shame.  One good thing about US series is that they aren't precious, making only three at a time lovingly-crafted episodes.  With Elementary you go super-sized and get 24 shows per season.  Yes, all right, I said it.

We seem to be spoiled for Sherlocks at the moment.   Robert Downey Jr, Benedict Cucumberpatch, and now Jonny Lee-Miller.  I dunno about you, but I just thought J L-M was one of Angelina Jolie's starter husbands, before she got to the dumb gristly main that is Brad Pitt.  To be fair I'd never actually seen him in anything.  As Sherlock Holmes, he seems to be chanelling Derren Brown a fair bit: a sort of super-confident awkwardness.  He seems to have far too many limbs at times as if he exists purely in his head and doesn't quite know what the rest of the body is for.

Lucy Liu plays Watson.  Sounds absurd?  To a purist perhaps, but she is brilliant.  Cool and intelligent but at the same time a bit vulnerable, and with some excellent clothes.  She has a back story that is not belaboured, but that adds to her motivation.  Thankfully, there is no sexing between Lucy and Jonny, nor any hint that there will be.  Hopefully the writers can remember "Moonlighting" and how that went down the toilet the minute Bruce Willis diddled Cybil Shepherd.

I like about Elementary that although it is set in New York, there is no attempt to tone down the Englishness of the lead character.  He speaks rapid, slightly slurred English as if the words won't get out quickly enough, and is given to the odd interjection of "Bollocks". 

I like also that they are usually a step ahead of me in working out crimes.  I'm the stumbling NY police officers barking up several wrong trees.  Usually I can work out who did stuff in the first few minutes (which really spoiled Twin Peaks for me).  It's nice to be surprised.  There are some excellent guests too:  Vinny Jones as, surprisingly, a brutal henchman; Rhys Ifans playing almost ding-dong sexy as Mycroft Holmes; and probably some other people I can't remember.

In the US it's on CBS and in the UK, for some reason, it's stuffed away on Sky Living.  A huge waste for a show that should be on mainstream telly.  It's not as if it's in competition with the Cumberbatch Sherlock as that's hardly ever bloody on.  So seek it out on the internets and watch it.  That and "Dancing with the Stars" make my week.