Got My Fix Tonight - Season #3 of Sherlock

S

SifuPhil

R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
Location
Pennsylvania, USA
Sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you ...

Just got hold of Episode 1 of Season 3's Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch. The end of Season 2 was a cliff-hanger with Holmes apparently jumping off a roof and killing himself.

All summer I was running across threads discussing what possibly could have happened. I like the series, love it in fact, but I could never be as extreme as some of these folks (yeah, right). That's funny, actually, because in this new season opener they poke fun at the phenomenon, showing a fan club devoted to Sherlock Holmes and some of their wild theories.

Excellent acting, even better than the previous two years, the introduction of a love interest for Dr. Watson, subplots and lots of twists and turns, logic puzzles - the perfect way to start the new season.

Now for Episode 2 ... :D
 

That's looming here, they're running trailers but haven't noticed an airing date yet. It was okay, enjoyed it, but fan forums? Sounds like the Dr Who tragics. You cease to worry about the weirdo conspiracy theorists when you read some of the stuff on those.
 
I watched quite a few episodes but couldn't really get into it like you Phil.....
My fav is The Blacklist. Can't wait until the new season starts here......love it.:woohoo:
 

I adore Eggs Benedict Cumberbun, I haven't seen him as Sherlock yet, I've been much to busy with Dr. Who.

Oh yes Casper, I love The Blacklist too. He has to be her father! don't you think and what is up with her husband ?

I loved Mr. Kaplan and wondered if they were giving a nod to Hitchcock, because in North By northwest Cary Grant's character gets mistaken for "Mr. Kaplan" and that is what starts the whole adventure, playing up the identity theme that is running through The Blacklist.
 
I adore Eggs Benedict Cumberbun, I haven't seen him as Sherlock yet, I've been much to busy with Dr. Who.
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'Course you have! Did you ever look at that pathetic OZ one? saaaad. Hardly anyone left now, I drop in and stir 'em occasionally to see if they're still alive but it's not the fun it was. siiiiigh.
 
Old Hipster said:
Oh yes Casper, I love The Blacklist too. He has to be her father! don't you think and what is up with her husband ?

I loved Mr. Kaplan and wondered if they were giving a nod to Hitchcock, because in North By northwest Cary Grant's character gets mistaken for "Mr. Kaplan" and that is what starts the whole adventure, playing up the identity theme that is running through The Blacklist.
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Old Hipster.....
It's the best series on TV at the moment.....they're definitely putting the thought in our
minds that he's her father......
There's probably another twist somewhere that will change our thoughts......
Can't work out what her husband is involved in....you're no doubt ahead of us with the new
series so don't give me any clues if that's the case....:hair:
 
Diwundrin said:
'Course you have! Did you ever look at that pathetic OZ one? saaaad. Hardly anyone left now, I drop in and stir 'em occasionally to see if they're still alive but it's not the fun it was. siiiiigh.
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Oh I never did and I never go to the one in the UK, the fans are way too obsessive.

They get in silly arguments and "what if" a situation to death. Hello folks, it's a TV show and The Doctor is not a real being.

Casper, we don't have the new season yet. I am wondering if her husband is a sleeper agent, he is a bad egg I'm sure and I think it is too obvious that Red could be her father, but something is sure up and we can't believe anything he says, or doesn't say.
 
Old Hipster said:
Casper, we don't have the new season yet. I am wondering if her husband is a sleeper agent, he is a bad egg I'm sure and I think it is too obvious that Red could be her father, but something is sure up and we can't believe anything he says, or doesn't say.
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Our TV channels do push the fact that many of our shows are "Fast Tracked" from the USA now.....
We used to have to wait months to catch up.....

 
Weren't they funny at the end of the day sitting on the balcony having a cigar, and talking about sharing the bed etc, they really crack me up, we need more shows like that instead of the fixation on murder & Cops
 
My favorite Cop show for the last few years is Castle. I love the show and all the characters and it doesn't spend 10 minutes on long drawn out autopsy. We are rarely taken to the morgue and if so, it is short and to the point.
 
I like Castle too. I picked it as the subject of a bit of a hobby/ study/research thing I got into out of curiosity of how TV shows work.
It was easy to find, I liked watching it, it had a big well run fan site, and the cast and writers are prolific Twitterers.

It was very interesting to learn who knew who, and how they networked between themselves and their fans, and more importantly between their friends in other shows, and their fans, to promote the show in popularity polls etc. (Very successfully I might add, hell they even got me to vote a few times.)
They promote themselves and their friends, and a few charities to look more goodie 2 shoes, through links, and lead the fans around to links with pals on other shows who then reciprocated. It becomes like a big 'family' thing. ... and yeah, as suspected, it all comes down to who you know what about in Hollywood.

Even a cast member who was killed off a couple of seasons ago still stays in the circle and 'chats' and promotes his latest gig. Another is promoting his music career. He wouldn't have gotten a look in only for the Castle fans buying a few CDs.

What really most impressed me about them though is the amount of 'personal contact' there appears to be with their fans when in reality they reveal barely any information about their private lives at all. Nothing except where they holidayed, or where they ate, but not until they're home again. Sometimes little snippets of things and jokes behind the scenes to give the fans a feeling of being told secrets, but about themselves personally? Nothing. Not even the mags seem to know who's an item except the the married ones.

Now that is a really clever, and hard to pull off feat in Hollywood. Getting your head in a mag. staying popular, and keeping a low profile at the same time is an art indeed.

They are consummate, almost subliminally, marketers of their talents, and the show and the cast wins more kudos than it perhaps deserves as a light weight procedural, from fan voted Entertainment Mag awards. They work the social media damned hard for those votes. The more they engage the fan base and win popularity contests the more likely the ratings stay up and they keep employed. No fools in that cast.

It was on the verge of vanishing around the end of season 3 but they stirred up enough interest, and fan generated mail to the producers, to get extended and are still going into 6. Good for them!
 
Casper said:
Another show I like is Scandal, it's on tonight and I'll have to record it as it starts at 10.30.....
I'd probably fall asleep before it finishes.....:sleeping:

at least recording I can skip all the ads....:yeah:
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Yep i do too Casper, i am usually a bit tired but persevere, i am loving Chicago Fire 8.30pm tonight, good eye candy too that's always a bonus.:magnify:
 
Thanks for all the Castle info Di, I wish they would bring James Brolin on the show again. That 2 part episode that concluded with James Brolin showing up to save the day was the best show I've ever seen!
 
Interesting bit, Di's explanation of the socialization aspect of the show. I've never watched it but I can identify somewhat with the strong drive to market your face.

Unfortunately it's an aspect of the artistic life that I totally stink at. :(

Throughout all the writer's forums you'll find similar advice: push, push, push, whether it be on Facebook or Twitter or sending weekly "Hi, how are you, here's what I'm doing" emails to your "list", which of course you've been growing by leaps and bounds by spending 3/4 of your day looking for fresh blood.

As I see it, TV has one advantage over books: it's a passive medium, no work required, just sit back and let the entertainment wash over you, as opposed to books where you actually have to WORK to get your jollies. That factor alone, in this lazy world, often means all the difference between fame and the deep, dark and dismal depths.

I mean, when was the last time you encountered a forum devoted to A Catcher in the Rye? Yet, the most inane new sit-com will instantly have a forum devoted to it and hordes of starry-eyed fan-boys-and-girls chatting away about Luke's full lips or Victoria's plastic surgery. :rolleyes:

I suppose I'm still old-fashioned enough to believe that my work should do the talking for me - I don't want to spend umpteen hours trying to hobnob with people and convince them to like my stuff. Either you like it or you don't, get off my back and let me write. :playful:

My T'ai-Chi book was published 10 years ago, and I'm STILL getting emails from people asking technical questions about the art, or asking where my school is, or if I will travel to California to teach their 12-year-old son who likes Bruce Lee movies ... it's a BOOK, people! Get over it! Move on down the road and tell your story walking!




I hate people. :mad::rolleyes:
 
Old Hipster said:
Thanks for all the Castle info Di, I wish they would bring James Brolin on the show again. That 2 part episode that concluded with James Brolin showing up to save the day was the best show I've ever seen!
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The 'buzz' was, (and believe nothing on Twitter), that he asked if there was spot for him on the show and they wrote him in as the long lost old man. Apparently he or Babs is a fan of the show.... but as I said, believe nothing.

Dunno what's going on now, lost interest and lost track of the 'goss' a few months ago. Still watch it though.

One odd thing happened about the running sequence. The week after the Boston bombing an ep was scheduled to run which was plotted around her standing on a bomb pressure plate, so they pulled that one and ran the one after it which threw the whole story line askew and they had to tweak a few scenes on the run for it to make sense again.

Odder still was that ABC ordered an extra ep for the season at late notice so they'd stitched that one together made up of mostly flashbacks to save time, (and money) and slotted it in where it wouldn't affect the 'cliffhanger' end of season bullsh*t these things indulge in.
It wouldn't have been made at all if the original episode number hadn't been extended, but instead ended up making life difficult by throwing a spanner in the season's 'end run'. The hazards of programming for a touchy audience eh?

It was shown in correct sequence here though.

Wouldn't recommend researching a favourite show really, it sure knocks the magic out of it all.
 
Phil: the writers of Castle are almost as into keeping contact with the fans as the actors are.
They are steered by what the fans talk about, and by what direction they seem to want to see the story take.
They drop 'hints' as to possible story lines and gauge the fan reaction, and write the plots lines according to how the majority of fans want it to go.

I suspect Dr Who writers follow the fans more than the other way round too. They certainly get enough input from that fanatic fan base, but OMG, how stressful would that job be?
Those people pick up a word out of place that doesn't gel with an episode that aired 20 years before!
If writers stuff-up they then have to resort to all kinds of conjuring tricks to 'explain' the anomaly in a later episode! That's beyond dedication, that's outright bondage for a writer.

Scriptwriters are total tarts. I was always deluded that the sponsors and producers steered the writers of TV shows, but not so in many cases apparently. Makes sense, as the fans are what drive the ratings that drive the sponsorship that makes the profit and round it goes.

Not all shows would be run like that of course, not that much flexiblility in more serious type ones.

Wanna be a scriptwriter?

(me either)
 
I never notice any problems with continuity, but I watch it a lot in reruns and they are out of order. I remember the one where Beckett was standing on the bomb.

I have been on a few "fan sites" ended up because I was wanting to know something about a show I was watching, but the over the top obsessive fans always drive me crazy. My god it's true, one little 'thing' wrong and they jump on it and talk it to death forever.
 
Diwundrin said:
Phil: the writers of Castle are almost as into keeping contact with the fans as the actors are.
They are steered by what the fans talk about, and by what direction they seem to want to see the story take.
They drop 'hints' as to possible story lines and gauge the fan reaction, and write the plots lines according to how the majority of fans want it to go.
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And it's all part of their job - they're PAID to do that, they don't do it out of some weird altruistic sense of community.

I suspect Dr Who writers follow the fans more than the other way round too. They certainly get enough input from that fanatic fan base, but OMG, how stressful would that job be?
Those people pick up a word out of place that doesn't gel with an episode that aired 20 years before!
If writers stuff-up they then have to resort to all kinds of conjuring tricks to 'explain' the anomaly in a later episode! That's beyond dedication, that's outright bondage for a writer.
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Yes, sci-fi is a dangerous field - nerds tend to have obsessive/compulsive behavior coupled with astounding powers of observation and recall. :rolleyes:

Scriptwriters are total tarts. I was always deluded that the sponsors and producers steered the writers of TV shows, but not so in many cases apparently. Makes sense, as the fans are what drive the ratings that drive the sponsorship that makes the profit and round it goes.
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Yes, the great majority of them are indeed at the beck and call of their masters, the sponsors. That's why I don't consider much of it to be real, honest writing. It's formulaic, it's boring, it's unoriginal and it has to be pure Hell to write.

Not all shows would be run like that of course, not that much flexiblility in more serious type ones.
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No, only the ones that want to make money. :p

Wanna be a scriptwriter?
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I'd rather sell my body for one dollar in Times Square at midnight on New Year's Eve to a boatload of drunken Greek sailors on shore-leave after a three-year cruise.

I'd even include breakfast.
 

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