Except for the same reason they never end up signing casts for more then a season or two. So when a series is successful and they end up deciding they want to produce more, half the cast will have wandered off to other projects. See Misfits, Being Human, Downton Abbey, etc.
I’m kinda impressed they keep getting the leads for Sherlock to come back given their recent success in other projects. I imagine Martin Freeman must make more in five minutes of Hobbit screentime then he makes in a series worth of Sherlock episodes.
They work around the schedules of the actors (and in the case of Sherlock, the producers too). There’s not the same need to fill a, say, 13-or-26-week-long time slot at whatever o’clock to satisfy an advertiser. At least not with BBC anyway, and C4 and to a lesser extent ITV are also quite willing to commission a short run of things on a punt.
The Downton cast was signed up for three years–Fellowes later bitched that UK shows generally don’t offer longer contracts. At least he didn’t. (Of course, his writing started sucking in series 2; if he’d done better, perhaps some of them would have stayed.)
As much as we find the short *Sherlock *series frustrating, it does allow the cast (& producers) some flexibility. One series of Downton took seven months to shoot. This year, they’ll shoot two episodes of Sherlock, Martin will go & be a hobbit (& Benedict will probably stay busy)–then they’ll return to shoot one more episode. Which will probably premiere around holiday season…
I think the Sherlock actors are taking the long view of their careers; they aren’t teenagers who just fell of the turnip truck. Cumberbatch was a versatile, intelligent actor–a Sherlock Holmes, he became a heartthrob. He’s continued to take a variety of roles in projects large & small–from Star Trek to BBC radio. Will Freeman get more offers from playing the very human (humorous but tough) John Watson or from playing a hobbit?
I think the first thing I saw Cumberbatch in was Starter For 10. That’s the first time I saw him, James McAvoy, Catherine Tait, Alice Eve, Mark Gatiss and Rebecca Hall.
Warning: Despite the lack of “regions”–the UK* Sherlock* BluRays will not play on most US players. "Please note that this product will not play on US spec 60i Blu-ray players as the Blu-ray discs are authored to UK 50i specs.w
The show does go on sale quite quickly after its UK run–which can be long months before PBS runs its slightly edited version. (Clipped for time.) When my DVD player croaked, I got a region-free version. Not that I’m above also getting the US BluRays when they come out–with all edits restored. And the episodes will eventually show up on Netflix. But we do get tired waiting…
Well, so far its been commissioned each time as 4 1/2 hours of drama (3 x 1 1/2).
Fwiw, I’m just looking at a few episodes of Parks and Recreations (sitcom, I know) and these come in at 20 minutes each - about 10 1/2 of these to a series of Sherlock.
Also, Sherlock is no ones career - the writers, actors, BBC crew, etc all have ‘other lives’. It’s an occasional series because it makes sense that way.
Yes, they’ve often pointed out that each episode is movie length, and some think they’re almost as good as a theatrically released feature film in many ways. So that’s not so bad.
It’s a good film. I did spend large parts of it shouting at the screen though: “Noooooo, you fool, the Rebecca Hall character is massively into you aaaargh”.
The showrunners are not entirely trustworthy, but they have ensured us that Moriarty did not survive. However, it’s whispered that Andrew Scott could show up in a flashback. Or maybe that’s just wistful thinking…
there was a brief moment in the roof scene where i heard basil fawlty ask “is this a piece of your brain” ? then i was more concerned about the coat. save the coat!!!
they may have a bit of a review montage of the roof scene that would involve mr. moriarty before going into the credits and main story.
Just watched season one, episode one and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to watching the rest. Then of course will have withdrawal waiting for the next season.
Was it just me or was Sherlock’s character written to be considerably more obnoxious than in the past?
And John called him that in one episode, which surprised me as I thought that was mostly an American perjorative. But it’s the best descriptor to use in this case.
in ep1, i noticed that when mike introduces john and sherlock he seems to be amused by sherlock. i’m not sure if it is because he enjoyed seeing someone getting the “sherlock treatment” or if he finds sherlock more amusing than anger producing.
cuberdon, let us know what you think of the series. always fun to hear from someone seeing it for the first time.
Most TV & film versions of Sherlock & Watson have been played by older actors. Serious Sherlockians have deduced that the two actually met when they were about the age of the guys on the BBC show. The showrunners have said their Sherlock has some growing up to do.
Keep telling yourself that each episode is about the length of a movie. So it would be *unrealistic *to expect more than 3-episode seasons. At least you’ve got two of those seasons to watch before the wait begins…