Heh. That’s weird to us. The BBC is so massive worldwide (the largest broadcaster on the planet) that’s it’s weird to think that there’s a country out there which is only peripherally aware of it.
Then again, I daresay that most Brits couldn’t tell you what US network a hit American show came from.
It may be somewhat regional - there are a LOT of people I run into around Chicago that are familiar with BBC programming. Then again, where I live we have not one but THREE PBS stations available, on top of BBC America for those who have cable/satellite. The local library maintains a rather substantial collection of TV show DVDs, and a lot of them are British in origin.
Is it? I didn’t mean it to be. That’s why I included myself. Mystery on the whole is boring and I generally don’t like the Marty Stu protagonist detective who can solve everything and is a dick to boot (Poirot, I’m looking at you). These shows and the movie change enough to appeal to a wider audience, is all I am saying.
To Broomstick and Candyman74, I’m sure it’s regional. I don’t doubt that people in Chicago or NYC or pretty big cities both have access to and watch British television. I live in a medium sized town (100,000 people) and we’re still pretty insular. Every day I come across a great deal of ignorance, which is normal, and also a great deal of unwillingness to be exposed to anything new, which is sad. I’m not saying we’re backwards or a bumblefuck by any means, but we have a long ways to go before we match large cities. And foreign flicks or shows - even BBC - are right out there. Sci-fi is also considered a bit low class. We still have tons of old bookstores who refuse to even have a sci-fi section, though “fantasy” is usually acceptable. Vampires? All over the place. Spaceships? Hah, that’s ridiculous! Why do you watch that escapist fantasy? 
Anyway, I got off the track a bit there but yeah, BBC is not exactly popular here. Not that people regard it with the same amount of mistrust as other foreign channels, they…just don’t watch it, from what I can tell.
ETA: I think lots of people still have an image of BBC as two old biddies drinking tea and discussing the Queen’s wardrobe. Oh, on that note, when people do pay attention to British stuff around here it’s invariably about the royal family. THE WEDDING! OMG the wedding. Whenever that was.
I was skeptical, I didn’t think that they could pull it off in today’s world.
I was very pleased and have recommended the series to a friend who is a Holmes’ “purist”. He too liked it.
I can’t wait for the next installment.
Note also that some BBC programmes are joint productions with PBS, HBO or other American networks, so some people may have seen BBC programming without knowing it.
Yeah. Rome, for example.
That’s what I was thinking of.
I am very intrigued by this BBC series, is there any way to still see it in the US?
The first series/season is available on DVD, while the second series/season will air on PBS in May.
I grew up on Sherlock Holmes, and find your dislike of the mystery genre to be quite a mystery!
That aside, I haven’t seen the new movies yet, but I shall certainly endeavor to do so now. I quite enjoy Downey as an actor, and even though the movies have been panned by purists, they really look like fun.
What’s PBS? A channel?
“Public Broadcasting System”. US Public TV. The channels frequently feature foreign programming, particularly from Britain.
Netflix is streaming it.
No, PBS is not a channel. Neither is it really a network. It’s a programming service – the Public Broadcasting Service – that gets a certain amount of government funding (through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) to produce and acquire “public” (generally, not as popular as commercial) programming and distribute it to educational, non-commercial stations. PBS’s mission is to provide educational programming, children’s programming, instructional programming, and other kinds of programming that doesn’t necessarily have a sufficient audience to be desirable for commercial broadcasters, and that includes artistic programming, foreign programming, and other kinds of “highbrow” stuff. It’s meant to be an alternative to commercial television, with an emphasis on public service.
I’ll just say I don’t like them at all. If I want Sherlock Holmes, I want the originals. A true modernized Holmes is any good detective drama, and that’s even better because it doesn’t pretend to be any relation to the original. Even “House, M.D.”, with its deliberate allusions to Holmes, is better. I happen to like Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis.
The show is wonderful, I just wish they’d churn out episodes faster.
How surreal was it that modern Watson is an Afghanistan veteran.
I like the original stories, the new movie, and the BBC series, all for different reasons (or perhaps I’m just a very uncritical consumer). However, I think I liked Moffat’s adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (‘Jekyll’) even better, as far as modernizations of Victorian fiction go. Especially Nesbitt’s performance was brilliant.
I think they’d have to clone Moffat to do that - he’s pretty busy with* Doctor Who*!
The only complaint I have about the Downey version is the physical super heroics. Watson should be lame and a bit pudgy and Holmes should be spry but not like he’s been in modern style physical training his whole life. They should both seem a bit more middle aged. Oh and the actress playing the American was terrible.
If you want to read more Holmes stories, written so well that they could almost have come from Conan Doyle’s pen, check out June Thomson’s collections, beginning with The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes. Very, very good stuff.