12:16 pm - 12/19/2012
Rob Doherty's choice to pair Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes with a woman resulted in fall's No. 1 new series, and inclusion in THR's 2012 Rule Breakers portfolio.
"It started out as something of a joke," creator Rob Doherty confesses of his decision to make the Watson in his Sherlock Holmes tale a woman. When he began to research the story's original characters, he came across a handful of experts who had written up psychological assessments of Sherlock; one of them had noted an aversion to women.
"I thought to myself, 'What would make Holmes crazier than taking the figurative rock he has in Watson and making him a woman?' I scribbled it down and then went back to my research," the 38-year-old Elementary showrunner continues. "The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try it."
The result: casting Asian-American film star Lucy Liu as the first female Watson opposite Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock and an impressive 13.9 million viewers tuning in weekly, making Elementary the No. 1 new series with total viewers this fall. (Among the key 18-to-49 set, the series ranks No. 2 behind only NBC's breakout Revolution.) And come February, the CBS drama -- one of the season's few hits with critics and audiences alike -- will get the coveted post-Super Bowl slot.
The show's stars, Liu, 44, and Miller, 40, still are making sense of the series' success, particularly rewarding because the show colors outside the lines in a way that excites both of them.
"To me, one of the best things you can do in this profession is to take a risk," says Miller, whose co-star plays sober coach to his recovering-addict Sherlock. Liu says the tweak in formula can liberate the story in other ways as well: "There's an endless supply of unpredictability that we can delve into and we can change and add. It will still be a pound cake, but it could be marble, it could be lemon, it could be poppy seed."
_______________
DELICIOUS VIDEO @ SRC
Elementary: Female Watson 'Started as a Joke'
Rob Doherty's choice to pair Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes with a woman resulted in fall's No. 1 new series, and inclusion in THR's 2012 Rule Breakers portfolio.
"It started out as something of a joke," creator Rob Doherty confesses of his decision to make the Watson in his Sherlock Holmes tale a woman. When he began to research the story's original characters, he came across a handful of experts who had written up psychological assessments of Sherlock; one of them had noted an aversion to women.
"I thought to myself, 'What would make Holmes crazier than taking the figurative rock he has in Watson and making him a woman?' I scribbled it down and then went back to my research," the 38-year-old Elementary showrunner continues. "The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try it."
The result: casting Asian-American film star Lucy Liu as the first female Watson opposite Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock and an impressive 13.9 million viewers tuning in weekly, making Elementary the No. 1 new series with total viewers this fall. (Among the key 18-to-49 set, the series ranks No. 2 behind only NBC's breakout Revolution.) And come February, the CBS drama -- one of the season's few hits with critics and audiences alike -- will get the coveted post-Super Bowl slot.
The show's stars, Liu, 44, and Miller, 40, still are making sense of the series' success, particularly rewarding because the show colors outside the lines in a way that excites both of them.
"To me, one of the best things you can do in this profession is to take a risk," says Miller, whose co-star plays sober coach to his recovering-addict Sherlock. Liu says the tweak in formula can liberate the story in other ways as well: "There's an endless supply of unpredictability that we can delve into and we can change and add. It will still be a pound cake, but it could be marble, it could be lemon, it could be poppy seed."
_______________
DELICIOUS VIDEO @ SRC
"If Irene didn't LIKE that Sherlock SAVED her she wouldn't have SMILED -- DUH!" etc. People who refuse to look at the fiction as, well, fiction. It destroys me.
Like, I wouldn't judge Molly Hooper if she was my friend and had a crush on some cheekboned asshole. But I can pass judgement on a piece of fiction because of what it's saying about women, etc.
.... sorry. I'm ranty today.
And like, omg. Do they not realize that River is not a real person? But she's a character whose writer has manipulated her life to entirely revolve around the Doctor and perhaps that is problematic???? On the part of the writer??? Maybe???
omg. Fandom is so dumb sometimes. I can't.
and I was talking to this person who was like "All she was was in love with the doctor -- and she left when he didn't love her back. River and Amy are so much better."
I am like. ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO YOURSELF TALK??
OH WAIT.
LMAOOOO
omg. I love Martha so much, but like 85% of fandom does not actually understand her as a character (lol even her fans tbh. The other day a Martha stan was all "Martha wasn't jealous of Rose!!!!" But like... she was???? It's part of what makes Martha a fully formed character and makes her sympathetic and multidimensional. Why are you ignoring parts of Martha's character to make her seem more perfect????). I can't with Doctor Who fandom.
He was leading her on and didn't really give a fuck. She told him she loved him about half-a-dozen times and he winked at her, flirted with her, shared a bed with her, kissed her and then was like, "What the fuck, Martha, catch a hint."
It was ridiculous.
And THEN he took it out on Donna with the whole "I just want a friend - PLEASE try not to fall in love with me" bullshit.
I'm really not a fan of Tennant's Who. He played him as such a cock-sure lothario and that rubbed me the wrong way.
What makes me even angrier is that if she'd been introduced as a sidekick rather than this sad-sack girl who is in love with him, she would've added so, so much more to the show.
As it was, anything great about her character felt cancelled out by Tennant's Who's dickishness.
I think he was pretty oblivious to her feelings and that Martha FELT like she was being led on, but he wasn't intentionally leading her on. At the end of the very first episode he tells Martha that she's not replacing Rose. And when Martha is all "I GUESS THERE IS SOMEONE FOR EVERYONE, ISN'T THERE? EH???", the Doctor is all uh "yeah, I guess." It's pretty obvious that he's not interested in her romantically.
He kissed Martha once and he was pretty clear that it was a genetic transfer, but Martha still got a bit swept away by him. And yeah, he shared a bed with her, but he was also kind of a dick in that same moment. He was obviously not doing it to be flirty, even if Martha took it that way. I mean as they are in bed, Ten is musing about how Rose would know what was up. And uh... Martha told Ten that she loved him precisely once, in "Family of Blood".
Yeah it was obvious to the audience that Martha had a thing for the Doctor, but it wasn't obvious to him. He was kind of dealing with his own issues and wasn't really tuned into Martha or how she was feeling. So I think it's not really far to characterize that as the Doctor leading Martha on. Martha misread his cues because she was crushing on him, but that doesn't mean he was leading her on.
And uh, I don't think he "took it out on Donna". When he is talking with Donna in 4x01, he says "it got complicated with Martha and that was my fault." He recognizes that his obliviousness and his lack of dealing with things after she admitted her feelings in Family of Blood were part of the problem. And then Donna isn't interested in him either? So like, they are just reaffirming that neither of them wants to bang the other??? I really don't understand how that is "taking it out on Donna"
But I also think that his enduring loneliness caused him to seek out someone who wasn't going to leave him. And he does like showing off and being adored.
My biggest issue came after Family of Blood when she does the whole, "Didn't really mean that I love you, haha!"
And he gave her a look that made it clear that he knew full well that she did. That would've been a good time to reinforce the whole, "It's cool if you want to tag along as a friend, but nothing else will happen" statement.
And the comment about replacing Rose early on... she might've felt that he could change his mind, or that she wouldn't want to be a "replacement," but rather something new.
I guess my thing is that whether he led her on on purpose or not (and you do make a compelling case for "not"), there did come a point where he was aware of her feelings and allowed them to continue.
But more than anything, I just have an issue with fans blaming Martha for this. No matter who's responsible, it just strikes me as misogyny to claim that Martha is some kind of evil vixen trying to steal Rose's dude.
And I think a lot of the hate directed towards her hangs in deep-seeded racism. Not going to lieI had a great Prof who said, "You cannot psychoanalyze Hamlet because he's not a real person. At best, what you're really trying to do is psychoanalyze Shakespeare, and he's dead -- so I still wouldn't recommend it."
But that's the point -- a character is only ever an extension of a writer's imagination. And in the case of a scripted series, people had multiple meetings and firm decisions were made and approved and considered. Martha is the product of a lot of thought and consideration -- most of which being, "How can we continually reinforce the fact that David Tennant is good-looking." NHFT.
I would say that the racism claim is bunk, except that I keep seeing people on Tumblr call her ugly and I can't see how anyone but a racist could think that those gorgeous features are anything other than gorgeous.
I feel the same way when people try to psychoanalyse Sherlock Holmes all the time -- like. Don't. He's a character -- he can be written however anyone feels like writing him wants to write him. etc.
WTF is wrong with people? The woman truly was gorgeous (hell I even got on my computer for this thread since my phone makes me look incompetent).
I DO think there's some racism when it comes to Martha, especially since people seem to act as though Amy is the best thing since sliced bread, and she was basic as fuck with not half the spine of Martha, Rose, or even Donna.
I love Martha because I think her story is pretty unique. It's not about Martha meeting the Doctor and suddenly becoming an amazing person. The point of her as a character is that she's pretty fantastic right from the very beginning. She just doesn't see it in herself. But by the end of series 3, she is able to recognize how brilliant she is and doesn't need the Doctor's validation anymore so she can just walk away. I think it's a really great story and different from most of the other companions stories.