Seriously Sherlick?

I enjoy Elementary, the modern-day CBS Sherlock Holmes show. I have always liked Lucy Liu and since seeing Jonny Lee Miller in the Danny Boyle-directed stage play Frankenstein, I am a big fan. (He alternated the role of the doctor and the creature with fellow Sherlock Holmes Benedict Cumberbatch, and although I am a fan of BC also, I have to say, JLM owned both parts.) I also covet that brownstone. I know it's just a set, but I want to move in. that's a cook's kitchen they have and the study, with its fire and comfy chairs is the study of my dreams.
But there are two things that drive me crazy about Elementary.  One is that the writers don't seem to know the difference between "I" and "me" and constantly give Sherlock dialogue using the wrong one. As a word snoot, I expect Sherlock to know better and it always takes me out of the episode.
The other thing that will take me out of the moment is that whenever the doorbell at the brownstone rings, either Sherlock or Watson will open it without bothering to look through the peephole to see who's on the other side.
Usually it's someone like their colleague Marcus Bell or some random guy Joan's dating. (One of whom tracked her down to see if she was "okay" after their encounter, which was kind of disconcerting to me). But they live in New York. It's like those movies and television shows (Friends, I'm looking at you) where no one bothers to lock thier doors. In New York. Seriously?
Does that bother anyone else?

A Tale of Three Richards

Portrait of Richard III by Mark Satchwill

One of the pleasures of seeing multiple productions of a play is being able to compare and contrast the way each actor plays a role and makes it his or her own. I recently saw both versions of the filmed production of Danny Boyle's Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. The two men switched off in the roles and although I think Cumberbatch is a terrific actor, I thought Miller was better in both parts. (I thought Cumberbatch was way too remote as Dr. Frankenstein, and a little too "Sherlockian." And his physicality worked against him as the creature whereas Miller's stockier, shorter form suited the "base creaure" more solidly.)
Richard the III is one of the best villains Shakespeare (or anyone else) ever imagined, a real-life player in the Game of Thrones who murdered and manipulated his way to the crown, only to lose it just two  years later. He was only 33 when he died, but like another historical figure who died at 33, his legacy lives on.
Richard III was a hunchback and it's intriguing to see how some actors exploit that physical trait and others don't. Here's Laurence Olivier in the play's most famous scene--the wooing of Lady Anne, the widow of a man Richard III has had murdered. That's Claire Bloom as Lady Anne. (More about her later in the summer. And what's up with that headdress she's wearing? It looks like it came from a low-budget high school production.)
The 1955 Olivier Richard III is available on YouTube in 15 parts if you have the patience to watch it a bit at a time. (Pretend you're watching it old school on a weekend television movie marathon with a zillion commercials.)