Jump to content

Season 3 on PBS


Carol the Dabbler

Recommended Posts

For the first two seasons of Sherlock, PBS ran a somewhat-abbreviated 82-minute version of each episode in a 90-minute time slot starting at 9:00 pm (Eastern Time).  The other 8 minutes were taken up by their Masterpiece opening credits, an introduction by their host, advertisements for the DVDs, several non-commercials for their "corporate supporters," and their own closing credits.

 

This time around, they're running the show in a two-hour slot, starting an hour later.  Has anyone heard whether they plan to run the complete 90-minute episodes?  And/or what else they plan to do with the extra half hour?  (I certainly hope we're not getting three rounds of "pledge week"!)  So here's the schedule (note -- the PBS website gives the starting time as 10 pm Eastern Time, but our local station's site says 9:58 pm, so you might want to tune in a few minutes early):

 

"The Empty Hearse," Sunday, January 19th, 10 pm - midnight (Eastern Time)

"The Sign of Three," Sunday, January 26th, same times

"His Last Vow," Sunday, February 2nd, same times

 

They're running Downton Abbey as a lead-in to Sherlock, which may explain the later start.  I assume another reason may be to avoid competing with the NFC championship game on the 19th and the Superbowl on the 2nd.  Both games are scheduled to start at 6:30 pm (Eastern Time), nominally ending by 10 pm.  (Of course, that doesn't take possible overtimes into account.)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, just finished watching "The Empty Hearse" on PBS.  They ran their Masterpiece opening stuff just before 10:00, and near as I could tell started the actual episode right at 10.  I didn't notice any cuts at all, and the episode ended at 11:30.  So yeah, looks like they've finally stopped hacking up the episodes.

 

The extra half hour consisted primarily of what I took to be stuff off the DVD, basically a documentary showing bits of the Series 3 read-through, some talking heads (including people we've never seen out of character before in these), some new bits of the series background, etc.  Nothing earth-shattering, but pleasant and interesting.

 

PBS is still doing a red-letter word in the closing credits.  In the past, it's been some word that's symbolic of the episode -- such as B-E-L-I-E-V-E for "Reichenbach.  I didn't catch the beginning of this one, but the end was something like C-H-A-N-G, which isn't suggesting anything to me just yet (maybe something-change?).  Did anyone happen to catch it?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay "The Empty Hearse" just aired on "Masterpiece" in the US last night. Despite seeing people point out multiple possible "Doctor Who" references, I haven't seen anyone mention the end credits. If it's been pointed out and I missed it or if it's only in the American version (which seems unlikely), I apologize. There are a bunch of seemingly random red letters in the otherwise white credit text. If you write them down in the order they appear, it spells out...

 

WENGCHIANG

 

So it's an obvious reference to the Tom Baker story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", but what does it mean? Is it a hint as to what's going on on Sherlock and/or the identity of the mystery villain? Is it a hint that we'll see Peter Capaldi go up against classic villains Magnus Greel and Mr. Sin in the upcoming series of "Doctor Who"? Or is it just an Easter Egg included by the production team as a shout-out and a tease to fans of both shows?

Edited by Carol the Dabbler
Moved here from another thread
Link to comment
Share on other sites

... I haven't seen anyone mention the end credits. If it's been pointed out and I missed it or if it's only in the American version (which seems unlikely), I apologize. There are a bunch of seemingly random red letters in the otherwise white credit text. If you write them down in the order they appear, it spells out...

 

WENGCHIANG

 

So it's an obvious reference to the Tom Baker story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", but what does it mean?

 

Welcome to Sherlock Forum, DestinyHelix!  :welcome:

 

Well, no wonder I couldn't figure it out!  Yes, those red-letter words appear only when PBS airs the episodes.  PBS does their own end credits for the broadcast, so the words aren't even on the Region 1 DVDs that PBS sells.  In the past, the words have been references to the episode itself (e.g., RACHEL).  Odd that they'd deviate from that.

 

As to what it means here, or why they did it, I haven't a clue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We get PBS as one of our satellite channels, wonder if it will show Sherlock?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it does, please let us know.  I do have a few questions that I missed catching the answers to last night.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the verdict is in for "The Empty Hearse" at least for one critic that posted his review in a local daily paper. He loved it. While he found it very funny, he also found it very thought provoking as well. He thought it the best hour and twenty-seven minutes he had spent since the last episode he watched of "Breaking Bad".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the verdict is in for "The Empty Hearse" at least for one critic that posted his review in a local daily paper. He loved it. While he found it very funny, he also found it very thought provoking as well. He thought it the best hour and twenty-seven minutes he had spent since the last episode he watched of "Breaking Bad".

 

I wish I felt this positive about Empty Hearse, but as the conclusion to Fall, it doesn't feel like it is in the same league.  I love a laugh, but for me there should have been more of an underlying seriousness with this episode.  It feels like many missed opportunities to me.  A better scripted reveal to John, a 'true' account of surviving the fall (I don't think any of the ones we've seen are actually what happened), and a better solution to the case other than an 'on/off' switch.  Really?!  And what's with running through the Serbian forests?

 

I expected more, and better, I guess. :(

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't get the feeling that it was all laughs. There is Sherlock's realization that all is not well in the restaurant. I found a lot of seriousness there, and I got that on the train as well along with angst and desperation. But I know a lot of others didn't so, I won't belabor that point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a whole lot of humor, true, but it's all in conjunction with serious stuff, not as a substitute for it.  For example, throughout the episode, Sherlock is at a loss how to deal with the emotional situations he keeps finding himself in, so he tries to joke (but without much success).

 

I think they really had to acknowledge the assorted fan theories, and humor seems a good way to do it -- though they could perhaps have kept it shorter.  I think they did give us a pretty good idea of how Sherlock actually did it, but drew the line at being really definitive -- partly because (as John says) it doesn't really matter, and partly to leave the door open for fans to keep believing that he actually did it their way.

 

And the train scene wasn't really about the bomb, it was about Sherlock getting back into John's good graces (even if he still hasn't a clue how to go about that sort of thing).

 

And please bear in mind that there are still two more episodes.  ;)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 I am hoping the next two episodes bring a sense of completeness to Hearse. 

 

And I feel it really does matter how Sherlock 'did it.'  Otherwise, the writers have taken gross advantage of our 'suspension of disbelief.'  We live in a physical world, not a magical one, even if Sherlock does at times seem to be a magician.  In canon, we know how Sherlock survived the fall at the Reichenbach falls; I think we should know here as well.

 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching Hearse; I just expected it to be better.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even though I watched the BBC livestream when it aired in the UK, I watched the PBS airing as well.

 

All DirectTV subscribers (a cable company here in the US) lost the PBS signal for about 45 seconds 3 minutes into the episode and it came back in at the end of Lestrade/Anderson's conversation. So - some people may think the first few minutes were the actual 'how he did it'. I had to explain it to a co-worker today.

 

I didn't notice if the PBS airing was missing footage from the UK broadcast like the first two seasons.  Does anyone know? It seemed like everything was there.

 

I assume that 30 min special we got at the end of the episode is on the DVD. Sad if it's only 30 min. I would love to see the entire table read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's roughly how I felt after watching it the first time.  It's growing on me, though.

 

I had to watch it a few times before I liked it. It's my least favorite of the three episodes this season but I do now enjoy it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All DirectTV subscribers (a cable company here in the US) lost the PBS signal for about 45 seconds 3 minutes into the episode and it came back in at the end of Lestrade/Anderson's conversation. So - some people may think the first few minutes were the actual 'how he did it'. I had to explain it to a co-worker today.

 

Of all the times for the cable to conk out!

 

I didn't notice if the PBS airing was missing footage from the UK broadcast like the first two seasons.  Does anyone know? It seemed like everything was there.

 

Apparently there were no cuts.  The episode started at 10 and ended at 11:30, near as I could tell.  I assume that they went to the 2-hour time slot so they would not "need" to cut anything.  (Which presumably also explains why they needed the mini-documentary, to fill up the rest of the extra half hour.)

 

I would love to see the entire table read.

 

I just said the same thing to my husband last night!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's roughly how I felt after watching it the first time.  It's growing on me, though.

 

I did enjoy it more the second time around on PBS (on my big tv screen instead of my laptop) and it did seem to be intake although they eliminated some of the swears. Also, supposedly there is a tiny TARDIS on Andersons wall of crazy. I didn't catch it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did enjoy it more the second time around on PBS (on my big tv screen instead of my laptop) and it did seem to be intact although they eliminated some of the swears. Also, supposedly there is a tiny TARDIS on Andersons wall of crazy. I didn't catch it.

 

I've seen that "TARDIS" posted somewhere (sorry, didn't save it).  It's just one of Anderson's slips of paper, with a small drawing that might be a TARDIS.  (As I recall, it was on the right-hand wall, about 2/3 of the way up, and not too far from the corner.)  I was not really convinced, but on the other hand, I certainly would not put it past Moftiss to do that.

 

As for the swears -- they definitely left in some things that I'd been expecting them to cut.  I was meaning to listen for one particular item, but it went past before I realized, and I was left with only a vague impression that it might have been dubbed.  Could you tell us what you noticed them leaving out?  (Or would it shock the forum software?)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alex noticed this on Entertainmentwise yesterday (and note that one of the photos in that article may be a minor spoiler for "Sign of Three"):
 

Sherlock Scored 4 Million In US Ratings As It's Named Most Watched BBC Drama In A Decade
 
Looks like the new series of Sherlock has been a huge hit with fans of the show with four million viewers tuning in to the third season premiere in the US on PBS Sunday night.

 

The 'Empty Hearse' which sees Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman reprise their roles as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson drew 25% more viewers than the premiere of season two, according to Nielsen. They also drew 80% more viewers than the PBS average for the time slot on a Sunday.

 

Read the complete article here.  (Minor spoiler warning for "Sign of Three.")

 

Compare 4 million in the US to 12 million in the UK -- which something like 1/6th the population!  That works out to the show being roughly 5 or 6 percent as popular here (per capita) as in the UK.  There seem to be two kinds of people in the US -- those who just love Sherlock and those who've never heard of it!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or it's not their cuppa. But not bad, not bad at all. And Benedict Cumberbatch mentioned just recently that the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur have enjoyed a gain as people are buying them again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Holy  wowsers. The special features we're getting at the end of the PBS airings are different than what's on the dvd. I didn't realize that until I saw someone posted the dvd extras!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The special features we're getting at the end of the PBS airings are different than what's on the dvd.

 

Really?  That is sooo odd!  Here I had it all figured out that the reason they did 3 DVD featurettes this time was to fill up PBS's two-hour time slot.  But no, huh?

 

Well, Alex and I should get our DVDs this week.  Nice to know that we still have three brand-new featurettes to watch!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The end of last nights episode was 'The Women' of Sherlock.' So there were little bits with Mary, Molly, Mrs. Hudson and Irene.  It did kind of seem like some of it was edited from the special features of the first two DVD sets, though. But I haven't watched those in a while so I couldn't pinpoint which little segments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I managed to catch about half of the letters of the red-letter word for "Last Vow" tonight -- oddly enough, it appeared to be M-I-L-V-E-R-T-O-N.  Dunno what I would have expected it to be, though.

 

The extra was the same sort of thing they've been doing.  I was particularly pleased to see that they had a few talking-head segments with Wanda Ventham (and I believe some with Timothy Carlton as well).  Also (and I have no idea why this should seem so odd), Lars Mikkelsen comes across as a really charming fellow who is greatly amused by Sherlock blowing Magnussen's head off.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like how they alluded to the fact that it's hard to tell if Mycroft is really a good guy or a villain. No wonder Sherlock doesn't want to "be on his side" as was he made it clear at the end of "A Study in Pink" I wouldn't trust him very far either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Who's Online   0 Members, 0 Anonymous, 15 Guests (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of UseWe have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.Privacy PolicyGuidelines.