Sherlocking around

So I absolutely love Sherlock Holmes. I've got a collection of stories, have seen the movies, have a lot of the older BBC programs about him, etc. One thing I have noticed lately due to this is the amount of TV characters based upon the basic premise of Sherlock Holmes. In just sitting and watching my afternoon and evening TV I can think of 4 right off the top of my head. Gil and Horatio from CSI and CSI Miami, Doctor House off House M.D., and most recently Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory.

Horatio and Gil are similar to Sherlock Holmes in a couple different ways. Horatio has the same take a small piece of evidence and figure out a huge scheme through this that Sherlock used. Gil also uses this but adds in one more minor character flaw that Sherlock had. Gil has problems understanding why people do the things they do. Just as Sherlock based everything on fact Gil does as well and when an opinion based on human nature comes into play he becomes confused. He doesn't understand why people act the way they do.

Doctor House on House M.D. has actually been cited as being created in Sherlock Holmes image. He lives in the same address...albeit in America, and uses the same deducing power one would hold Sherlock accountable for. This makes him the closest interpretation of Sherlock in newer memory besides Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock himself.

My other selection strays a bit from the standard Sherlock. Dr. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. While not a detective in the standard sense he does come up with ideas from a very small deduction and from there institutes a very tedious "investigation". He also has the mass intelligence one would assume of Sherlock and the narcissism commonly associated with him. On top of that he does not understand people in the slightest and instead bases everything in his life on fact and the most appropriate way to do things regardless of normal standards held by the public. I guess in this way he most resembles Sherlock but like I said he isn't your standard as the others are but takes more of a comedic approach.

I'm not sure why I was thinking of this but it kept creeping back into my head so I had to write it out. I just find it funny that even in this modern era we are still pulling ideas from past works of fiction. The character remains largely the same but he gets new adventures. I like to think that all great fiction can live on this way.