'Elementary' review: Sherlock Holmes anew

Fast-forward to '12, when it has all been done before -- although Sherlock never envisioned a "CBS," a "prime-time police procedural" or the former's bottomless appetite for the latter.

We've seen "Elementary" before, too -- most recently "The Mentalist" and even "Unforgettable" -- but to come right out and call your lead character "Sherlock Holmes" takes chutzpah. The name's beyond famous, and the wellspring of a thousand procedurals and their worthy protagonists, from Columbo to Brenda Leigh Johnson to Gregory House to Adrian Monk.

Even trickier, from CBS' perspective, is an excellent BBC adaptation, now airing on PBS. Viewers really have seen it all before. A lot of Sherlock is out there -- arguably too much. Miller effectively channels all those famed Holmesian traits, especially the brittleness and glorious eccentricities. (He's writing a book on bee colony behavior when deprived of the queen.)

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But in the opener, you're left to wonder why he's brought in to solve a boilerplate murder case that the NYPD could probably solve in its sleep. Future cases need to be much trickier, much worthier of the master's touch.