(CBS)
It’s elementary. All things must end sometime and now, the end is in sight for the Elementary TV show. It’s been announced that there won’t be an eighth season but, on the positive side, a seventh season of 13 episodes will wrap up the crime drama. The final year will bring the show’s tally to 154 episodes.
Airing on the CBS television network, Elementary follows detective Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Doctor Joan Watson (Lucy Liu). This modern-day adaptation of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle detective stories features some new spins on the classic crime-solving duo. Instead of assisting Scotland Yard, they crack New York City’s toughest cases. A former surgeon who lost a patient, as well as her license to practice, Watson began as Sherlock’s sober companion. Eventually, their relationship evolved into an investigative partnership. The crime drama also stars Aidan Quinn as Captain Thomas Gregson and Jon Michael Hill as Detective Marcus Bell.
According to Deadline, when Elementary was renewed for a seventh season, it was decided that those episodes would also end the show. Why? It’s surely no coincidence that Liu and Miller’s contracts would have had to be renegotiated. The show’s network ratings have also continued to dwindle but the series is a lucrative money-maker in syndication and in international markets.
“A lot of parties came together and talked about their positions on the show — both in terms of business and in terms of creative — and we all decided that this was an opportune time to say goodbye to a show that has been very, very good to us,” CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl said.
Added executive producer Carl Beverly, “[Series creator Rob Doherty] set out to tell a story, and it feels like he has accomplished what he had set out to do. The actors, the crew and the cast feel that way, and we feel that. So are grateful and celebrating what we had and looking forward to the future.”
SPOILER ALERT The cast and crew had been unsure if they would get a seventh-year renewal so they’d already shot the sixth season finale as an appropriate end for the series. While the sixth season finale left our heroes in London, they will be returning to New York early in season seven. Holmes nemesis Odin Reichenbach, to be played by James Frein, will show up in episode five.
There will also be a time jump in the seventh season. Doherty said, “Something that I knew I wanted to do was move forward in time a bit with the characters by the very end… (In the books,) there was a period when Sherlock and Watson were not together, they went down very different paths, and their lives were very different from having been apart. We felt that would be appropriate for our show. A lot was season seven working towards that, how can we tell a larger story that would allow us to devise a finale that sets in not so distant future.”
CBS has not announced a premiere date for season seven but it will surely air sometime in 2019. Season six aired over the summer of 2018, ending in early September.
What do you think? Are you a fan of the Elementary TV show? Are you sorry that there won’t be an eighth season or, is season seven the right time to end the show?
I was looking forward to a new season in London. It feels as though this series has been ending over and over again. I felt the same, to a lesser degree, with The Last Ship. I’ve loved Elementary the past but it needed to move forward, imo, and London seemed to be an exciting move. Please don’t entangle Sherlock and Joan romantically or send Joan back to medicine and Sherlock to Nepal. And don’t kill off anyone just to make the end poignant. Also, Jonny Miller should have to go undercover as a piano bar singer or a Broadway actor,… Read more »
One of my favorite programs on CBS. Had hoped there would be another season. Information on the internet appears to be conflicting as to whether there is to be a season 7. Hope we do have another season.
I love the show and am glad there will be a season 7. I was surprised/ disappointed by the ending of season 6. Didn’t like the idea of Grayson letting Holmes/Watson take the fall for the murder committed by his daughter. My biggest disappointment is that I thought something more was going to develop between SH and JW… no kissing no love scenes but, an acknowledgement by SH that he loves Watson. Lucy Lui has proven to be a much better actress than I thought Ally McBeall and Charlie’s Angels didn’t give her much room to show up. Anyway, glad… Read more »
Is there any interest in the cable stations to pick-up Elementary solving cases in the UK? I hate that this show has ended and I miss it so much — there hasn’t been another show like it that has got me excited about being home to watch or making sure it’s taped so that I wouldn’t miss the show — the cancellation of this show has caused a HUGE gap in my television enjoyment. PLEASE bring this show back to life PLEASE!!!
Why are they cancelling the best show on TV? I love Elementary! Nothing compares…
I really enjoyed this series. I liked the actors and the roles they played. Many clever story lines. The finale of 2018 left us wondering if that was the end so it is bittersweet that the show will return for one more season. Great show.
I’m disappointed that this show won’t continue. The shows that are written with intelligent plots and complex characters seem to be on their way out and dumbed-down shows take their place. Too bad.
I’ve watched this show from the beginning and have found the character development to be outstanding for both Holmes and Watson. Yes, he treats her badly way too often but not as much as at the beginning so I see some progress with his emotional intelligence improving. Some of the solutions do seem to come out of nowhere so the writers should get back to writing plot lines that can be followed, aren’t necessarily predictable/formulaic but allows the viewer to put the pieces/hints together at the end. Keep in mind that brilliance is often countered by a mental illness or… Read more »
It has surely run its course .Its a good show but it was becoming too unreal .Sherlock pomposity rudeness and seemingly incredible powers to solve cases was just no longer attractive .The way He sometimes would treat Watson as a surbodinate with no sense or will of her own was starting to become a put off.I will not even start on the detective …..Nevertheless it was a good run.
I didnt like Sherlock Holmes,, stiff n boring. Then Elementary came out, so I figured Id se how bad it was, n, I was very dissapointed. It wasnt bad,it was Brilliant, and I have been a fan ever since, and have watched the repeats, and will continue to do so. Miller and Liu are brilliant, and work together fantastically. They do not deserve to cancelled,, not for another few more seasons yet. In the last episode, they seemed to have moved to London, and I am waiting to see them working in London, for at least 1 series. A very… Read more »
Very sad to say good by to this show. It’s a good show with a great cast. This duo had the perfect chemistry for their characters and the stories had some fresh ideas for a weekly detective show. I’m ambivalent about it ending. On one hand, it’s probably ok to leave while still on top . It seems that the stars and management agree that this is a good time to end. On the other hand, I would have continued to watch as many seasons as they wanted to do. I’m happy to know that I have a whole season… Read more »
oh no, say it isn’t so ! love this show.
This is a good show. The best that I see about S.H in years. Is sad that it will finish. I think that CBS could have a season with stories from people that follow it.
This one of my favorite shows. I haven’t missed a single episode.
I love Elementary and wish it weren’t ending. I suppose they’ll put another reality show on or something