It’s been over 20 years since House first aired on Fox and you can still see the show’s influence. Taking inspiration from Sherlock Holmes, the medical drama added a mystery element to your usual “case of the week” stories. There’s also the whole “snarky genius who has a crippling drug addiction” thing, but that’s besides the point. It took 20 years to loop back around, but now House is serving as inspiration for a new adaptation of the most famous detective.
To be fair, calling Watson a Sherlock Holmes adaptation feels misleading. The investigator is nowhere to be found in this show. As you might guess from the title, the program follows our dear Watson (Morris Chestnut) as he picks up the pieces in the wake of his friend’s demise. Sherlock may be gone, but he’s left a sizeable amount of money for Watson to start up his own medical clinic in Pittsburgh (by way of Vancouver). This marks the second medical drama set in Pittsburgh this year, which is two more than usual.
This is a Primetime CBS show, which means Watson mainly uses his clinic to solve strange medical mysteries with the help of a team of specialists. (Another House influence at work.) You’ve got the one with a shady past, the one with a southern accent, and the ones who are actually twins with opposite fields of study. They have names, but do you really need to know them? They exist to trade witty barbs with Watson and help him solve the week’s case. We also get appearances from a few Holmes associates like Shinwell, now the clinic’s secretary and Mary, Watson’s estranged wife. Oh, and you better believe Moriarty (a miscast Randall Park) is here stirring up trouble.
Watson is a boilerplate type of show. You more or less know what you’re getting week to week. Morris Chestnut serves himself as well as he can, but Watson the protagonist doesn’t seem nearly as interesting as Watson the sidekick. That’s mostly because of the writing, which leaves us with very little idea of our hero’s motivations. Outside of paying homage to his friend, why does Watson do all of this? It’s a mystery fit for a brilliant detective.
This is a show with a concept that you can see going in many directions. That the writers settle for the most stale option possible is a disappointment. Watson occasionally hints at a more fun and absurd version of itself, but quickly veers back into familiar territory. It’s unlikely this show will influence anyone 20 years from now. This is television as background noise. There’s nothing wrong with that, just don’t go in expecting anything worthwhile.
Watson airs Sundays on CBS and streams on Paramount+.