You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: Why did Netflix stop making 鈥淢iss Fisher鈥檚 Murder Mysteries鈥� and will they start making more? Several of my friends are, like myself, sad they stopped filming.
A: While Netflix has commissioned a lot of original series, it also carries programs acquired from other networks. That was the case with 鈥淢iss Fisher鈥檚 Murder Mysteries,鈥� which was originally made from 2012-15 for Australian television by Every Cloud Productions. It has been shown on public TV in the U.S. as well as on Netflix and is a big international hit. There鈥檚 even a Chinese remake in the works. So, since the original series ended, fans have cried for more. Every Cloud ultimately launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance a theatrical film, 鈥淢iss Fisher & The Crypt of Tears.鈥� More than enough money was pledged, and the film should start production in the fall of 2018.
Q: I was so surprised to read in your column today that 鈥淓lementary,鈥� the Sherlock Holmes series on TV, will be back. I gave up watching that show several years ago because I cannot understand Jonny Lee Miller at all. And I鈥檝e got really good hearing. How in heaven鈥檚 name can a director or producer allow a show to continue where the main character can鈥檛 be understood? I can鈥檛 believe I鈥檓 the only person who has this issue.
A: To be sure, Miller, who plays Sherlock Holmes in the CBS series, can be a bit soft-spoken. And he does have an accent, as one would expect of a Sherlock Holmes. Still, I鈥檝e watched 鈥淓lementary鈥� from the beginning and have managed to enjoy Miller鈥檚 dialogue without significant effort. Perhaps you were just more used to another modern Sherlock, the one played a bit more loudly (though very well) by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Q: Why must we be victims of hearing the same laugh track (canned laughter) over and over when the show we are watching would be much better without that constant interruption? Lately the only shows I enjoy this season, 鈥淵oung Sheldon鈥� and 鈥淟ife in Pieces,鈥� are such a relief from that old-fashioned method that is trying to tell us 鈥渢his is funny!鈥� when it might be humorous, but hardly anything in the script should draw laughter like that ... pitiful substitute for a live audience!
A: This issue has popped up in some recent questions, as it does from time to time. I last addressed it about a year ago, so let鈥檚 recap. The laughter may be prerecorded, or from the show鈥檚 studio audience, or a combination of audience reaction and electronic effects 鈥渟weetening鈥� the reaction. As Jennifer Keishin Armstrong wrote on BBC.com a while back, producers often want 鈥渟ome sort of audience reaction to make the viewing experience more communal,鈥� as could be had in a theater.
And just the right reaction, too. Armstrong noted that Charley Douglass, the sound engineer credited with the first use of prerecorded laughs, 鈥渉ated that the studio audiences on the U.S. TV channels鈥� shows laughed at the wrong moments, didn鈥檛 laugh at the right moments or laughed too loudly or for too long.鈥� Thus an electronic companion was born. Many producers, writers and actors have thought their work generated laughs just fine without help. 鈥淢-A-S-H鈥� did regular battle over laugh tracks, and its DVDs have offered each episode with and without laughs. Still, some shows believe that if you laugh electronically, the world laughs with you.
Q: This has bugged me for a while. One of my favourite westerns is 鈥淐heyenne鈥� with Clint Walker. On several episodes he sang. Was that really his voice or was it dubbed? I had no idea he could sing.
A: He sang well enough to record an album, 鈥淚nspiration,鈥� that has made its way to CD with 13 tracks including 鈥淚 Believe鈥� and 鈥淪ilver Bells.鈥� If your local retailer cannot get it, Amazon.com and other online vendors are offering it.
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