From Forbes. . .

Sherlock Holmes Predicted The Rise Of Reality Television

Sherlock Holmes was a man ahead of his time

Sherlock Holmes is experiencing a bit of a renaissance at the moment. Hollywood has transformed him into an action hero with the help of Robert Downey, Jr. and Guy Ritchie. The BBC has transported him into modern times, with his sleuthing adventures attracting thousands of hits to Mr. Watson’s blog. In an age of information overload, it makes sense that we would be drawn to a hero who, when faced with a deluge of details, is so adept at focusing quickly on the relevant ones in order to draw his conclusions. In other words, I’d love to follow @sherlockholmes on Twitter.

Inspired by the various on-screen manifestations of Sherlock, I’ve been reading the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I was delighted to find that in one of his tales, A Case of Identity, published in 1891, the astute detective predicted the rise of reality television programming. Sherlock Holmes says:

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent… If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chain of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.”

Gently removing roofs to watch what goes on inside? It’s an ode to The Real World, Jersey Shore and The Kardashians, is it not?

Watson was unconvinced (and surely would have been fired were he a producer at MTV), responding that many police reports reflect reality but are “neither fascinating nor artistic.” At that point, Sherlock Holmes says that there is “nothing so unnatural as the commonplace” and goes on to predict the careful editing that serves to make reality television more exciting than the continuous footage from a constantly rolling camera would be.

“A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a realistic effect.”

The selection of a good editor and truly bizarre people to film, my dear Watson, is elementary.

Credit where credit is due.