but the mystery here is that sherlock holmes never existed at all.rs keeping track of the adventures of sherlock holmes. a man good with a gun. able to use science to catch criminals. >> i had a small practice in the country -- >> reporter: and using the power of deduction to solve crimes. but is he sexy? >> i find intelligence sexy. he's pretty hyper intelligent. >> reporter: his popularity is phenomenal. >> french, german. >> chinese. portuguese. >> it's all over the world. it's huge. >> reporter: the english have named pubs after him. there's even a beer called sherlock holmes. >> to sherlock. >> reporter: warm beer naturally. roger johnson heads the sherlock holmes journal and says understanding the popularity of the character is as elementary as dr. watson. >> don't put a puns, watson. >> puns? >> i think it's the fact he's not a superman. he has no super powers. he has human powers very highly developed, but you can just about imagine i can do that. >> reporter: perhaps that explains why so many people have succeeded in portraying holmes, just

we'll take our sherlock holmes, harry reid, and put him

we'll take our sherlock holmes, harry reid, and put him in charge of that investigation since he's so good at it. >> greta: maybe we should explain that reference is david fluff before he went to work for the white house, that he gave a speech in africa, for part of iran's cell, which is fully owned by the iranian revolutionary guard, which of course cracks down on dissidents, and it's largely responsible for its nuclear program. he wasn't at the white house at the time. nonetheless, if you want sanctions to work, we ought to all stand by them. >> it's just deplorable. no american should be entering into contracts that are funded or affiliated with the iranian revolutionary army, let alone a guy that's involved with barack obama, takes a job in the white house, does a one-off for $100,000 before he steps into the white house. these are things that harry reid ought to be worried about, not making up stories on the floor of the senate. here's the deal. i think this president has a problem with the american dream in this country. this is what it comes down to. i don't know a parent in am

this is sherlock holmes, a shibalinu. these dogs serve as the models for -- they're japanese, really cool dogs. >> if i saw it down the street, i would think it was a fox. >> it has that foxy look. >> sherlock got his treats. let's get to your pet questions. what is the flu shot for dogs and when should it be given? is there flu among dogs in maryland. >> there is flu and you should absolutely give the flu shot. it's an influenza virus and it's preventible with the flu shot and it is out there and any animal that gets boarded or groomed or goes to dog parks should get it. really simple to give. no side effects, get the shot. >> had no idea. next one, my 7-year-old mixed golden retriever has had hot spots all summer, now dry spots all the time. >> they're sort of the same thing, just different sides of the story. the hot spot is when they're moist and wet and super itchy and rub a scratchy hole in their skin and dry means it's no longer scabby and oozing but it could be because of ring worm or other stuff like that or mango

now back on top with "iron man" and "sherlock holmes." he's married with a new child. say. sitting there thinking, what's that got to do with me? everything. >> we also decided it was time to go out -- when we were doing our ambush makeovers, we decided to find people who reinvented themselves. this is a before photo of julie mccarthy from illinois. >> it's an interesting story if only we had it in front of us. >> but we don't. >> the other one you'll like equally as much. we don't know much about her yet either. but we will when it comes time. >> you know what it's time for? friday funny! >> if you don't like this you blame patty skidmore on facebook. a teenage girl took her boyfriend to meet her grandmother. grandmother served soda and peanuts while they chatted. the boyfriend who was really nervous ate all the peanuts in the bowl. when they were leaving he thanked the grandmother for a nice visit and apologized for eating all the peanuts. she replied, i'm so glad you enjoyed them. since i lost my dentures, i can only suck the chocolate off. >> that's disgusting. >>

. >> lucy lui is putting a modern twist on sherlock holmes oncbs' "elementary." >> i'm here to make theability. we just seen her come off a role in "southland." now she's taking those issues to "elementary." >> former hero star hayden p panettiere will be on the new drama "nashville." >> connie britton is so phenomenal. hayden panettiere is trying to steal her thunder and is doing a good job at it. >> i don't know while i'm so nervous. >> and dakota johnson is striking out on her own in fox's "ben and kate." >> i'm a single mom, and i think that's relatable to a lot of people these days. it's quiet, funny, awkward funny. done. >>> and on another tv note, it's been a while since we have seen the original gang from "90210." but they are back in these back to school ads for gap. i used to love that show. >>. >>> all right, still had, we look at some of your favorite olympians of all time. >>> joan rivers on the record with us about getting shut down by the police for her costco protest. >>> closed captioning provided by -- [ male announcer ] we got a real mom and the family car to do an ex

. >>> but first, we're going to bring out your inner sherlock holmes. how we'll help you get the the salaries. how it spent your tax dollars. >>> we have an update on our breaking news in prince georges county where three people have been rescued from a fire in a two story duplex in the 6,000 block ofcarington court. that is in chapel oaks. when the firefighters got there, there was a lot of fire coming out of both floors. three people were inside. cpr had to be performed on one of the victims. all three of the people were taken to the hospital with critical injuries. now that fire is out. we are still going to stay all over this story. derek. >> over the past few weeks, 9 wants to know sorted out over 13,000 payroll records and identified $30 million in unreported gsa bonuses and $8 million in unexplained overtime. now is your chance to play private detective or perhaps perhaps investigative reporter. we created an online data base. tonight we are opening it to the public. whether you want to know a salary, now you can search it like investigative repo

. >> can you call curiosity, the sherlock holmes of rovers, with capability to do science that's more than just elementary. >> this mission asked one of the most fundamental questions can you ask, is there life on any other planet besides earth. >> curiosity does not have the ability to detect life itself, unless life stands up and waves at curiosity's camera. but it did k detect what none of its predecessors can. the onboard lab can sniff out organic materials, like carbon, a building block of life. >> one of the key goals is to look for key ingredient that life requires. water is one of the most -- one of the things we always look for on mars. >> scientists believe if water ever flowed on mars, it might have been inside gail crater. vast majority of tasks will be orchestrated by scientists on earth. but when you are 150 million miles away, there are some things curiosity might have to do on its own. >> the rover will be able to make decisions whether it can drive over an obstacle or if it needs to drive around an obstacle. >> the rover's mission is expected to last about two years.

you're like sherlock holmes here. >> close: yeah, this is how i get through life. >> stahl: of coursehe knew we were showing him famous faces. with our group, we threw in a trick one, a photo of jo's daughter. does anybody know who that is? >> no way. >> stahl: jo? work on it, because it's somebody that jo knows. >> livingston: well, it may be, but nothing's coming. >> stahl: it's someone in your family. but still, she didn't get it. it's your daughter. now, can you see it? is it clear now? >> livingston: it is believable now. >> stahl: we were baffled that a condition so extreme, it could keep people from recognizing their own children, could have been almost completely unknown until very recently. we asked dr. oliver sacks, the famous chronicler of fascinating and bizarre neurological conditions, who wrote about face blindness in his latest book, "the mind's eye." >> dr. oliver sacks: it is with our faces that we face the world. >> stahl: how do you explain that the medical world did not identify this problem? >> sacks: it is not usually a complaint of people. people do not bring it

in the sherlock holmes stories, dr. watson was a wounded veteran of the second afghan war in 1880.d kipling in his 1888 novella, the man who would be king, told the tale of two figure shish us british sailors of fortune. the story that was turned into a movie in 1975. >> 1, 2, 3. osgood: starring michael caine and sean connery. >> when we're done with you, you'll be able to stand up and slaughter your enemies like civilized men. >> osgood: needless to say the swashbuckling pair's afghan adventures did not end well. nor in the end did brit up's. in the decades that followed afghan independence, the country was wracked by bloody coups and wars, including the soviet invasion of 1979. the u.s.-backed insurgency against the soviets. the victory of the islamist taliban in 1998. and the american invasion to oust the taliban and al qaeda in 2001. the battle that goes on to this day. >> it is time to focus on nation-building here at home. >> osgood: as of now the u.s. and its nato allies plan to withdraw most of their troops by the end of 2014. nearly a century after the country celebrated

jacki schechner you're sherlock holmes, sherman to your mr. peabody. don't turn that machine back. going with turner and hooch. >> ten speed and brown shoe. >> dukes of hazard. i want to be bo duke. i'm just saying. >> as long as you ways the daisy dukes. >> stephanie: dreams magically come true. [ magic wand music ] >> good morning, yesterday on this very show we heard alexis bledel talk about her support for president obama particularly because of his support of women's issues and planned parenthood. another face is getting behind the president elizabeth banks is out with a new web video talking about her relationship with planned parenthooded and why mitt romney's position on women's issues are plain unhealthy. >> the services they provide aah, 95% involve nothing controversy. for that 5% that mitt romney doesn't agree with, he's taking away cancer screening. >> we went to college together, so it's very good to see her getting involved. mitt romney will go through colorado. he'll stop in denver. a new york time cbs poll has mitt romney up by five in colorado and a separate poll

. >> reporter: you could call "curiosity" the sherlock holmes of rovers, with a capability to do science elementary. >> this mission really asks one of the most fundamental questions you can ask, is there life on any other planet besides earth. >> reporter: "curiosity" does not have the capability to detect life itself unless life should stand up and wave at the camera. the 2,000-pound rover can detect what none of its predecessors could. its laser scans for tantalizing targets. its hammer drill breaks down rock and deposits tiny samples in "curiosity's" on-board kennel psychiatry lab. the lab can sniff -- chemistry lab. the lab can sniff out carbon, a key to life. >> one of the goals is to look at key ingredients that life requires. water, of course, is one of the things we always look for on mars. >> reporter: scientists believe if water ever flowed on mars, it might have been inside gale crater. the vast majority of "curiosity's" tasks will be orchestrated by scientist on earth. but when you're 150 million miles away, there are some things "curiosity" might have to do on its own. >> t

now back on top with "ironman" and "sherlock holmes." he's married with a new child. doing our ambush makeovers, we decided to find people who reinvented themselves. this is a before photo of julie mccarthy from illinois. >> it's an interesting story if only we had it in front of us, but we don't. >> the other one you'll like equally as much. we don't know much about her yet either. we will when it comes time. >> you know what it's time for? friday funny. >> if you don't like this you blame patty skidmore on facebook. a teenage girl took her boyfriend to meet her grandmother. grandmother ser a special report from nbc. >>> this is an nbc news special report. here's matt lauer. >> and i'm matt lauer, live in tampa, florida, at the republican national convention. tropical storm isaac is just starting to bear down on the central gulf coast right at this moment. president obama is about to speak out about that storm from the diplomatic room at the white house. let's bring in nbc's david gregory, moderator of "meet the press," and david, politics 101. you've got your oppone