David E. Kelley, David E. Shmelley. Some assumed when the TV-guru left Life on Mars‘ production team the show was dead. Others thought it bit the dust when ABC reshot the pilot with a whole new supporting cast. I, for one — being an anglophile who adores John Simm and Philip Glenister, the one two punch of the British original — thought it was all over the day some fool got the crap idea to remake my favorite show.
Then there was that moment during last night’s premiere when it hit me: Lord, was I wrong. I LOVE Life on Mars. Sure, you can’t tell that much from just a pilot, but just think about it. The show has brought The Sopranos‘ Michael Imperioli, The Wire’s Clarke Peters, and The Cosby Show’s Lisa Bonet all back on TV. And during the same hour! More than that, it got Harvey Keitel on series TV in the first place. And he’s great (sorry, Philip, still love you though). Lead Jason O’Mara, on the other hand, is a freakin’ revelation. Sure, he rocked The Closer, but I didn’t expect this. This is good.
Oh, and the show itself has some pretty good lines ("I have an ass that can fart every Peter, Paul & Mary song ever recorded," "Let’s not wait until another girl ends up with her dead on"), great tunes ("Life on Mars" and "Baba O’Riley" in the same episode), and a pretty good mystery. Why is Sam stuck in 1973? Will he get back to 2008? And, if you’ve seen the Brit show, will this one end the same as it did in England?
So who else watched Life on Mars last night? And who else was as taken as I was? Or am I totally alone?
More on Life on Mars:
EW’s official review of ABC’s Life on Mars, by Gillian Flynn
EW’s review of the original BBC Life on Mars
The trailer for ABC’s Life on Mars
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I caught it last night and it definitely has some promise.
Keitel and Imperioli were pretty great (no surprise), it’s good to see the great Clark Peters, but he didn’t really have anything to do.
O’Mara was likable, and I know that his character is supposed to be out of it and confused, but at times his performance just seemed a bit off. I feel like we don’t really know who he is and that might be because the show didn’t really take any time for the audience to get to know Sam Tyler and care about him or his relationship with Maya before his accident. The pilot was a little frenetic, but it’s better than being boring, right?
Finally, how can you not love the soundtrack (though I hope the show doesn’t rely on music cues TOO much) and the duds.
The timeslot became a total toss-up between Angela Bassett on ER and Life on Mars. I’ll be sticking with LoM.
Loved the original BBC show, was afraid of this one- but so far so good. I will stick with it. Loving Angela Basset on er as well- also going to try 11th hour. I have a DVR that does 2 channels and an old school VCR in another room- essential tools for a tv aholic.
I loved this pilot episode last night.
The cast was phenomenal!!!!!
It wasn’t anywhere near as good as the origianl, so it seemed like a big waste of time to me.
I meant to watch it; then I got caught up in the baseball game and forgot!!!!! I’ll try to catch it next week……
Wow! This show was awesome. The scene when he turns to the WTC’s was so powerful, and again at the end when he drove off. They did a great job of making NYC look like it was 1973. Can’t wait for next week!. Oh, and loved the music.
I watched it on impulse and LOVED it. Never heard of the British series before this, but I need to watch it now.
I thought Jason O’Mara was pretty awesome last night. It’s been a while since a male lead has been that convincing I think.
I was also really nervous when they recast the entire show and removed Colm Meaney (one of my favorites who never gets enough recognition) but Harvey Keitel is the epitome of badass- I loved him last night.
My last bit of gush was over the soundtrack. I haven’t bought a US TV soundtrack ever, but if this one comes out, I will be all over that.
I watched it, and I didn’t get it at all. I was born in 1982, but the music was noisy (and they say what I listen to is crap? HA!), the clothes were awful—and while I definitely agree that Jason O’Mara is a force of nature, and I love him—I hate the show. Is he really going to stay in 1973 for the entire run of the series? I care more about this cop in the future than I do about him in the past.
I thought it was great! I loved the music. I will definatly keep up with it to see what comes next.
No it will not end the same as the Brit version. It will run for 10 years longer than it should, b/c US tv just wants to milk every show for all they are worth. Brit version LoM ran for 2 very short seasons, leaves you wanting more – Ashes to Ashes anyone?
I liked the original – but this remake was really uninteresting. I was so looking forward to this show and in the middle I found myself not caring what happened to the guy at all. I think I need more buy-in. I needed to see more of him in the present and how potentially he’d change lives or the course of history – if he really is in the past. Overall I was pretty disappointed but will probably tune in next week to see if it gets better….but I don’t have a whole lot of faith that it will.
I watched the original BBC version and I was also watching last night. I love this show, probably my very favorite, so when I heard they were ‘Americanizing’ it I was not happy. Although as a Keitel fan, it is nice to see him. The show is good, the original is transcendent. I don’t understand the re-make things that were done correctly the first time. If you haven’t seen Life on Mars on BBC then this is a great show, and if you loved the BBC version this is a good copy. (Almost shot for shot.)
Never saw the original but was intrigued for the show last night.
It was just alright, I had no stake in the main character what so ever though. Maybe because they never wrote it, but I really was not impressed with the main actor…seemed like he was trying waaaaay to hard and I could see him acting. The rest of the cast was great though.
Will give it another two or three episodes and hopefully it will grab me in some way (besides hearing David Bowie)
I loved the show. I graduated from high school in 1973, so yeh, I loved the music and it was nice to see the clothes, and attitude, from that time. I’ll be watching it until it ends, or until it totally changes the story line like Prison Break did last year.
I was unaware that this was a remake and cannot wait to check out the original. I simply stumbled upon the show and really enjoyed it. Harvey Keitel was great (I’ve missed him) and the show was much funnier than I thought. I am interested to see where it goes from here.
I watched the British version awhile ago and never did see the end so I was eagerly awaiting the remake just so I can see how the story line finally gets solved. I quite like Jason O’Mara anyway from when he played Fergel in Monarch of the Glen, another British show. Great fun to see the fashion and hear the music from the 70’s.
I loved it, and I’m so glad to see by the comments that it drew an audience. I loved Jason O’Mara on The Closer, but had not otherwise seen him before. Also didn’t know it was a remake and must see the original.
The show was great!! It brought back so many memories of the 70’s….pity to those who didn’t have the chance to experience it.
Imperioli was great. I hope he gets a bigger part as the show moves on. I’d like to hear his version of Peter, Paul and Mary. (chuckle)
I’m 28 and am fascinated by the 70s. Loved the show. Never saw the original, but I do wonder how long you keep up the story line before you have to have an ending, which will end the show. Sad.
Jason O’Mara is hot! He was on one of my other favorite shows ABC killed, Men in Tree’s. Anyway, it was Ok, not sure I’ll stay up to watch it every week, I have to guess he is imagining all this while in a coma? Otherwise, time travel? Really? I haven’t seen the BBC version either, but I was interested in what all the hype was going to be about. The other poster who mentioned they needed more of him in the present was right. I was switching back and forth with this and 11th hour, but I have to say that I liked ‘Mars” better..
This show was awesome! It just brought back so many memories of NYC in the 70’s…the music, the way of life, the grittiness – awesome. And the way he reacted when he saw Twin Towers..was just wow…
My husband and I watched it because he used to work for the NYPD and wanted to see what that department was like in “the good old days.” Best part of the show was seeing the main characters reaction to how things were done in the 70’s. We loved the show and will probably keep watching it.
As someone who was born in 1970, what can I say…I LOVE THIS SHOW! Everyone knows the 70’s was the coolest decade, and had some of the best TV that the big 3 networks are still trying to match in 2008. The 70’s was the era of the gritty cop show, so this fits in just perfectly with that. Another great line last night: “The music in the future is now on CD’s and digital and mp3’s, but the sound is terrible”…how funny! Keep up the good work ABC.
This is superb! Jason O’Mara an amazing job on this episode and going forward this show will be rockin! I love the production value and how they have brought everything together. Also next week their will be a new character called Windy and she is a total hoot. Just wait and see.
I am a huge fan of the British version. And I seem to be in a very small minority but I wasn’t that impressed by this one. I thought Jason O’Mara ran hot and cold and I just don’t think anyone can be the Gene Genie but Philip Glenister. I thought Keitel just looked…old. I also don’t like the casting of Gretchen Mol as Annie…She’s too model-pretty. I also didn’t like him going to talk to Colin after the fact — was I the only one who thought that Tyler talking to the radio in that scene was weak? Maybe it’s just me…
I had low expectations for this, but it BLEW ME AWAY. I can’t believe how great it was. I cried when they had the shot of the two towers.
I didn’t care much for this. Hackneyed 70’s stereotypes – the female officer who gets no respect, the cops ignoring suspects rights, the starsky and hutch car, the visit to the LP store. Hopefully that all stays behind in the pilot. To me it looked and felt exactly like Journeyman, just stuck on one ‘trip’. Journeyman meets standard procedural.
I liked, but with reservations. Harvey Keitel has become a cliche. The story sagged now and then. O’Mara very good; the other actors good. Music great. Record store scene the best. The look (of 1973) is very good.