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life on mars, US version

With Colm Meaney as The Beaver!
 
Actually Colm reminds me of his 50s character from Far Beyond the Stars.

Trouble is, it's another "magical realism" premise, and we already have Pushing Daisies, Medium, Heroes, etc. It's a good idea coming at the tail end of a trend. People may not have the "ooh aah" reaction that ABC is hoping for.

It's also another example of a premise that is better suited to a 2-hour movie or miniseries being stretched into a full length TV series, like Lost.

Maybe I'm just bitter because David E. Kelley basically negotiated for Boston Legal to die an early death in order for this show to get picked up, and now he isn't even going to write for it.
 
That voiceover on the trailer is beyond cheesey.
 
What is Life on Mars supposed to be about? ALSO DAVID E KELLEY MUST DIE FOR KILLING BOSTON LEGAL :rwmad:
 
Cassie said:
What is Life on Mars supposed to be about?
Click to expand...


A copper gets shot, and when he wakes up, he finds himself back in the 1970's, still working as a copper, but a rank below where he was originally. The guy above him (Colm Meaney in the US version) is a foul-mouthed misogynistic bastard with the best one-liners in any series since the turn of the century (essentially a one-man battering ram cliché of a racist & sexist 1970's UK Copper).

The series deals with the lead character's attempts to understand why he is where he is, when confronted with various hazed visions of his being in a coma in current day. In the meatime, he helps solve crimes in the 1970's.

The series was a massive two series BBC hit here in the UK - of course, being a UK series, it was confined to 6 hour long episodes per series. The US version will probably pad that out.

The series success was probably down to several factors:

1) Phil Glenister, who playes Gene Hunt (the Colm Meany character) is so fucking brilliant, you could just watch him and him only.

2) The sci-fi / fantasy element is used mostly to bookend each episode, therefore kept to a minimum, as it could easily overshadow the entire episode.

3) A Kick-arse soundtrack from the 70's, with a focus on David Bowie.

4) Superb design, set in 1970's England, providing an excellent nostalgia trip.

My advice to ANY American who likes their sci-fi, is to pick up both seasons on DVD, or at the very least go to Youtube and look up some Gene Hunt clips.

This year, the spin-off series set in the 80's, Ashes to Ashes was aired. Gene Hunt was back, Sam wasn't, with the lead character being a female detective. Whilst still good, it didn't really fire as much as LoM.
 
Without Colm I would just say "pfft" instead I'm going to say "pfft! but at least it has Colm!"
 
But I bet they'll amercanise it and by the end of the first episode he'll be saying "this kid's all right!" and mussing up Sam's hair.
 
Well yeah, my first thought was that UKers should lower their expectations, as these things usually end up losing much in the translation.

Have there been any US remakes of UK shows that were superior? Maybe All in the Family/Till Death Do Us Part. Queer As Folk, but that's a matter of opinion. Any others?
 
I don't know if the American version of The Office is better than the original but it's pretty damn funny.
 
I haven't watched either that much, so I wouldn't know.

Though I am starting to dig John Krasinski and all the photo shoots he seems to be doing these days. ;)
 
YES.. he's a cutie.
 
Dear John worked out pretty well.
 
Was it renamed "Hey John, you douchebag!"?
 
I'd forgotten about that show. It was pretty good but not a classic.

Judd Hirsch from Taxi played John, it lasted 4 seasons.

Never seen the UK version.
 
It was pretty good actually. I consider it as one of the first 'adult' things I watched & enjoyed. The late, great Ralph Bates was born to play a sardonic & morose character like John. If Harry Potter came three decades earlier, Bates would have been born to play Severus Snape.
 
I remember the theme song.
 
I remember wondering why it had my name in the title.
 
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