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The latest British import to hit American network TV is a cop show with a twist. In the original Life on Mars, which aired Stateside on BBC America the last two years, detective Sam Tyler is hit by a car in the year 2006 and wakes up in his beloved Manchester, U.K., in 1973, not knowing how or why he got there, whether he's traveled through time, lying in a hospital bed in coma and dreaming of the past, or just plain crazy. Like AMC's Mad Men, the show explored sexism and abuse of power, but Life on Mars was much more explicit in its judgments with a protagonist with modern-day sensibilities.
In ABC's version, Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) is a 2008 detective with the
NYPD, transported back to 1973, where the Twin Towers stand tall over
the skyline. The location and a bigger budget are among the few
changes. As Tyler wanders the streets of New York, he says, "My mind
can only invent so much, so I'm going to walk until I can't think up
any more streets or faces or arguments. Details, there are only so many
details."
But the details are endless, from the buildings, the cars, the
advertisements, the fonts and the the clothes and hairstyles of the
many, many extras. It's fun little trip back to a time when things like
warrants and lawyers were unnecessary niceties. Just unusual enough for
sci-fi geeks like me and plenty of crime-solving for the procedural
fans. Plus, Harvey Keitel plays the police chief.
Back in Manchester, the show wrapped a tight storyline into two seasons. It'll be interesting to see if, like The Office,
the Americanized version uses the original plot as a baseline to add
its own flavor. But if it doesn't cut through the overcrowded mass of
cop shows, it'll never get the chance.
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My feeling is that they tried too hard to recreate the feel of the BBC series. I know that they had to rewrite portions to make it palatable for an American audience and at least that worked. Sam looked similar to the BBC Sam, Ray, Chris and Annie were similar too. But where they really missed the mark was with the casting of Gene Hunt, I mean what’s with Grampa Moses as Gene Hunt? Old, scrawny and short don’t even come close to conveying the feeling of threat mixed with charisma that Philip Glenister carried throughout the series. The acting was stiff they seemed almost parodies of 70's not actually inhabiting their parts. I'll give it another episode but I'm not hopeful.
I have to totally agree with the first comment. When I first heard of the original Life on Mars series I thought, man, this has to be some stupid rip off of "The Sweeney". But I gave it a chance and was hooked from the first episode onwards. The writing and casting was that brilliant. Then I heard about the american copy, not remake, but "copy". As that's all they're doing, and poorly. And what's up with american producers having to cast an Irish actor to fake an american accent to basically copy the dialog of a british actor who has already given us an outstanding and original series? What the???? Oh well, I'll give it a chance and see whether it goes down the same path as the Bionic Woman did......
I completely disagree. The casting of Harvey Keitel for Gene Hunt was pure genius. He's a well-known AMERICAN character, perfect for the American series. Despite how much of it may be a copy of the original, the show has managed to capture the feeling of the 70's in the US, throwing in little obviously American social tidbits like the casting of Gene Hunt, a small but cool and intimidating man with an uncanny knowledge of the world around him, which are the epitome of the 70's aura entirely. I say that even though it's not completely original, the show is definitely something to enjoy and bask in the afterglow of recognizing that classic 70's music.