I am – Hercules!!
Word is ABC’s American version of “Life on Mars” has recast, which means at least parts of its pilot will be reshot. So what gets reviewed by these good fellows, who both seem familiar with the U.K. version, is not necessarily what we’ll see this fall. “Gene Genie” says:

Hey Herc, I'm a "first time caller, long time listener" and just got the opportunity to view something that I feel I can contribute to the site. I just finished watching David E. Kelly's pilot for the upcoming series (for ABC I believe) "Life on Mars", based on the brilliant UK show of the same name which starred Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt and John Simm as Sam Tyler. Now I have to say that I come into this with an already huge man crush on the UK show, and watched both series (as well as its follow up series "Ashes to Ashes"), so when I started watching this I knew it was going to be how the UK's "The Office" was virtually a carbon copy of its pilot episode, where it added virtually nothing to the show, just a different cast repeating the same lines, but I wanted to see if they at least kept what integrity the UK version had. So basically I checked my hat at the door and sat down to see what "Life on Mars" was all about. Here's a quick breakdown on the show's premise; Jason O'Mara plays Sam Tyler, Detective with the LAPD, hunts and tracks down a serial killer and uses all the latest technology around him make up a composite photo of the Killer's face, has the "screen with multiple frames' projected to a wall for when he debrief's his crew of cops before a bust, you know, all that fancy "CSI" stuff that Hollywood puts into a tv show! He tracks down a suspect who has been linked to a murder of a few women who have been kidnapped and then strangled to death, not before keeping the one cop behind to watch the station, Maya, with whom he's already had a relationship with. Its pretty obvious that Sam is methodical and doesn't make mistakes, and keeps his emotions in check, from everyone. Turns out his emotions break out like a crack in Hoover Dam because his ex/college Maya is then taken by the killer. When he finds only a bloody boot of hers is found at the crime scene, and he drives off, trying to keep the emotions in check. Almost getting into a car accident, and listening to "Life on Mars" off the iPod in the car, he gets out of the jeep but then gets run over by a car! This, plus the Bowie track on the iPod, both propel Sam Tyler into 1972. Here he's back in LA, he's still a cop, but has to contend to his boss, Gene Hunt, top cop at the precinct, who's tough as nails, runs the ship his way, and is the Ying to Sam's Professional, procedural, and methodical Yang. Turns out the first case he gets is to hunt down the same serial killer that nabbed Maya 30 years in the future. Now a quick breakdown on the show as entertainment; its actually not half bad! Jason O'Mara is very good as Sam Tyler, he's a like a robot who's been given an emotion chip and its turned on at exactly the wrong time, feeling confused about his surroundings yet knows how to solve a case better than anyone. Comparisons to John Simm will be rampant when the show airs, Simm seemed to breath a bit more life into the character at times of distress, confusion and when in doubt of whether or not he's in a coma or actually travelled in time, but O'Hara does a fine job still. If anything he was the saving grace of the show, and kept me intrested. Colm Meany (Chief O'Brian from Star Trek TNG, DS9, Layer Cake) does his best to play Gene Hunt but still feels a bit flat. Yes he's a drinker, a smoker, and punches Sam in the gut when he freaks out the first time he sees the office where all the cops work, but still, it seems that they're still too 'nice' to Sam. I mean having seen the UK version and knowing it well, Philip Glenister IS Gene Hunt and had a lot more room to play with when creating a character, and Colm Meany is restricted by this being a network show, no swearing, not as much drinking, not as much womanizing or sexism either. Lenny Clarke did a good job as George Randall, but honestly, wasn't a stand out supporting character like Ray Stevens or Marshall Lancaster where in the UK version, both played the comic relief and serious dramatic support to Sam. Rachelle LeFevre did a fine job as Annie Cartright, playing the emotional anchor Sam's confused and frightened psyche, she played it straight, nothing fancy, just "Annie". David Kelly really had some great source material to work with, and knew that what wasn't broken, didn't need fixing. I mean they literally 'lifted' the shot list from the UK production to bring it to life for ABC, but with all the restrictions that go into a show like this that they were able to get away with in the UK (the swearing, the huge amounts of drinking/smoking, the uber-male chauvinism, and the clear division between the men's place in the Police department and the women's place in the department) they were totally non-existent and made the show feel somewhat flat. The grand canyon between Men and Women, the sexism and chauvinism that just poured out of Gene Hunt in the UK, was the polar opposite to Sam Tyler, is what made Sam 'tick', and also what made him the better cop, These things that showed how things were is what made it a period piece of cop shows, and it gave the UK show 'texture' and 'life'. These are not in the ABC pilot, and just shows a regular group of people walk around and dress up in 70's clothing, and thats it, makes it only look like a typical cop show set in TODAY's world. "LIFE ON MARS" is a 'brand name' now like 'The Office', 'The IT Crowd', 'Deal or No Deal' and a multitude of contest shows from the UK, and I was surprised the David E. Kelly took the rights to remake them. I'm not a huge fan of his past work, I've liked what I've seen in the past and enjoy Boston Public, but this pilot on its own, doesn't show me how good he is as a writer, it just shows me he can make a phenomenal show like LOM into a pretty good show for American audiences.

“Kelvington” says:

First off let me say this, I loved, loved, loved the British version of “Life On Mars” it was clever, well written and seemed very real. It was better than your average cop show and I chalk this up to three things. Acting, Writing and Direction. The basic plot line of the show was, a detective, Sam Tyler, investigates a crime and gets hit by a car, and wakes up in the 1970’s. He doesn’t know if it’s real or a dream, or if he has time travelled. The accident occurs while the song “Life On Mars” is playing in his car. When he wakes up in the ‘70’s it’s still playing in his car, but in this case on an 8-track tape, and not an iPod. In the course of the series run he tries to stop the events that lead up his accident. He is still a cop in the 70’s and he meets up with some great characters and we saw how policing was done back then. Now to the US version, which doesn’t vary much from that theme. Now we all know from shows like “Cold Case” and “Quantum Leap” that recreating an era can be done fairly easily on a small scale. This show goes out of it’s way to do it on a much larger scale, from some CGI and large numbers of people walking the streets in 70’s garb, to just the basic feel of the time. That bit was well done. The setup from the original show is almost exactly the same as it’s UK counterpart. Sam is a cop in both eras. We get to see how police operated back then, and this would have worked even better had it not been for a little show called “Barney Miller”. I think the production department used it as a reference tape for most of the sets. Now both shows have the same hero/anti-hero in the form of Gene Hunt. If you have seen even one episode of the original show, then you know how amazing Philip Glenister was in the role, so much so, they created another series where he gets to play an ‘80’s version of the same character called “Ashes To Ashes”. In the US version the Hunt role is played by Colm Meaney, whom most people will remember from his Star Trek days. He plays the role with only about half the intensity that his British counterpart does, and with none of the finesse. I like Colm Meaney, but he’s no Philip Glenister. As for the main role of Sam Tyler, well Jason O'Mara can not even begin to touch John Simm who originated the role. I’m not sure if the cast was asked to watch the original series before working on this one, but it might have helped. The production does a great job a mimicking some of the tricks used in the original to blur the lines of what’s really happening to Sam. When the original show came on, I felt it was much more compelling than “Lost” and a lot more enjoyable. The US version I think will go down as another failed attempt to make a British Show into an American show, without all the sensibility and intelligence baggage. Sort of like the American version of “Red Dwarf”. To that end comes my main gripe with the show. Lenny Clarke, he plays George Randall, a character that there seems no analog for in the UK version. He also seems like he’s playing the exact same roles he’s played a dozen times before, in particular he seems like he’s playing his Frank character from “The Job”. Often when Lenny speaks or acts, I keep waiting for Dennis Leary, or Diane Farr to walk around the corner and say “Lenny, you’re on the wrong set.” The idea that you are going to take a show that lasted only a sixteen episodes total in the UK, and try to make a hundred episode run out of it, seems daft at best. My prediction for the series is a very short and confusing run, which will last five maybe six episodes, and it will leave the networks execs rubbing their heads wondering, “Should we have just imported the original episodes? Instead of trying to recreate something that didn’t need retouching.” If you have never seen the original you might find this to be the gem of a good idea, and you will wonder to yourself, “I think this could be done better somehow.” And you would be right, IT WAS.

“Life on Mars” will air Thursdays at 10 p.m. this fall on ABC.

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