I haven’t been writing about the BBC’s Life On Mars because it would be criminally unfair. It’s one of the greatest television shows in recent memory, and except for a brief run on BBC America, it’s been completely unavailable on these shores. No DVDs. No endless repeats on BBC America. Nothing.
The bad news is that ABC is prepping an Americanized version for the fall and it’s going to be awful. So it’s time to break radio silence. Find a torrent site, search Ebay for DVDs and buy a PAL DVD player, or scramble around online anywhere you can and download Life On Mars.
There’s only two 8 episode seasons of the British version, so it’ll be quick to pull down. If the powers that be won’t make it legally available – because they’re prepping a vastly inferior version – then civil disobedience to the IP laws of the land is the only option.
The premise of Life On Mars is simple. DI Sam Tyler (that’s Detective Inspector for us Yanks) is an obsessed, procedure loving detective chasing a serial killer in
It’s a simple gimmick, and the first episode plays out like a goof on the CSI procedurals. DI Tyler is used to extensive lab reports and forensic science tests. In 1973, it takes two weeks to match a fingerprint. Civil rights are an alien concept. Women and minorities can’t be taken seriously as detectives – even by themselves. And DCI Hunt is a garrulous English redneck, happy to beat a confession out of any poor sot in his interrogation room just so he can get to the pub by five.
What unfolds from there is some of the most engrossing television to have aired in years. Imagine Lost if it promised a satisfying resolution without jerking the audience around. Imagine Battlestar Galactica with a sense of humor. Imagine House playing out as a semi-surreal detective show.
Life On Mars is a deftly nuanced show. The overall questions of what is real or imagined never drown the police drama. The culture clash of 1973 and 2007 is deftly handled. The attention to period detail and cop shows from the 1970’s is immaculate. Only producing 16 episodes allowed the producers to craft an engaging mystery with a satisfying, but still slightly ambigous ending. And most impressively, all these elements are blended together to create something incredibly unique and satisfying.
If you’ve enjoyed any of the stellar BBC generated productions of the last decade (like The Office or Top Gear – which, incidentally, is my current pick for the best show on television), then tracking down Life On Mars in the original version is imperative. If you’re a fan of quality television, and can appreciate drama like The Wire or The Sopranos for their artistry, then Life On Mars is a must-see.
So when ABC announced that it had the rights to an American re-make, my heart sank. Then I saw the upfront presentation that ABC played for advertisers to drum up their excitement for the show, and I got ill. When that presentation missed the boat with their music cues, I got outraged. The title is derived from a David Bowie song with lyrics heavy on alienation, outrage, and larger than life movie images.
Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show.
Is there life on Mars?
The ABC presentation keeps the title Life On Mars, but falls back on the goofy, populist disco of KC & The Sunshine Band. “Get Down Tonight†would be better served pushing the CBS fiasco Swingtown. The shiny, harmonious, and upbeat disco song is an entire world away from
When the news came down that two weeks ago, when other shows are up and running at full speed for the fall, they were re-casting and changing show runners, all hope was lost. Supposedly the whole cast is getting re-tooled except the lead actor. This obliterates the one glimmer of hope that the presentation showed – casting Star Trek: The Next Generation veteran Colm Meany as the boisterous Gene Hunt. In the BBC series, Philip Glenister was the incendiary star of the show, and one of the most indelible characters that any television series has seen. Colm Meany, aside from hailing from
During the NBA finals, ABC is running promos for Life On Mars that are about as bad as promos can get. Now this is as thankless a promo assignment as it gets. Advertise a show where you can only show one cast member, using a song that’s completely inappropriate for the feel of the show. Watch for it on Tuesday’s game 6 and weep. Because they can only show Jason O’Mara, and since the new pilot is being shifted from LA to NYC, they can’t even show him in action, all you see is a mud colored shot of an indistinguished actor on a dull background.
TV promos don’t get worse than this. And TV series can’t go off the rails any worse than this. The original pilot presentation is available on the internet, but I won’t contaminate my site with any links to it. If I can find the ABC promo, I’ll provide a second-by-second breakdown of everything that’s horrible about it. And if you can find the original version of Life On Mars anywhere, go get it. It’ll be the best thing you do for yourself this summer.
I LOVED BBC’s Life on Mars! I read about the American version a few months ago and looked into getting my hands on the original because it sounded like such a fantastic concept. I don’t get BBC America (I believe they chopped 10 min or so out of it for American airings anyhow) and I don’t have a Multi-Region DVD player so, determined to see this show, I wound up having to grab a torrent and download it. It was well worth the several gig download.
I won’t add to Jeffrey’s show description. If what you read doesn’t lure you in immediately, then this show isn’t for you anyway.
What a job they did writing and casting these great characters. So well written and performed. It’s clever, but not over the top. It’s funny, but not predictable. We don’t hit all of those bulls-eyes very often anymore here in America. If you’ve seen the extended promo for ABC’s Life on Mars you might feel safe in guessing that we may have missed the mark again. I’m trying to hold on to some hope that it won’t be nearly as bad as it looks, but I’m not too optimistic.
The Brits have a follow up show to Life on Mars called Ashes to Ashes. It’s good, but not as enjoyable. The best thing about it is that Gene Genie is back, as are Ray and Chris, but I’m not so certain about DI Alex Drake. I’m not sure if it’s the character, the actress or the decade, (That perm she’s sporting is pretty awful) but I don’t enjoy this show nearly as much as I did Life On Mars.
These are the first two British TV dramas I’ve been drawn to and I plan to check out some more.
I’m excited for Ashes To Ashes, even if it’s not up to the caliber of Life On Mars. There isn’t a US airdate yet, so I’m going to hit the torrents for it.
The ABC version won’t make it 3 episodes. And the awful thing is that the network is re-tooling the show to run for four or five years. A big part of the beauty of Life On Mars is the finite length of the series. It’s not a concept that works on an indefinite run – it’s like a short novel that ends without overstaying its welcome.
Agreed, Life On Mars blew me out of the water. It was an amazing tv show. Oh, I wish so much that another cable channel had bought the rights to show it.
For what it’s worth, I bought the DVD set and downloaded the series. I couldn’t play the DVDs until just recently, when I bought a new DVD player (Philips dvp5140) and entered the ‘cheat code’ to make it play PAL discs.
I have NO IDEA why the BBC–or whoever is in charge–isn’t releasing this show on NTSC DVDs. They must be nuts.
My hunch is that part of the deal that ABC struck with the BBC for the rights to “Life On Mars” involves not releasing the original series on DVD in region 1. I’d also bet that there’s a clause preventing BBC America from running the original series again until ABC’s version is dead and gone.
Smart move on ABC’s part. If the original version was widely available here, the re-make would be completely dead in the water.
We’ll get DVDs of the original eventually, but it won’t be until long after ABC declares their interest in the property dead.
Life on Mars was a great example of why the BBC rocks. Life on Mars always kept you guessing as to what Sam was going through. Was he dead? Was he in a coma? And sadly this is why ABC bought the rights to make it state-side. “Hey, Lost has those kind of questions, so this should work, too!” Uh, no. The American remake of Life on Mars has been plagued with recasting, rewrites and even showrunner changes. Not a good sign. The promo I have seen for this looks like they made good use of a studio backlot to look like… a studio backlot. It won’t matter if people have seen the original. I predict five episodes and out for this revamp. Then maybe the BBC version will come out on DVD and people can see true genius. Hell, I even loved the mind bending ending of the series. Other reasons the BBC rocks: Ultraviolet, Jekyll, Dr. Who, Torchwood, Coupling and Father Ted.