One last TV story, and we’ll return to the regularly scheduled film news programing. ABC has ordered 13 episodes of Life on Mars, an American remake of the popular BBC television series. The story follows a 21st century detective Sam Tyler (Jason O’Mara) who who finds himself waking up in 1972 after he’s run over by a car. The U.S. version of the show was created by David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, The Practice, Boston Legal). I’ve heard a lot of great stuff about the original series, and am always interested in anything Time Travel related, although the soundtrack seems just a little bit cheesy. Check out the trailer below and tell me what you think in the comments.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:49 am
The UK version of this is great!
May 16th, 2008 at 3:53 am
Oh God, no….
May 16th, 2008 at 3:58 am
Spaced dodged the Americanization bullet… too bad for Life on Mars.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:41 am
omg its not like they’ve even gave it a stlight twist its the sam thing except without the legendry gene genie
May 16th, 2008 at 4:45 am
God that was horrible. I only had a mild affinity with the uk show but after seeing that, the British version looks like the best show ever made. How did David E. Kelley get it so wrong. Oh well, I guess he’s just living up to his hit - miss - hit pattern.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:50 am
Awful! I love the original, Sam Tyler & company are great in the BBC series, it works, it’s actually believable, but this.. wow, they even screw up the soundtrack which was very good in the British version. Really bad. Really unnecessary.
May 16th, 2008 at 5:00 am
the uk version is like a classic already…shame that american audiences weren’t prepared to enjoy that. the production value on this looks higher than the original, naturally because you have more money to spend, but the guy playing sam tyler seems really boring
May 16th, 2008 at 5:34 am
The UK version of Life on Mars is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. A lot of its quality comes from its understanding of the culture and issues of the time. I doubt US censors would let this version go as in-depth, and I’m sure that there will be references that, once crossed over, will confused American viewers. I mean, can you imagine ABC letting the American version of the Gene Genie calling people f*****s?
May 16th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Bloody hell Guv don’t let them do that !
May 16th, 2008 at 6:50 am
god, i love abc for lost, but just dont…
why why to destroy a great tv show, like ‘live on mars’ from BBC. you just destroy all the things that made that show so beautiful and great
May 16th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Yah I was excited for this when I first heard they were going to make a U.S. verison (even though I kinda knew they were going to mess up) but it can never top the BBC version, that was great, and you know if its good there going to get like 4 season and it really is only a 16 episode show in the BBC, and with out the Gene Genie this can’t be as good, would have been nice if they actually used the song Life on Mars during the preview too.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:36 am
It’s a pale pale pale pale imitation… Completely with cast look-a-likes.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Gene Hunt is in it, it’s colm meane…… I don’t think this part can be played by anyone but Philip Glenister. And will the 13 episodes be a straight copy of the UK show
May 16th, 2008 at 11:26 am
I don’t understand why you need to do a remake when you can just watch the brilliant original on BBC America. Come on America let’s do some original stuff and give it time to develop and flourish.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
“Life On Mars” is a great show with great characters and a believable set design - sometimes moving, sometimes exciting and sometimes mind boggling. THIS ist just a funny show without much of the above. Good I have thge original on DVD and i don’t need to watch this shallow show…god bless america..OMG
May 16th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I agree with Kip. What’s next? An Americanized version of Dr. Who? Why the bloody hell can’t they just air the orignial series? It’s not like the British go “Hey! That My Name is Earl is pretty fun! Instead of just airiing it we’ll remake it, loosing the original charm and chemistry of the original people who made it!”
Sorry, I’m still mad at them for The Office.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Why does everything have to be dumbed down!!! The acting looks horrendous! Where is David Bowie’s track “Life on Mars”!?!? Couldn’t they have included that???? But no, we get the funk music, just to bang into people’s heads: “Hey, just incase the voice over or the clothes or the looks of the buildings didn’t give it away that he has traveled back to the 70’s, maybe the music will! Honestly the ABC trailer was laughable, it felt like a comedy in parts, and the lead was horrible!!! I know, I know, all i’ve seen is a 2 minute clip, but when my geekrage is released sometimes I go batty! Does anyone else feel that America tends to dumb down shows/movies a lot more lately? Don’t get me wrong,we make great shows like BSG and Lost, but I don’t know I really felt irked when I saw this clip, that it makes me feel that way
May 16th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
This looks like shit.
And on the question of why they did it, they feel they can extend and milk the show past the 2 short seasons of the original version if it does good. And it has to do good since the original was so great! What morons.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
the original cannot be duplicated, but ill still watch. The original was a limited 2 season series, will this remake only be 2 seasons, or just 1 season?
May 16th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
This doesnt actually look that bad. Compared to the UK original, i might actually like this one more. And i really liked the original. Some shows like Spaced or Top Gear really couldn’t be done out here successfully but like The Office, an americanized twist on something like this doesnt seem grating at all.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I’ve pretty much given up on American television shows besides Dexter…these shows ripping off great British series has to stop…Spaced, Men Behaving Badly, Coupling and Red Dwarf have all failed when it comes to Americanization…leave them as they are great “UK” shows…next up is Father Ted (US) and Black Adder (US) ..lol..If you look at reality TV which has basically destroyed the American sitcom, these shows are all taken from European TV in which itself is nothing much but vapid game shows and horrible cheaply made reality shows. Money is always the drive with US network executives not developing great and interesting shows. Most people have to turn to cable to get well made shows. I think since they are pay stations they really don’t have to worry as much about ratings and advertising. The reason these shows are so popular overseas is because America was the main source of other genre shows. UK is one of the only places where they still actively produce great sitcoms. The US networks have no creativity behind their discussions . If networks were smart enough they would go the PBS route and actually air the original programs, as they were meant to be shown. How many times a day can you play Seinfeld re-runs on the same network? I grew up on both American & British television and they are different in many ways. Most of the time the shows don’t translate well to American audiences. I’ve watched a few episodes of the British version of Life on Mars, I’m actually surprised it’s being remade. It wasn’t all that great of a show, the concept yes maybe for a mini-series. There isn’t enough going for it that will last longer than two seasons. It’s no “The Office” that’s for sure.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
@lee
16 episodes which it ran for in the UK doesn’t equal a regular US season which is usually 20-25 episodes. Funny thing about British TV most of these shows don’t go further than 16 episodes and they just shown in re-runs on the BBC. Smart considering they don’t let them get drawn out and boring.
May 17th, 2008 at 6:51 am
I don’t get what the deal is. Why can’t yanks palate English programming? There’s already an entire two series of a fantastically made english show with a wonderful cast and turn it into bloody Starsky and Hutch. They didn’t even play Life on Mars!
May 17th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Wow, way more haters on this comment than I would have expected. I’ve never seen the UK version, and compared to the spate of supernatural cop shows that debuted this year (2 vampire cops, 1 journeyman … did I miss any?) I think this looks pretty interesting. That said, I’m in 100% agreement that the Bowie absence was jarring — perhaps they’re still working on getting the rights …
May 17th, 2008 at 9:37 am
wow, America just doesn’t feel like writing anymore. Shame.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I just remembered something. Up here in Canada land, we actually DO air British tv. You can watch Dr. Who and Coronation Street and all kinds of the other shows on the CBC. Why can’t the Americans do that?
May 19th, 2008 at 8:18 am
As an American, I am very worried about this show. I discovered it 2 years ago on BBC America and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen on TV. I wish that the States would be brave enough, even in a remake, to keep the show in England. I can’t picture Sam Tyler as an American Detective. I have to admit, though, Colm Meany as Gov….that’s great casting.
But i really hope it’s not watered-down and mainstream, and that it takes risks, and the subtleties of the BBC version come through in the US version. The use of music, the excellent writing and character development, the use of language and analogies. All these things were responsible for making the BBC version reach out and pull you into the world of Sam Tyler.
I also hope it’s not all quirky. David E Kelly is a great writer, but I hope he is smart enough to know when to have the goofy humor and when to keep the show moving along.
I will watch it, and give it a try, but I have high expectations. Cuz the original was so damn good.
May 24th, 2008 at 6:26 am
This really makes me sick. I mean really, really sick.
Life on Mars is one of the greatest shows of all time. Inventive, intriguing and well…. great!
But thanks to American imagination they are going to, i fear ruin mine and others memory of the show.
WHEN HAS THIS TYPE OF THING EVER WORKED?!!?
DAMN REMAKES!!!!
DAMN AMERICANISATION!!!!
DAMN YOU MONEY, IDEA SUCKING (beeeeeeeep)!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASE DON’T RUIN THE GENE GENIE!!!!!!
May 24th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Okay I have calmed down now. But really its the same story with just pimped up characters and nowhere near the same quality.
I know what your thinking “You haven’t even given it a go”.
Well i say to you look at all the movies turned into video games!!!!
EXACTLY!!!!
PLEASE SOMEONE OUT THERE STOP THE MADNESS!!!!!!!!
—-oh and i dont hate americans just their tv—–
June 19th, 2008 at 3:49 am
i dunno, people have gotta lay off criticizing american tv with such a broad brush. lost/desperatehousewives/dexter/pushing daisies/battlestar galactica/hbo shows..theres plenty of good stuff.
that being said, the life on mars us conversion was simply botched. the original was based on britishness, hence the bowie music and gritty 70s england…which is different from 70s america. you cannot just swap locations, it needed a significant reimagining on the scale of battlestar galactica to work. and so far..it seems what they’ve released is pretty lousy and unconvincing. the main actor just can’t pull it off. and the rest of the visuals etc just don’t help him a bit.
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:04 am
Well as a HUGE fan of Life on Mars and its follow up Ashes to Ashes, thought I would offer my UK based opinion. I think this could work if it keeps in with american culture of the time so that viewers get a real nostalgia kick like we did with the original. make it a bit gritty, have some real mystery in it and it COULD work. It doesnt look TOO bad as it stands.
i would think the twist and ending would have to be different to the original.
fingers crossed ABC etc do a good job of it. Just make it better than the US version of The Office and I will happy!
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:09 am
There are loads of things going through my mind to say about how awful the US version must be if the trailer is anything to go by but I think that the best way to sum it up is with a simple oh dear!
August 29th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Surely that was a joke.
I heard they just dropped that version and remade it with a different cast. The full pilot must have been as bloody awful as the trailer made it look. I have nothing against remakes, but there’s a difference between different flimmakers’ interpretations of themes and just ripping all of the heart and soul out of an idea and putting ‘wakawaka’ guitar in it. In my opinion, US TV drama tends to have much higher standards than the UK, (where I’m from) but that was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. Somebody should get an award for that trailer. And be beaten round the head with it.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:13 am
you robbing american so and so’s you take something brilliant put it through the old american “make it shite machine ” and come out with this tripe…..think of something original !
September 28th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
This looks awsome! I was 8 years old in ‘73 and loved cop shows back then. I now work with all kinds of technology and my peeps at work never learned the analog way of doing things. I will watch this on Thursday nights instead of clinging to my guns and bibles.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I actually like this version too. Love the UK version but I think you need to give this a chance before you shoot it down. There are some great actors on US TV (Cable mainly). Cheers!