Review of New Television Shows: Part Two Life On Mars
ABC just aired the last episode of Life On Mars on Wednesday. Before the show ever aired there was talk of turmoil and almost the entire cast was scrapped before the first episode was aired. It was based on an English show which received much critical acclaim. American adaptations of successful foreign shows are a mixed bag. Most of them are watered down versions of the original, but there are a few exceptions. The Office is one of the notable examples of shows successfully adapted for American television. The first few seasons of the Office were a bit awkward though. It was almost like they tried to clone the British Office. It was too similar and it did not really have a voice of its own. Of course that has since changed.
Life On Mars seemed initially to not know what it wanted to be or that could have just been my initial impression since I was not able to figure it out right away. Eventually though I began to enjoy it. It was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it had more going for it than most network television shows. It had the best cast of any new show on television. I really cannot recall a new network television show having more accomplished and recognizable stars. The exception was the star Jason O’Mara who played Sam Tyler. He does a good job as the likeable and confused cop who travels back in time from 2008 to 1973. He was a relative unknown before this show, but was able to hold his own with the star-studded cast. Harvey Keitel played the part of Lieutenant Gene Hunt. Michael Imperioli, formerly Christopher Moltisanti of the Sopranos and Spider from Goodfellas, played Detective Ray Carling.
Keitel and Imperioli were good as they always are, but the biggest surprise was Gretchen Mol who played Annie “No Nuts” Norris. Mol played the wet blanket girlfriend of Mike McD in the movie Rounders. For years people have wondered why Mike was so upset about losing Mol’s character when he could have had Famke Janssen’s character. It is strange to look at Mol’s Imdb profile and see that she has a fairly extensive resume and I was I was surprised to find how many movies she was in that I have seen. She may not have been too memorable in some of her other roles, but I will remember her after this show though. She played Annie as an incredibly sweet, but at the same time she had a quiet toughness to go along with ambition and confidence. Sam’s neighbor Windy played by newcomer Tanya Fischer was a pleasant surprise as well. She only appeared in four episodes and her Imdb page does not even have a photo yet, but I hope to see more of her in the future.
Life on Mars was part science fiction and part light-hearted 70’s cop show. At times it was a little gritty, but often it held back. It did a decent job of pointing out how much technology has helped to modernize the police force in the last thirty five years. It is pretty remarkable when you think about it. Even though I enjoyed the show I cannot help but think it would have been much better off on HBO or Showtime. ABC did a terrible job promoting the show and when it was not successful in the ratings they canceled it after only one season. HBO is not under the pressure that the networks are to get instant ratings. The only example I can think of where HBO canceled a promising series after one year was John From Cincinnati, which I enjoyed but was one of the stranger shows I have ever seen. Life On Mars was pretty out there, but compared to John From Cincinnati, Life on Mars was conventional. If it was on HBO it likely would have been given some leeway to find itself and the inherent advantages of being on a channel like HBO provides as far as being able to show more mature subject matter would have likely resulted in Life on Mars being a truly great show.
With the limited run, the lackluster promotion by ABC and the pg-13 reality of being on ABC resulted in it being a solid show instead of a spectacular one. All things considered though I would recommend renting it when it comes out on DVD. Unfortunately there is no hope of it being renewed for a second season. It has already been canceled and the finale revealed the secret of how and why Sam was in 1973. The reveal felt a little rushed in the end, but it was obviously not the intention of the show’s creators to spill the secret at the end of the first season. I’m sure some people will complain about the surprise ending, but unlike some shows that had surprise endings out of left field the entire season prepared you for the fact that some sort of surprise was coming eventually. It is not as though it played as a straight-forward cop show and then blindside the viewers with some crazy ending. Ultimately it was a satisfying ending which wrapped up all of the storylines and makes sense when you look back at the entire season.
I have heard good things about the British version so I will likely rent it on DVD. I am sure it has the same basic secret though so it will not be quite as enjoyable trying to decipher what is going on, but since ABC has ruined any chance of seeing more adventures of Sam Tyler and the 125, I will instead try to watch the British version which was intentionally limited to sixteen episodes. Maybe the American Life On Mars would have been better as a sixteen episode one season run on HBO, but unfortunately we will never know for sure.
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