One minute it's 2008 or 6 or maybe 2011, next thing you know its 1973 or 1972. Well, it gets a bit confusing - there were two shows, one on the BBC and one in the US on ABC. This review will cover the US series, although it is worth noting that there was a pilot version to the show that got scrapped (w/ the action taking place in L.A. instead of New York and with a largely different cast). We intend to do a review on the original (it took place first) BBC version later.
The first thing that struck us about Life on Mars was the attention to detail in trying to recreate a gritty big city atmosphere of the early 1970's. Some of us here are just old enough to sort of remember that and of course a period piece you can remember is quite different than a costume drama. We also were impressed with the cast and the premise of the show - we know it was borrowed but they still made it seem original (perhaps the 2nd try helped).
Life on Mars is named after the David Bowie song...
Life on Mars follows the rather bizarre circumstances of one Sam Tyler, a detective who while in the midst of trying to solve a case and save his girlfriend is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. Somehow, Sam seems to have a purpose in 1973 - working in the same precinct as before as a new transfer - yet he spends the rest of the series trying to determine how and why he was transported back 35 years.
We liked the show and here's why:
- The lead actors were excellent: Jason O'Mara, Harvey Keitel, Gretchen Mol and that guy from the Sopranos really hit it off. It was fun watching them and observing their characters grow - unfortunately it only lasted for one season.
- We loved the music: Life on Mars scored much of their work to the best music from the early 1970's and you could tell they had fun doing it.
- We loved the writing: not everyone can write well and as many of you probably can tell some folks on today's top sitcoms can't write at all. It's always a pleasure to see clever and meaningful dialog on a consistent basis. And given the subject matter they had opportunities to dive into some interesting philosophical territory.
This is the real David Bowie from about 1973 - we still don't get the whole Ziggy Stardust thing - but the song was good enough to somehow inspire this show.
We were especially impressed with Gretchen Mol and Jason O'Mara, both of whom have incredible star potential but haven't quite made it to that point yet (not sure why). Jason will be starring in this Fall's most interesting new series "Terra Nova" which is being produced by Steven Spielberg and Star Trek's Brannon Braga (who will act as Showrunner). It's a real shame that these two didn't have more time to develop the emerging plot line that connected their characters in Life on Mars - given the show's premature cancellation a somewhat abrupt ending was put together to wrap up loose ends. Even still, the series as a whole is exiting, fresh and entertaining throughout.
We highly recommend it.
Copyright 2011,
Raving Reviews™
