Lives on Mars

Two episodes of the American version of Life on Mars have now aired. I didn't have much to say about the first episode, largely because it was pretty faithful to the first episode of the British series. I did really like the shot that established that Sam was in the past: the camera pulls back to reveal the World Trade Center in the background. That's the advantage of having the show take place in NYC; the British show had a similar shot, but it didn't have that iconic building with all that emotional baggage to play with. The cast is pretty solid, though I'm not quite sold yet on Gretchen Mol as Annie, not that she's bad in the role, I just liked the British Annie so much more.

Tonight's episode was the American show's first opportunity to exert its own individual identity. The episode didn't blow me away, but it was good enough to keep me watching. It looked like they're picking up at least one plot point from the original, the flash of the woman in the red dress running through the woods. It'll be interesting to see if they go the same place with it. The hippy next door neighbor is a new addition, and maybe she'll end up being a great character, but right now I'm thinking she might get real tiresome really quickly. Another change, that I find more interesting, is that this Sam seems to have a stronger connection to the present than his British counterpart. We get a flashback (or flash forward, geez this is going to get confusing) this week where we get a little glimpse of Sam's relationship with Maya in 2008. Maya existed in the British version, but she wasn't much of a presence beyond the pilot (I think she might have been completely forgotten by the time they got to the final episode). My only major complaint so far is that the dialogue can be a bit clunky in places, mostly with the Gene Hunt character. I don't think the writers have quite got a handle on him yet.

Overall, I'd say the show is interesting, but with its share of flaws. This actually leaves me optimistic about the show because it invites a comparison to another British import, The Office. The first season of the American Office, while good, was still a little shaky while it found its voice. The show's gone on to be one of the best sitcoms on TV right now. So, I'm willing to be patient with Life on Mars in the hopes that it finds its way to excellence as well.

Life On Mars

I've discovered that BBC America is running a marathon of Life On Mars today, no doubt in the run-up to the premiere of the American version of the show on ABC later this week. What's interesting, is the BBC America is running it with occasional subtitles. Let's think about that for a minute. A show, shot in English with English subtitles. I understand that there are some parts of the UK where the accent is thick enough that it might be difficult for an American audience to understand, but there aren't any real problem accents on this show. Even more ridiculous, I think I notice one of the subtitles that didn't exactly match what was said.

As to the American version, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it. It's a show with a strange basic concept (a cop in the present gets hit by a car and falls into a coma, and wakes up in 1973), so I wonder if it'll be able to find an audience on American TV. Especially with such an obscure title (it's from a Bowie song). The other question is how long an American show allow the ambiguity of the situation (is he crazy, in a coma, or is it really happening). The BBC show had the advantage of only shooting, I think, 16 episodes. The American version is going to have to outpace that in one season, so it'll be interesting to see how they stretch out the story.