Weeksy’s Review : Life on Mars (U.S)

“Life On Mars”
Written by David E. Kelley
Directed by Thomas Schlamme

There are two things I really love about the David E. Kelley penned US remake of “Life On Mars”:

1). That when I first heard the premise of the show remake, about a modern day detective who gets involved in a car accident, and wakes up in 1972 – it encouraged me to seek out the original UK version, starring John Simm & Phillip Glenister. That show is now firmly one of the best TV series I’ve ever watched, without a doubt.

2). That the pilot I watched will never see an airing on network TV.

It’s not that “Life On Mars” is horrible, it’s just horribly unnecessary as it exists right now – the casting, which initially impressed me on paper, never gels, and the episode itself is near shot for shot, a complete copy of the original.

Jason O’Mara plays Sam Tyler, a Detective who, while on the trail of a serial killer, finds himself waking up in Los Angeles, circa 1972 after being hit by a car. The strains of David Bowie’s “Life On Mars” playing on Sam’s iPod is replaced by the tinny noise of an 8-Track, there are Pan-Am billboards, and the local movie theatre is showing “The Godfather” – yup, it appears Sam has traveled back in time, and what’s more – he’s still a cop. When he gets into the local station, he meets Detective Gene Hunt (Colm Meaney), a true product of 70’s macho – he drinks on the job, isn’t afraid to sucker punch a suspect, and has no problem with letting the ladies know exactly what he thinks of their looks (or perceived place in life).

Their first case together involves a series of abductions that typically end in murder 2-3 days later, and the information that begins to come in indicates that their suspect bears a striking resemblance to the killer Sam was hunting down in the future………

So that’s the story in general – anyone who has seen the original will know everything that’s coming – and ultimately, I believe that it’s the main issue I have with this version of “Life On Mars” – again, that word unnecessary is the first thing that comes to mind. In this format, “Life” was doomed to repeat the mistakes of the US version of “The Office” and the fairly low quality of its first season. When remaking shows, particularly those that probably have limited previous exposure to the target audience, I think it’s fine to take the general premise of the earlier version, but for God’s sake, add your own take to it! Change the scenario, the characters – change something! To be completely honest, I’m astonished that Kelley claimed a writing credit for this.

OK, next thing is the casting – I’d never heard of Jason O’Mara – didn’t see “Marlowe”, didn’t watch the last “Resident Evil” film or “The Agency” – thinking back, I have a vague recollection of him from “Band Of Brothers”, but that’s about it. Anyway, to make it simple, O’Mara is far and away the best thing about the pilot – absolutely suited to the role of Tyler, he is someone I can see really doing something with the part.

The one guy that I was really looking forward to in the show was Colm Meaney – and again, my disappointment is likely due to the fact that I’ve been spoiled by Phil Glenister who is phenomenal as Hunt in the UK series – but I was positive that if anyone could even come close, it would be Meaney – who unfortunately, falls flat on screen, and perhaps in a reflection of not being able to do & say some of the things that the UK version allows, leaves this part feeling like a very watered down Gene-Genie.

To top it all off, the UK version had the same introduction throughout its run – “My name is Sam Tyler. I had an accident, and I woke up in 1973. Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time? Whatever’s happened, it’s like I’ve landed on a different planet. Now, maybe if I can work out the reason, I can get home.” In a very clever mix of writing & performances, you were never sure what had actually happened to Sam – at some moments, you could hear faint hospital sounds in the background, at other times, Sam would come across people he knew from his past who would absolutely have him convinced that he had actually traveled back in time. The beauty of it was, that even in the show finale, you were shown a number of possibilities before the big reveal. In this version, they basically flash a huge neon sign saying “What’s actually happening here is this:” – it’s that blatant.

So there it is – a decidedly weak pilot that (quite deservedly) wasn’t brought to series last year when it was originally due.

The good news however, is that the show has undergone several key changes – firstly, David E. Kelly has gone, the rumour being that a deal was struck to keep “Boston Legal” on air for one more season if Kelley focused solely on that. Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec & Scott Rosenberg, the main forces behind ABC’s “October Road” have been brought on board to run the show, and the setting has been changed from L.A. to New York (presumably so that less VFX work will be necessary), with what essentially boils down to a scrapping of the original pilot for something brand new.

Sadly, Colm Meaney & Rachelle Lefevre (Det. Annie Cartwright) are no longer part of the show – no word on who is replacing them, but with an air date of late September, I would presume it’s only a matter of days at this point before additional casting is announced.

“Life On Mars” has every chance in the world at this point to becoming a great show – a void filler for those people who still ask “Is ‘Journeyman’ coming back?” or miss the old school cop shows like “The Sweeney” – but it needs to strike out on its own path much earlier than a show like “The Office” did, or it won’t last with an international audience.
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Like Stone Cold Steve Austin, I too get down with The Sickness.