Life on Mars - Page 2

another fun episode. Whoopi was not obnoxious which was nice. Loved the ice ice baby bit too.

I've come to quite enjoy the US version on it's own terms. I always knew that the USA has more than it's own share of history and stories to tell from that era that they could make it their own thing, so that was never a problem. It's just the watering down of some aspects that annoys me - although they have done a good job of ramping up other aspects to compensate, and it usually works.

4th episode was a bit of a letdown for me with the nightclub owner (but the original was my fave LoM of the bunch, so it was never going to compare), but this week's was really good, enjoyed it a great deal. Also, was great to see Cutty from The Wire pop up again - at this stage I could watch the show just for all the Wire cast members popping up.

And the 'Ice Ice Baby' gag was pretty damn funny. Especially saying he had soul afterwards. Guess it was a more acceptable era for white boy to play that funky music than 1990 was.

Really starting to enjoy this show. Loving the characters and the party at the precinct was hilarious in its own right. Keitel makes anything great, but his character is really fun.

I had DVR'd all the episodes and literally caught up with all of them over the weekend. Never saw the UK version even though my Mom kept bugging me to watch it saying I'd like it, but I do like the US version on it's own merits. It seems like they're putting all of their eggs in the coma basket so far but it's a good show.

last night was great, best yet, and the best adaptation yet of an ep from the english version ... Really liked the last 20 minutes, and the changes they made with the dad in the very last moments /seconds he was on-screen ...

... And Im very eager to see the conclusion of this eps cliffhanger

I hope they make gretchen believe him now ... Im a bit tired of EVERYONE giving him the crazy face, and he needs a confidant that actually believes him.

Also, it would be cool if they could somehow manage to work in some reverse time-travel stuff, like they did in the spinoff, ashes to ashes, where in the pilot the lead comes into contact with someone she eventually meets when she goes back in time or whatnot... Kinda like they did with his mentor the cop, clams... And he should come back more, too, I liked him.

edit:
He's actually my biggest disappointment so far... the original english version was like ten-times better, and you can already see the way they're just kinda fading him into the background as just another, albeit the superior, cop ... In the english one, he was basically sam tylers best friend and partner, he was in almost every scene, and was constantly more abrasive and funny ... The only episodes Ive liked him in was the hospital one and the rooftop child-murder episode, in both he had several good, gene-hunt-esque moments (like the flasks).

And I havent read every post so excuse me if this was alreayd covered, but did any get a serious warriors-vibe from whoopi in rooftop murder episode? Im sure it was intentional, but I was half-expecting that same black chick from the movie (and, of course, where in the world is carmen sandiego) to show up when whoopi was introduced....

We have to wait til January on this one now right? That was an excellent episode, and knowing they'd have to deal with his Dad leaving I didn't expect it to happen so soon in the show. The circumstances and the look on his face when his Dad left him in the woods did a great job of actually eliciting emotion which isn't that easy to do in this type of show.

I do think that Annie is on his side now. I think that was the point of her being at his side in the hospital talking about his red dress vision and how he saved her life. What I don't clearly remember though was when his memory of his Dad beating the cop in the woods came back to him, had he beat her to death? I think he said "trying to beat a cop to death" but I don't fully remember. When his 4 year old self tugged his sleeve asking if he'd seen his Dad, I'm assuming he took that moment to change whether or not he saw his Dad beating Annie?

Ugh. If he did change that moment the time issues are already starting. If he as a 4 year old saw Annie being beat to death without older Sam stopping it, it means it's because older Sam wasn't there. But if older Sam wasn't there, there would have been no reason for Annie to be in the woods in her red dress since she only went as a favor to older Sam.

I honestly havent seen the English version, but holy crap was this last episode good.

I was seriously creeped out by the ending and can't believe we must wait until January for it to continue.

This stupid show is filming right in front of my bedroom window. The generator is loud as fuck and they are blocking off street access. I hope you guys enjoy my hood.

Um did I miss an episode? I thought last night's was the first new since Nov. I was expecting them to pick up where they left off, with Sam on the phone to some stranger and heading out to some cabin. Last night's show was just another regular episode mentioning nothing of the cliffhanger we were left with. What The Fuck?

Wait, really? I watched Lost and was looking forward to catching up with this tonight when I get home.

The break really hurt this show for me, as it does with most shows. The new one, first new on since the break (I assume they'll catch up with the cabin in a future issue), barely kept my interest. I knew I could watch it later, without commercials, so that might have had an impact but the show certainly lost momentum by not captalizzing on the cliffhanger after their abscence.

Weird not to pick up in the Cabin. I have a feeling the messed with the airing order and put the last one up before the break to hold interest.

Well, finally caught up with this one. My guess is they didn't start in with the cabin to try to keep from alienating any new viewers. Try to pick an episode where all you need to know is he went back in time and otherwise you can start clean. It wasn't a great episode at all though. Also, the 2nd shot of the entire episode showed the Statue of Liberty with her gold torch. Aren't they in 1973?

not a good episode at all... hopefully they get back to the cabin this week.

Not picking up in the cabin was weak, but other than that I liked this one. More on the humerous side which is fine. The last scene in the bar was well played. Hope we get to see more of Johnny Sack.

These were without a doubt aired out of order. Still watching the new one, but when Sam and Annie were talking she mentioned it had only been a couple of days since he saved her life.

Okay, after watching the whole episode this was a really good one. Then they showed the previews for next week, and it's obviously the episode that was supposed to follow last week's episode, and I literally had no desire to watch it. I feel like I'm watching two completely different shows right now, and the one last week and apparently next week is one I have no interest in.

They were aired out of production order. The first one back from break jumped 3 episodes ahead.

ep # prod order air date
6. 1- 6 1ANY06 13 Nov 08 Tuesday's Dead
7. 1- 7 1ANY07 20 Nov 08 The Man Who Sold the World
8. 1- 8 1ANY11 28 Jan 09 Take a Look at the Lawmen

this was a great episode. Can't wait to find out who the voice transmorgriphyer is...

You'd think networks would have figured out by now how dumb it is to mess with the airing order. They've made the show an excercise in deciphering when events actually occurred, for no apparent reason.

Going by the order quoted above, apparently it's going to air as 6, 7, 11, 8, 12... since next week's has the boss' daughter from ep 11 again... and I guess Sam's relationship with Annie will go nowhere whenever eps 9 & 10 air, since 11 showed her only mildly peturbed by the boss' daughter showing interest in Sam.

Annoying. The show's pretty good, but I wonder if it's good enough to survive unintentional network sabotage.

I'm completely stunned that a network would overlook something like the airing order on a show that has an ongoing arc. It's not this is World's Scariest, for fucks sake.

another fun episode and I really like the Sebastian rock star guy (what else has he been in??)

I'm assuming Spaceman is going to be in a heap of trouble next episode.

Pretty good episode.. liked the idea of another person getting warped too.

But the Ray Carling and Ms. Norris interaction was probably the best part of the show.

Liked how Ray was an even bigger prick to Annie after she saved his life.

This last episode was actually really solid. And they wrapped up the storyline with the Lieutenant's daughter quickly which I was very thankful for.

Random interlude - if you watch the UK version, you'll see my girlfriend's hand for about 3 seconds. Ohhh yeah, I'm hanging with the stars!!!! She's registered with an extras agency, and came home one day saying "It's a cop show with a modern-day guy in the 70s" and I immediately thought "utter shite" - how wrong I was!!!! The first series of the Uk version was brilliant as far as I'm concerned - a great show from a very thin premise!!! Well worth watching.

Well, it's canceled.

At least they'll be able to finish it.

Expected, but still a bummer. Show was hooking me more and more each week. Glad they'll be able to get some kind of resolution.

Yeah, they were mining some more interesting territory the last couple of weeks but I held no illusions this would keep going. Having an actual ending will be good though.

this totally sucks.. really enjoyed this show.

Too bad, but it last about as long as the original and it's getting an ending, so it's that bad. I will miss Imperioli's mustache.

Dammit, I was actually getting into this show. It's been said, but at least they're letting the story end, unlike so many other shows that died before their time.

My nomination for former 80's guest star on a Drama Emmy nomination:

Mark Lynn Baker as a panty-sniffer.


good episode and kinda kinky too.

And there was a Gina Gershon sighting! I'm not sure where that cover thing came from. They're throwing an awful lot of red herrings at us the last couple of weeks.

Only 2 more episodes. Great ending to this one. As soon as Sam told Sammy that sometimes people leave and it's not your fault I knew they were leading up to somebody probably getting killed. When they suddenly started putting in clips of the other 2 officers and you realized it was probably one of them, more credit to the show that there was still a fair amount of tension. I certainly didn't expect both of them to get gunned down, but it appears they're upping the ante in the home stretch.

this is great. I'm hating there is only 2 eps left. Looks like I'm going to be watching Ashes to Ashes on BBCAmerica to continue the story.

So has anyone got any idea about the actual running order to these episodes? Some are quite obvious to patch up because of ongoing stories (like Gene's daughter, etc) and the mid-season cliffhanger, obviously. But there's a space for 2 episodes in there and it would be interesting to know which standalone eps they are meant to be.

This show has really become it's own thing and I've enjoyed it - knew it was never going to last, though. Sure does make me want to revisit the original. A friend of mine borrowed the UK one off me after me hounding her for the past couple of years and she ploughed through it in a week. Loved it.

Well, they might be forced to cram the answer down our throats but I've really loved what they've been doing. I'm not sure if this last episode could ever fully make sense or not but at least it was interesting. Explaining away all of the people Sam sees talking to him should be interesting.

Well, I suppose that'll have to do.

Genetic DNA? As opposed to the NON-GENETIC KIND?!

WHAT. THE. FUCK?!

I knew they wouldn't do the suicide ending, but HOLY FUCKING SHIT was that the stupidest thing they could have POSSIBLY come up with to end it. Fuck you, American Life on Mars. Thank Christ you're over.

That was bullshit, hell I would have taken a coma ending without the suicide.

I kind of liked it actually. Though I think the knowledge of the ending will totally kill any rewatchability of the series. A little too tidy maybe, but I'm glad we got the answer instead of just leaving us hanging. Anyone who watched the UK version want to spoil the ending of the original by comparing them?

ahahaha i just read the ending of the show. Holy shit, that's terrible. The suicide ending from the original was so completely better.

So, question to those who've seen both series: Was last weeks show similar to the brit finale but with Sam going through with it?

For anyone who hasn't seen it (neither have I), from Wikipedia:


"Windy did it!"

That previous post has got to be horseshit. What the fuck, man?

No shit, man. Wow. I don't think I can even bring myself to watch that.

The ending to the original was so perfect in it's simplicity, too . . . so, so perfect. <sigh>

I'm not kidding. I wish all the people that can't stop complaining about Battlestar Galactica were following Life on Mars instead. Heads would have exploded. Or imploded probably.

The ending of the original was indeed wonderful.

I've never seen the original, but I was aware of how it ended, so I kept waiting to see this conform to that, and it looked like it was going to when he kept hearing the beeping sound (which I assumed was going to be a heart monitor or some other piece of medical equipment). Then we get the opening scene of Alien and what the hell?

Weak sauce