Feature by Kate Blake- Admin Multipleverses
News this week that ABC is canceling the US adaptation of Life on Mars has angered many fans of the ABC series. The blog TV Series Finale has over 3100 signatures already asking that the show be continued. If you would like to show your support- click HERE and sign the petition! Want to let ABC know how you feel about the news that your fave show has been cancelled? Send them an e-mail detailing how much you like the series, that you have watched every week and would like to see more episodes. Be polite, articulate and concise. You can send your messages through the ABC website using their contacts page- every message is forwarded to the correct people and they will be read. This is easy and allows you make your opinions heard by the right people. CLICK HERE to contact ABC.
Personally- Life on Mars is the only show I currently watch on ABC. I will check out Nathan Fillion’s Castle- but the rest of their programming? Well Dancing with the stars is not what this fan of Chuck and Heroes watches and sorry- but American Idol wins out of a bunch of has beens and wanna be celebrities doing ballroom dancing any night of the week.
The US version of Life on Mars is smart, has humor and some outstanding supporting performances from veteran actors Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli. My favorite person on the show by far though is Jason O’Mara. He has brought Sam Tyler convincingly to life in the 1970s and I have enjoyed how he has shown Sam go through all of the phases of disbelief, denial, just plain rejecting his circumstances to now being at a point where he is starting to accept that this is his life in 1973 and that he needs to embrace the strangeness of his circumstances and live in the right now. I loved the recent episode where Sam stopped a man who had been abusing women and killing them more than 30 years before he was stopped in Sam’s time. He saved countless lives by his being there and not giving up on his absolute belief that the slick art dealer was an A-class scumbag killer.
Every week we get nuggets of strange and interesting factoids and points of view that are unique to Life on Mars’ Lieutenant Gene Hunt played brilliantly by Harvey Keitel. Keitel is known for his film work- having appeared in films such as The Piano , Thelma and Louise and countless others. He has made a career out playing character spots and he was exactly what was needed to bring some weight to the role of Gene Hunt. Hunt was played in the UK version by Phil Glennister and it was his portrayal that people in the UK loved so much that led to the show being revived as Ashes to Ashes which followed Gene into the 1980s. This week on the US show we got a nod to Phil as the cop bar- which made an appearance earlier in the season- was named Glennisters. Harvey Keitel’s Hunt is not a mirror to Glennister’s- it is his own interpretation of the role. I loved the episodes with Gene and his daughter and how they had to work on understanding each other and forgiving each other. Gene is a hard ass - but he cares. He cares for the people around him and he loves his city and does everything he can to make sure they are safe even when it means crossing the line.
I tune in every week to see what Michael Imperioli will do next and what he will say as Ray Carling. I have to give Michael big props for growing out the most impressive moustache on TV. He was at the New York Comic Con in January and you can see it is real. I loved Michael as Christopher on The Sopranos- but on Life on Mars I think in some ways his character is more complex than Christopher ever was. We saw some really interesting insight a few weeks back when we met his wife on screen. He complains about her- but we saw she is beautiful, talented and sweet beyond belief. I think the complaining masks a man who knows he married a woman who is way out of his league and is terrified of losing her to anyone and anything else. He is afraid of change and takes things out on “No Nuts” Annie all of the time. It isn’t that he has anything in for Annie but sees her as a symbol - he sees women on the job as a threat to his place in life as a man. This chauvanistic attitude is perfect for the time and place and his blue collar cop in the 1970s. I can see Ray today as an old gray haired guy, alone- his wife having left him long ago and his never finding anyone who can live up to her. He is at a bar with a bunch of his cronies, reminiscing about the good old days and giving Hillary Clinton the finger when she shows up on the news from Capitol Hill.
Gretchen Mol plays Annie Norris- the psychology graduate who is working as a glorified errand girl as part of the women’s brigade, assigned to the precinct and seen as a nuisance by the squad. She and Sam are drawn together because he values her intelligence and he is from a time when men and women work side by side. He is completely confused as to why she takes the abuse the men dump on her and is always including her in his investigations as a full team member. This doesn’t alwasy sit well with the rest of the team but they are coming around. Even the Lieut Hunt sees Annie’s value when they need a woman to do things a man just can’t. Where is Annie in 30 years? Well I think that when the FBI starts VICAP in the 1980s Annie- by then a detective herself in the NYPD applies and becomes a profiler and eventually moves into a position as a director with the FBI. She writes a book about her career when she retires- it becomes a huge best seller and a TV series is based upon her experiences. She never forgets Sam Tyler and meets him one day and thanks him. He of course has no idea who she is personally but knows her professionally.
If you have missed any episodes of LIFE on MARS you can watch them at ABC.com - they are available in streaming HD. Watch the last episodes of Life on Mars on Wednesday nights after LOST. Here is the Life on Mars Starter Kit to get you into the show:
Here is the trailer for this week’s episode:
