TV is the New Reading

Both versions of ‘Life

on Mars’ are excellent

Maybe I shouldn’t have watched “Life on Mars” – the British version, that is – before watching the “Life on Mars” that premiered last week on ABC.

There was no good reason not to, of course. The emotional subtlety of John Simm’s Sam Tyler and the depth of his confusion in the face of his overblown blustery supervisor – Capt. Gene Hunt, played brilliantly in the British version by Philip Glenister – was incredible.

I’m getting ahead of myself, however. “Life on Mars” – both the British and the American versions – trace the life of a present-day police detective, Sam Tyler, tracking a serial killer who has targeted his girlfriend. In both shows, a hit-and-run driver smacks into him, and Tyler wakes up in 1973, tricked out in 1973 threads with 1973 police credentials in his wallet.

In both versions, he makes his way back to his precinct and finds that he’s second-in-command to a hard-scrabble, hard-drinking, tough-as-nails poster-boy for all of the court-ordered procedural red tape instituted between then and now.
In the American version, for example, Jason O’Mara’s Sam Tyler is a New York detective who is horrified by Capt. Gene Hunt, played by Harvey Keitel, and his potential violation of search-and-seizure regulations.

Tyler: Do you have a warrant?
Hunt: (kicking in the door) There’s my warrant.

In both versions, Tyler earns Hunt’s grudging respect by tracking down an eerily similar serial killer to the one he was pursuing in the present day, but after he solves the case, Tyler wonders what he’s still doing in 1973. He gets flashes of insight that he might actually be lying comatose in a hospital in 2008. He occasionally considers that he has gone crazy, and occasionally the detail and “reality” of his situation makes him think he may in fact have traveled in time.

Whatever the situation, he’s got some help. Annie Norris, played by Gretchen Mol, is a member of New York’s Policewomen’s Bureau. She helps him get settled in his crappy 1973 apartment and he discovers she has an intuitive police instinct. However, women are not valued for their police instincts in 1973 and his attempt to include her in the investigation falls foul of his male colleagues – and Annie as well.

He does open up to her about his futuristic notions, that he believes he comes from the future. She’s intrigued, but not convinced. However, it opens a shared secret between them as he tries to come to grips with his bizarre situation.

Despite subtle changes between the British and American versions that opened up different expectations and unfortunate comparisons (that will, I suspect, ultimately fall away), David E. Kelley’s remake of “Life on Mars” for American audiences is a beautifully conceived show with excellent art direction and a flair for life as it was lived. It’s packed with action, classic cars and chase scenes. The soundtrack is wonderful and infuses the setting with contemporary history and flavor, as do the costuming and the art direction. For example, one of the most heart-warming and incredible scenes was when Tyler looked up at night and saw the Twin Towers. I mean really. Wow. That was just mystical.

And even if you’ve seen the British version, the U.S. version – while different – is great storytelling as well. “Life on Mars” is well worth your time as sci-fi, as speculative fiction, as a window on the past, as social commentary and as entertaining television. It airs at 9 p.m. Thursdays on ABC.

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