As a television whore, one of my biggest failings is not jumping on new shows.Too many times I've read about a new show, decided I wasn't interested, then didn't watch it...
...only to find out later that it's a totally awesome show and I've been missing out for months.
Or, in the case of Life a full year.
A police officer is wrongly convicted of a triple-murder, sentenced to life in prison, then serves twelve years before being exonerated. At which point he wins a 50 million dollar settlement and gets to rejoin the police force as a detective. Such a show didn't appeal to me... at first.
It wasn't until I heard that Donal Logue was joining the cast in this second season that I suddenly became interested in Life. It was only then that I downloaded a free episode from iTunes, watched some free episodes from NBC.com, and realized that I had made a huge mistake. This is one of those totally awesome shows I've been missing! So now I've bought the first season DVD and am grabbing new episodes with TiVo. Better late than never, I guess...
I will not be making the same mistake by passing on ABC's new show Life on Mars.
It's an Americanized take on a British television series I love about a cop who gets hit by a car in 2006 and wakes up in 1973. You don't really know if he's insane or actually time-travelling, but it's a fascinating ride. Hopefully the US version will be worth watching (it's got Harvey Keitel and Gretchen Mol in it!)...
Part of the appeal of the original BBC show is the pains they took to get the 1970's setting done right. From the look of things, the people running ABC's Life on Mars get that.
Life on Mars premieres this Thursday, at 10:00pm (9:00pm Central).
In other news...
I wish I was back in Maui eating French Toast with bananas and macadamia nuts...
Crap. Now I'm hungry.
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wow, Dave is pro-life.
British Life on mars is totally awsome. Hope the American version will match that!
That French toast looks like you won´t need to eat for 2 days when finished 🙂
I don’t even have an appetite right now, and yet I WANT that French Toast. Yum.
In case you don’t want to buy them, all season 1 episodes and the 1st 3 Season 2 episodes can be found on Hulu:
http://www.hulu.com/life
Life is a great show. Damien Lewis is brilliant and quirky.
I just dvr’d about 6 or 7 eps of the british Life on Mars and am looking forward to the new version. I hope they do a good job. Jason O’Mara has a habit of back-show killing so I am hoping for the best.
I have also just discovered Life!!! It’s a hoot. Life on Mars looks interesting to me too, but it reminded me strongly of the premise of last year’s Journey Man (now canceled). I actually liked most of Journey Man (we had our issues with it though).
When they announced the American version of “Life on Mars”, I pictured Damian Lewis as Sam Tyler.
Now that they’re showing the promos for LoM, I’m a little scared. It looks a little strange to me…
Hey TV whore! {takes one to know one.} I’m not a big Life fan, I watched a couple of the first shows last year and it never clicked… maybe I’ll give it another go. I’ll definitely check out Life on Mars… that looks great! Oh, and that french toast, yummy!
I watched most of Season 1 of “Life” and I enjoyed it. Just not enough to keep up with it, though.
mmmmmmmmm, breakfast!
“Life” on of our top family watching shows. We TiVo them and sit wan watch them together when everyone is home. The new character added this season is an interesting love interest.
Apart from the fact that I don’t watch television as a general rule, ever since “The Piano” I can’t see anything with Harvey Keitel in it and not retch.
PS: I’m on week 4 as a vegan, and if that french toast were anywhere within chomping distance I would totally break the rules.
I will not stand for your gross display of food porn.
How dare you, sir.
I’m really looking forward to Life on Mars on Thursday. Looks like a cross between Lost, NYPD Blue, and Grey’s. Saw the preview and it looks pretty good. Harvey Keitel and Jason O’Mara are awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEWpWM7Iyhc&feature=related
So you have an allergy to peanuts, but macadamia nuts are ok? My wife is just the opposite… she can eat peanuts, but not macadamias.
Oh I love Life. It’s one of my fave shows on TV at the moment. I’ve been a big Damian Lewis fan ever since I watched Band Of Brothers.
Macadamia and peanuts not the same problem?
Mmmmm….That food looks yummy….Um, did you say,”tv show … blah, blah.. Life.. something, something?”
I’ll have to go back and read it again. I got stuck on the food. ^o^
I’m with every aspect of Kevin Spencer’s comment… Life is one of Katie’s and my favorite shows since it started. I, too, have been a Damian Lewis fan since Band of Brothers. That was fantastic too.
I want those toasties…but without the bananas ;).
Um so thanks…you know I am an impressionable whore myself! I actually saw a bit of Life the other night and wondered if it was good. Damn you for convincing me to download and watch!
I seriously doubt that David Kelley will be able to duplicate the awesomeness of the UK version of Life on Mars, but I’m going to try it anyway.
Have you given the new season of Chuck another shot yet?
Crap. Now I’m hungry, too.
And I’m with you on missing out on shows. Dead Like Me and Lost are two I never watched in the beginning, but am now picking up on DVD. Oh, well.
I caught an episode of the original on BBC America and thought it was odd until I realized the premise of the show. Wasn’t too bad, have to check out the US version.
I’m not much into TV, but would almost kill for that French toast.
I love life, but this season isn’t hitting me like last season. So if you’re liking season 2, I think you’ll love season one.
I tried the first episode of the BBC Life on Mars but I didn’t get into it, I’ll have to try the US version…
I watched every episode of Life last year and didn’t hear much blog-buzz about it, so I thought I was alone in my like for the show. Glad to see you’re on board!
So, what did you think of Life on Mars? I now want to see the BBC version which i heard is so much better!!!
OMG!
What an Incredible photo! That looks amazing. My mouth just started to water looking at it! Really!
~ZZ
been watching ‘life’ since the beginning. i like it. caught the first episode of fringe thanks to hulu and i’m liking that one too. my record for liking shows that are dumped mid-season for no good reason is scary though. you may not want to get too attached to them.