Life on Mars USA

I was fortunate enough to check out some preview material on Life on Mars thanks to Miguel at Reprise Media and I am getting excited about it.

The setting is now New York, which should provide some grit that was missing in the previous pilot episode.  Harvey Keitel looks as if he has nailed the Gene Hunt character (some surprise, huh?), and Michael Imperioli is going to do justice to Ray (what a great look he has).

Overall, the vibe of the show seems much more in tune with the fantastic BBC program and that can’t be a bad thing.  There were some funny bits, some drama, nice attention to 70s details, cool music and wide ties.  I will still be interested to see how they stretch out the concept over a full US TV season, but seeing the preview material I am a little more confident that it can be done.

Life on Mars starts Thursday, October 9 at 10/9c on ABC.

Here are some vids released by Reprise Media to youtube:

I love TV

Caught up on some episodes tonight and here’s what I think.

Sons of Anarchy continues to impress.  We got another solid episode with tidbits building into a bigger, season long story arc.  I am really pleased with this show and have recommended it to anyone who will listen.  SPOILERS: The blond girl Jax picks up…anyone else think she is a plant?  To me, it feels like she is either a plant by the feds, or she will turn to the feds.  She may simply be a window into the way biker gangs view women, and this episode fit with every documentary I have ever seen regarding the subject.

The Mentalist, much to my surprise, was quite entertaining.  I dubbed it “the serious Psych” before it aired, but I was quite surprised by the amount of humor.  The promos did not do it justice.  It’s definitely worth a watch…heck, I’ll even give it a commitment for three more episodes.  You’d better keep it up, Mentalist.

More SPOILERS.  Has SVU jumped the hark?  I can’t really tell, yet.  I have gone back and forth on this issue but have been unable to decide.  The melodrama can overwhelm at times, other times it simply whelms.  Also, every time there is a big name guest star it is so easy to figure out the case.  Robin Williams last season, Luke Perry this season.  Previously, we’ve seen Henry Winkler, Richard Thomas, the list goes on.  If the big name star is not a lwayer, he/she is the baddie.  Come on, give me a bit of a mystery,  Oh well, I’m going to keep watching anyway so just call me a lemming.  Maybe they’ll jump back the way the original Law & Order did.

Caught It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, damn that show is funny.  You’d better start watching it.  I am serious.  Go to hulu and catch up.

Life Premieres!

I’ve talked it up and I want anyone who reads this blog to watch it.  What am I on about? Life, starring Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi.  Good news for you fans and neophytes, the fresh fruit obsessed detective solves his first case on hulu.com almost a week before the official airing on NBC.  Get into this show, dammit!  The on-air premiere is September 29, after Heroes, with regular showings starting Friday, October 3 at 10/9c.

It hasn’t lost a step so get watching!

Monday Premieres I Watched

Worst Week is absolutely horrible.  Do yourself a favor and just rent the British sitcom Worst Week of My Life There was very little redeemable from the first episode of this adaptation.  The only bits I found funny were referring to Sam as “the friend” and carrying the drunk girl in a rolling trash bin.  The rest was drivel.  Quit now, or better yet, never start it.  If you watched the CBS version and did not like it, trust me when I tell you the UK version doesn’t start so over the top.  Please give it a chance.  The guy actually does not come off as a complete freaking moron, which makes the show work much better.

Heroes left me kind of wanting more, but not wanting more.  The first episode felt very unfocused, which may be a hangover from the previous strike shortened season.  There was a good bit of “this is what happened to me” which could have been cut down.  Nathan’s religious business does not intrigue me, yet.  Peter, though, is still pretty cool.

The second episode gave me more hope.  The developments with Sylar, Peter, and Claire look promising.  Parkman’s story remains lackluster, but the African he met intrigues me a bit.  Anyone else think his sidestepping of the painting issue was interesting?  Did you watch the promo for next week?  Sylar and HRG as partners?  Nice!

I am open to the Mohinder storyline, but not optimistic since he is tied to the remaining wonder twin.  Did I miss the bit where he got into a teleportation pod with a fly and Jeff Goldblum?  Time will tell.

Hiro and Ando deserve their own mention since I think they are such great characters.  These two have always been a bit separated from the others and that must be purposeful on the part of the writers.  Good story for these guys in this season (well haven’t they had the best story lines all along?).  There remain so many questions that I want to have answered.  What is the formula?  Is it the same thing Suresh discovered?  Who does the cute speedster girl work for?  Will Ando actually kill Hiro?  Is the future set?

Oh, and Ali Larter remains really hot!

More next week.

Sons of Anarchy Round 2 (spoiler free)

It’s official, I am on board for the entire season of Sons of Anarchy.

In spisode 2 we got a glimpse of how the gang manipulates the town’s authorities and it was pretty sweet.  The protection detail storyline and the forensic team distraction story dovetailed nicely.  Kurt Sutter have done a nice job of balancing the home lives of the members with the criminal activity (I was worried there would too much home drama).  There seems to be a lot of time building sympathy for Opie which leads me to assume something really screwed is going to happen to the poor guy.

Episode 3 gave us a bit of a flip on the second, showing us how the Sons mete out vigilante justice to keep their town safe.  I got a couple of good laughs out of this episode, particularly from the treatment of the prospect.

I’m keeping the comments sparse because I don’t want to ruin anything about this show for those of you have yet to see it.  If you need to catch up, click here to watch the episodes legally and for free.

Entourage Premiere

What did you think of the Entourage premiere?  For a transitional episode it wasn’t bad.  We learned that Vince ran away from the disaster of Medellin, E has doubled his client list, and Drama is the same as ever-and his show is still a hit.

There is no way I’m alone in feeling the best stuff in the show comes from Ari and Drama.  I can’t help but feel a laugh coming on when either one is on screen.  Jeremy Piven’s great moment was the phone call with his former assistant as he visually showed his frustration while attempting to keep his voice even.  The top Drama moment had to be his refusal to be shot from the right until he hears “baby bro’s in trouble”.  Great stuff.

As far as the story goes, E and Vince are still tight and there was no serious falling out over Medillen, which I think the writers wanted us to believe.  The Godfather ending was pretty good.  The best bit there started with Turtle.  “The Maserati?”  All in all, there were enough laughs for me and a nice set up about Vinne not wanting to go out on the bottom.  Bring on more!

Fall TV

It’s finally coming!  New scripted television, that’s what.  Once again I can turn on the TV without seeing a bunch of blathering twits who are stuck in a house together or a parade of bizarre “talents” getting rated by Hasselhoff.

It all kicks off this Sunday with the return of Entourage.  The performances of Jeremey Piven and Kevin Dillon are enough for me to spend the money on 3 months of HBO.  I’ll admit that this show started out a little slow but the episode The Sundance Kids made sticking with Vince and his crew worth the effort.

A new show hitting the air this fall is Worst Week, a remake of a very funny British show.  Thing is, The Worst Week of My Life ran 7 episodes which was the perfect length for a concept show.  The humor in the original played off the groom and his rocky relationship with the bride’s family.  Has that got the legs to cover a full American TV season?  Guess we’ll see.

I’m willing to check out Kath and Kim, another remake but this one is Australian.  I do think the premise will translate well to an American show, I’m just no sold on Molly Shannon.  Never really found her funny.

I generally give J.J. Abrams a shot and will do so again with Fringe, but I’ll enter this viewing relationship with trepidation.  Abrams really has a tendency to get too overstuffed with complex storylines which often leads to a convoluted mess (end of season 2 and start of season 3 of Lost spring to mind).  Word is he wants to do a show that can keep casual viewers interested and in the loop.  It’s airing after House so I won’t change the channel on night one.

Just a few notes:  Heroes returns for a third season and I sure hope the funkof last season is washed away.  Please, no more Wonder Twins.  Samantha Who? is a nice little distraction of a sitcom.  Watch Life. Kitchen Nightmares is one of the only reality show I’ll watch, only because Gordon Ramsay told that lady that she was talking out of her rear end.

A question:  Is The Mentalist just a ripoff of Psych that’s played straight?

The Final Dance!

Dancing with the Stars begins its final season this fall with another 13 pseudolebrities prancing around awkwardly for an uptight Englishman.  Sorry, I should point out that the upcoming season is not officially the last, but read the writing on the wall folks.  The lights are going out and the stage is closing up.  Unless you missed it, which I would believe without question, the cast has been announced and among the “dancers” is none other than show killer Ted McGinley.

It’s bad juju when McGinley shows his mug on the set of your favorite show.  What should the star of a hit show do when learning that Ted is joining the cast?  Call his agent, that’s what, because it will soon be time to find another gig.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike McGinley, I just know he is a harbinger of doom.  Ted has heralded the demise of such shows as Happy Days, The Love Boat, Dynasty, Married with Children and Sports Night. I make no claims regarding the quality of those shows, merely point out the McGinley presence in the latter seasons of each.  Not that much could have been done to make Hope and Faith a good sitcom, but it must be addressed that Mr. McG started out in episode 1 of that dog.

If this is the first you have read of the McGinley curse, I wish I could claim discovery of the phenomenon but, unfortunately, I cannot.  Lost somewhere in the fog of internet memes is the name of the one to first point out the voodoo that does do so well.  Don’t believe me?  Google it and see one of the 29,200 hits.  It’s true!  You can also follow this little link:  The McGinley Curse

So enjoy it reality show lovers but hear the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make way on the schedule for a new ABC show since Dancing with the Stars is in its death throes.

As an aside, I have never watched a single episode of Dancing with the Stars and I regard it as bad TV. I remain intractable regarding this point, freely and proudly admitting a bias against reality TV (call it a game show if it helps you sleep).  That said, why Cloris Leachman, why?

The Best Show You Aren’t Watching

Set for DVD release Tuesday, September 2 is Life starring Damian Lewis (Major Winters, Band of Brothers).  This under appreciated show debuted last September on NBC to decent ratings, but nothing mind blowing.  Luckily the suits at the peacock network saw the potential and kept the show alive in spite of the writers’ strike (Life only managed to squeeze in 11 episodes).  If only they had seen Journeyman’s potential.

Life centers on LAPD officer Charlie Crews, a cop who served 12 years for a crime he did not commit.  Once exonerated Crews promptly sues the city, winning a huge cash settlement along with reinstatement to the police force as a detective.  Teamed up with Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi), a cop with her own troubled past, Crews does his job while subjected to the suspicious glares and questions of his fellow officers.  Tying the series together is Crews’ search for the corrupt cops who set him up to take the fall in a bank robbery conspiracy 12 years earlier.

Far from the melodrama that has become Law and Order: SVU, Life manages to deal with serious issues and have a bit of fun as well.  For example, Charlie’s zen-like attitude toward the world is countered with  frequent harassing traffic stops of his ex-wife’s new husband; or his home life in a  mansion that he has not bothered to furnish.  It’s a challenging show dealing with issues of revenge and redemption without ever forgetting that it is entertainment.  Life provides a blend of cop drama and humor reminiscent of Hill Street Blues with top notch writing and acting all the way.  I would be remiss not to mention Adam Arkin’s fantastic turn as Charlie’s prison pal and accountant.

Life is definitely superior television and without a doubt my favorite new show from this past season.  I take it upon myself to spread the word to all who will read and take my advice.  Go buy or rent the DVD and then tune in Monday, September 29 at 10/9c to NBC.  You will not regret it.  Great stuff!

Life on Mars USA

Coming to ABC on October 9 at 10/9c is an American remake of the stellar BBC drama Life on Mars and I feel equal parts dread and optimism.  The British version stars John Simm as Sam Tyler, a modern day cop who is run down by a car and upon waking finds himself trapped in 1973.  Sam, along with his 70s boss Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) solves cases in the past while trying to find out how to return to the present.  “Am I mad, in a coma or back in time?” Sam asks in the opening credits of each episode.

The short run of BBC shows (just 16 total episodes in the case of LoM) allows for the development of neat and tidy little story arcs that do not get bogged down by network executives wishing to stretch out a successful TV program’s run.  Which brings me to concern number one.  The mystery central to LoM works great in the shortened BBC series format, but I wonder if it has the legs to carry an American show over 4-5 seasons.  Will we all get sick of hearing Sam’s weekly question about his mental state?  Certainly the writers will throw us for some loops, but I have my doubts on this issue.

Another worry is the horrible pilot episode that leaked to the internet and had a brief lifespan on ABC.com.  The episode was just a clone of the BBC pilot with one major exception: the running time.  The BBC receives funding from license fees rather than ad revenue which means an hour long program is exactly that, not 47 minutes.  The US pilot cut a full 13 minutes of story from the British version and, wow, did it ever show.  The characters were poorly realized, the story wrapped too quickly, the pacing was all wrong, and it just didn’t work.  Thankfully all of the characters have been recast (except for Jason O’Mara as Sam) because chemistry was definitely absent.  Colm Meaney, as much as I like him, just failed to convince me that he could knock Jason O’Mara’s block off with a right cross.

That being said, the new cast brings me hope for the Americanized version of Life on Mars.  Things started looking up with the addition of the underrated Gretchen Mol as Annie and Michael Imperioli as Ray, a role seemingly tailor made for him.  The end all, however, came with the announcement that Harvey Keitel would play Gene Hunt…yes, Harvey Keitel in his first ever recurring TV role.  He looks like a guy who could knock anyone’s lights out with a single punch.

The proof is in the pudding, so I’ll give the new version of Life on Mars a fair chance to win me over, but if it falters I can always rewatch the BBC original.