It’s Network Upfront week and ABC recently posted their their new fall schedule. Among the new series added to the line-up is the U.S. remake of the British series, Life on Mars and based on the premise, I’m officially adding this series to the list of shows I’ll be looking forward to this fall.
According to ABC’s website, Life on Mars will air on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. after Grey’s Anatomy. Here’s part of their description for the show:
“In the midst of a difficult serial killer investigation, LAPD Detective Sam Tyler goes against his better judgment and allows his girlfriend and fellow detective, Maya Robertson, to search a suspect's home by herself. When things take a terrible turn and Maya disappears, Sam is devastated. Despondent and in shock, he wanders aimlessly around town and is hit by a car. He wakes up to discover he's in 1972 -- without a scratch on him -- and still in the LAPD.”
The description goes on to say that even though Sam has no idea whether or not he’s really stuck in the 70’s or if he’s in a coma or hallucinating or something, he goes about his life working as a detective (transferred in to a new precinct), trapped in an era when forensic evidence doesn’t exist. Basically, a good chunk of what he knows about how to do his job is useless seeing as a lot of the methods detectives use today to solve crimes weren’t invented back then. Times were different back in the early 70’s. This was before sexual harassment, political correctness and police brutality were commonly (if ever) used terms. So needless to say, Sam’s got some major adjustments to make if he wants to get by.
As NBC’s Journeyman was officially cancelled, I think Life On Mars will be a nice replacement as far as time-travel shows go. Except with Journeyman, the main character bounced in and out of all different time periods whereas it looks like ABC’s Life on Mars will leave the lead character trapped in the 70’s. Either way, the whole “that was now, this is then” concept will apply and I’m eager to see how a modern day detective adjusts to life in the 70’s before forensic science, the internet and other hi-tech devices changed how people solved crimes.
Here’s the cast and character list according to ABC’s website:
Jason O' Mara: Sam Tyler
Rachelle LeFevre: Annie Cartwright
Colm Meaney: Gene Hunt
Stephanie Jacobsen: Maya
Lenny Clarke: George Randall
Patrick Wenk-Wolff : Colin Raimes
Richard Benjamin : Milton Kornboll
But according to Variety, “Life on Mars will indeed go through some changes - including a few cast shuffles, and several reshot scenes.”. Meanwhile, David E. Kelley has the rights to the show but October Road creators Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg have been brought on as executive producers. That last little nugget only served to make the show even more enticing to me. Is it too much to hope that maybe one or two cast members from the recently cancelled October Road could end up with a role on Life on Mars?
