The Remote Island : Life on Mars

Goodbye "Life on Mars"!

Lindy Parker — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:00:00 GMT

What's weird is, even though Life on Mars has only been on the air for a hot second, it still seems as though it's died a slow, painful death.

ABC canceled its time-traveling cop show Life on Mars last night due to crappy ratings. The show will air through the end of its first season — apparently ABC doesn't have anything to replace it with right now. (New York Magazine)

Let's take another look at the promo to determine cause of death...

Okay, so we think the major problem is that the plot bears a vague similarity to Thirteen Going on Thirty with Jennifer Garner, only with more guns and anger. Also, the male lead is nowhere near hot enough.

Previously:

Life on Mars: Does Anyone Care?

Life on Mars: Can This Show Be Saved?

Lisa Bonet Delivers Baby Boy, Gives Him A 1/9th Pronouncable Name

Jake Kalish — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:33:00 GMT

Congrats, Denise Huxtable!

Lisa Bonet, now starring on Life On Mars, and her Hawaiian Stargate Atlantis husband Jason Momoa (yeah yeah, he's good looking) just had a baby boy. And they named him Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa.

Everybody say that five times fast. The name, which is Hawaiian, means something to the effect of Dark Rain Spirit Warrior. At least part of it does. "Wolf", to our understanding, still means wolf. Well, at least this one is cultural, which makes it thousands of times better than Bronx Mowgli.

Anyways, it's a moot point. We lost our concentration after the fourteenth syllable in this kid's name, and our mind wandered to that incredibly hot 1988 Lisa Bonet Rolling Stone. This one:

That is one hot mama.

Goodbye to All That

Ben Kallen — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:10:00 GMT

A funny thing happened at The Remote Island today: Your pal Ben woke up from a coma, only to discover that he was trapped in the year 1962 and was working in the TV division of an ad agency. He tried to get back home -- for about five minutes, until he saw his big office and secretary and expense account for martini-soaked steak lunches. What are you gonna do?

Actually, he really does have a new job, and this is his last day as a regular contributor to his favorite TV site. He'll still send in occasional dispatches when he can, especially when he sees something fun, funny or stupid he wants to share with all of you.

In the meantime, he wants you to know that he'll miss your pageviews, your comments and, especially, the feeling of community that comes from knowing that in this big, wide, complex world, everyone's watching the same junk -- and occasional excellent programming -- as everyone else.

Wake Up And Smile: If The Ladies Of The View Smoked Meth, There’d Be Some Stabbing

Bryan Christian — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:35:00 GMT

Member when Elisabeth Hasselbeck said she wasn’t leaving The View anytime soon? Well, if the rumors about backstage at today’s episode are any indication, you can file that under “Maybe” in the FiloFax of your mind. In the 1970’s desk of your soul.

Plus: NBC's surprising plans for Thursday nights, Little Britain's gay divorce shocker, a show that combines the talents of both It's Always Sunny... and Arrested Development (in space!) and the happy ending to Billie Piper's day-long labour. (Notice how we used the 'u'? Classy, right?)

-- Things are rapidly deteriorating for kind-of-cute right-winger Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View, where she has been booed by the audience two days in a row – and been threatened with being “burned down” by Joy Behar. Jesus, does everyone on that show think of people as trees?

-- How underperformy are ABC and CBS’s Thursday evening efforts (and the season as a whole)? So much so that after years of trying to shake it loose, NBC might want to keep ER around a little while longer.

-- Little Britain genius (and Little Britain USA perpetrator) Matt Lucas said “No, but yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, BUT NO” to his 18-month-long same sex marriage, making him the first and probably only gay divorced celebrity in his village. Um… I’m a lady!

-- Lest you think that there’s no hope for TV in the midst of this, the most crummy fall season season since man first remoted upright, think again: Buster Bluth is going to be starring in the It’s Always Sunny... guys’ work/space comedy.

-- And we finish today with best wishes to Billie Piper, star of Doctor Who and Secret Diary of a Call Girl, who underwent an emergency c-section Tuesday morning in London after a day-long labor. Mother, husband Laurence, and son Winston are all apparently doing fine. All the best, everyone, and Billie, we expect to see you in another season of Call Girl... scars be damned!

Wake Up And Smile: Obama's October Surprise Might Be A November "SNL" Cameo

Bryan Christian — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:26:00 GMT

Time for another Halloween party at the Clinton's? Maybe... plus the latest on David Duchovny, Sarah Silverman, Terminator, Dollhouse, the Thursday ratings battle between Life on Mars and Eleventh Hour, plus -- does someone die on both Gossip Girl and Heroes this November?

-- Seth Meyers may have let slip plans for an Obama guest spot on Saturday Night Live the weekend before the election. But, then again, the rightwinger guy who claims to have heard this from an unnamed aide to Governor Sarah Palin also claims to know that John McCain consulted Lorne Michaels about picking Governor Palin as his running mate, so, you know, moron.

-- A tennis instructor was claiming to have been involved in the conspiracy known as David Duchovny's humpin' around until she backed off those claims suddenly. She now claims to have been fucking the planet Venus.

-- "Great Schlepper" Sarah Silverman bombed big time in London earlier this week, in front of Brit comedy luminaries like David Walliams and the guys from The Boosh. Turns out no one in England knows what a vagina is.

-- Nerds webwide are rejoicing the full season pickup for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles... except the ones that believe it cost them Dollhouse.

-- Thursdasy night's ratings continue to get interesting, except for the part where the subpar and insulting Eleventh Hour is now beating Life on Mars. Maybe give Michael Imperioli a shave or something?

-- E! says someone is dying in November on both Heroes and Gossip Girl, but we hate spoilers, so don't call us unless it's actually a crossover and Suresh eats Chuck Bass or something.

The Weekly Rewind: Everyone's a Comedian

Ben Kallen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:40:00 GMT

The comedians made fun of the candidates, the candidates went on comedy shows, and everyone seemed to think that being serious was the same as raising taxes. Meanwhile, the new TV season was still going strong, except that maybe nobody was watching. We'll try to make sense of it all -- and be funny! -- as we bring you the highlights of the week.

We decided that whoever wins the popular vote, comedy will take the election. We were hoping for a late-night foursome, but still enjoyed seeing John McCain finally make it to Dave Letterman's comedy hot seat. We enjoyed the debate, but were a little disappointed by the inevitable follow-up spoof on Saturday Night Live. We watched as Tina Fey tried to beg off impersonating Sarah Palin, but she couldn't help telling Dave how she does it. And it didn't matter, because Sarah Palin's coming to SNL herself -- and she'll probably take over 30 Rock next.

We were surprised when Mark Wahlberg lost his sense of humor entirely. But we had to admit, that was kinda funny, too.

We read all about Maureen McCormick's life of sex, drugs and Marcia Brady. Then we heard her talk about it, and, wow. Just wow.

But while Marcia got Davy Jones to come to her prom, the High School Musical kids had to settle for Tom Cruise.

We were happy that the fashion world agrees with our passion for Mad Men's curvy dynamo Christina Henricks. But we worried about the show itself.

We noticed that The Profiler still cuts a great profile. And Lisa Bonet made us think of a pun that we'll keep to ourselves.

Despite the fact that 15-year-old Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen seems defensive about her weight and still dresses like a 30-year-old model for Mode magazine, we decided she's probably better-adjusted than we are. As for 15-year-old Miley Cyrus, we're not so sure.

And George Hamilton's tale of 12-year-old stepmother sex? That was some time ago, but yikes.

We saw photos of some kids playing Star Trek, and hoped the actual movie would look a lot better.

We saw Cinemax's new zilly, zmutty zex-fest, and decided that literary porn is just like regular porn, but boring.

We thought it was cute that the stars of Gossip Girl think we care what they think.

We heard Blake Lewis deliver a smackdown on American Idol. (Remember? He was that beatbox guy? With the vests?)

And we saw Paris in London, but couldn't figure out how to get them to keep her.

Previously:
The Weekly Rewind: Like Kissing Your Sister

"Life on Mars": The Real Adventures of the Unreal Sam Tyler

Ben Kallen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:20:00 GMT

Okay, so remember when we said there'd be a bunch of possible explanations for why Sam's become stuck in 1973? When this episode begins, he's writing them all down on a chalkboard. From what we can see, they are: coma, drug trip, time travel, different planet, extraterrestrials, mind experiment, heaven/hell/purgatory, insanity, brain tumor, virtual reality and multidimensional travel. We're guessing that in his own time, he was a really big Lost fan. There's also a question mark, which represents "the unknown." But coma and time travel, or some combination of the two, still seem like the best bets here. When all your ideas seem crazy, it's a good rule to go with the simplest ones.

Annie comes along and erases the blackboard, before the other cops can see it. And Sam decides that until he can find a way back, he may as well spend his time "catching bad guys."

Which is what we see him doing next, as the squad chases down Kim Trent, a suspected armed robber who's running away from a public swimming pool wearing nothing but a Speedo. When they catch him, Hunt tosses him into the Central Park Pond and starts interrogating him, despite his pleas that he can't swim. When he sinks below the surface, Sam dives in and fishes him out. As Sam wrestles Trent to the bank, he gets slugged in the head for his trouble -- which the other detectives find hilarious.

At the stationhouse, we learn that three check-cashing stores have been robbed, and three employees shot. But despite some slaps, nose-pinching and evidence-planting in the interrogation room, Trent still won't say who he was meeting at the pool. While Hunt wants to fill Trent's pockets with LSD and send him off to jail, Sam convinces him to try the futuristic method of letting the suspect go and following him.

(Oh, hey, and look -- here's Heather Matarazzo as June, a smart but unappreciated police secretary, and Lee Tergesen as Crocker, an assistant district attorney. Way to keep employing good actors, show!)

In Sam's apartment hallway the next morning, a naked hippie-chick named "Windy" introduces herself as his neighbor and gives him an impromptu palm reading. She tells him his fate line is bisected. "It's like a record skipping... you get bumped, and you're grooved into a whole new tune." Maybe he should write that on his chalkboard.

Sam and Hunt drive to Trent's apartment, but Chris and Ray, who are supposed to be keeping an eye on the place, aren't there. A call comes on the radio about another disturbance at a check-cashing store. They speed off, Starsky & Hutch-style, only to have Trent start shooting at them when they get there. Gene shoots Trent dead, but not before Trent shoots June, who apparently showed up after hearing the radio call.

June's hurt but alive. Hunt tells Sam to clean up the crime scene, despite the fact that it's brimming with evidence, because June is "family." Sam has another mini-meltdown about the "cosmic joke" that all this represents. (Unfortunately, this kind of scene really doesn't fit big, lunky Jason O'Mara -- it kind of makes us miss John Simm from the British version of the show.)

That night, Sam returns to the scene and notices an old woman (Silvia Miles) whose apartment window provides a perfect view of the street. She says that uniformed police officers had regularly escorted the suspect to the check-cashing store.

Sam finds Hunt in June's hospital room. Hunt greets Sam with a punch in the nose -- exactly what he's mad about at this point, it's hard to say -- and the two get into a big fistfight, to a backing track of Gilbert O'Sullivan. Afterward, sitting at the foot of June's bed, Hunt admits that she'd make a good cop, if only she wasn't a woman. He and Sam have another discussion about their differing policing styles, and Sam angers Hunt yet again by suggesting there may be dirty cops on the force.

Sam goes back to the stationhouse, where he learns that Ray is one of the cops who moonlights as security for the check-cashing chain. Ray denies being involved in any wrongdoing, and suggests Sam talk to Crocker. He meets with Crocker in a park and tells him what he's found out. When he's alone again, he sees a sort of robotic lunar module on the ground. It shines a light in his eyes, and he suddenly flashes on scenes of himself with Maya in his own time. It's freaky, but doesn't seem to mean anything in particular.

Later, it turns out Ray has screwed him over, knowing that Crocker would call Hunt about Sam's investigation into other cops -- and now all the cops in the stationhouse are aware of it, too. But that's not as interesting to him as the fact that when he looks into Hunt's glass office door, he sees a reflection of the modern stationhouse from his own time -- and Maya's standing there. This "unreal" scene is what it takes for him to realize that the cops at the check-cashing place were actually just impersonating police. (Um, shouldn't he have known that was a possibility from the get-go?)

June's awake, and when Hunt tells her he killed the guy who shot her, she gets a little bit hinky. Sam notices, and asks if she knew Trent, much to Hunt's disgust. But she admits that Trent was her boyfriend, and that she provided him with information and spare police uniforms. Sam bonds with her using some frankly lame dialogue about how lonely they both are, and she gives up the names of the other guys involved.

There's another action scene as they all go after the bad guys. Sam ends up chasing one who's wearing a stolen police uniform, and when backup comes, they mistake Sam for the robber and beat the crap out of him. Luckily, Hunt shows up to straighten things out. Then they learn what the money was for when they find some giant crates of heroin. Also in one of the crates: a toy version of that lunar module.

Sam confronts Ray, who's mad because Sam's transfer took him out of the running for a promotion, and Crocker, who just says that his dealings with Hunt are "complicated" -- and who, by the way, is taking Annie out to see Grease. Annie tells Sam that he's done good work, and that's something "real." Back at his apartment, Sam looks at the stars and hears Maya's voice, and then hippie-chick Windy comes and gets him so they can dance to Simon and Garfunkel.

And we decide that we still like this show, but we're starting to see a big question mark about it on our mental chalkboard.

Image: ABC

Previously:
Life on Mars: Out Here in the Fields

Crush that Just Won’t Quit: Lisa Bonet

Olivia Purnell — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:18:00 GMT

Lisa Bonet, former Cosby kid and current Life on Mars love interest, is still ridiculously unequivocally gorgeous. What is this woman using? Oil of Olay? Water from the well of time reversal? The blood of three white doves and the soul of a handmaiden? She looks exactly like the Denise Huxtable we knew and still love. Homegirl is forty. And pregnant. Again.

Allow us a moment to reminisce: Remember A Different World, ya’ll? (Denise + Duane Wayne = 4eva!). Remember when she took those rebellious semi-naked but still artsy photos? No?

Well we do. Click through just to remind yourself. . .

Now here’s what she looks like pregnant, on an off day:

Yeah. Not bad. Still hot. In overalls. And, mind you, this is her third child. She tells People.com:

"I'm seven months and I feel great [. . .] I've had a tremendous amount of energy, which is lucky, because I have a 14-month-old."

In addition to the 14 month-old Lola, presumably in the stroller behind her, Bonet has a 19-year old named Zoe Kravitz.

Here’s lil Zoe with her beautiful father:

And the cycle of hotness continues.

Wake Up And Smile: Palin Not A Lock For "SNL" (Says Someone We've Never Heard Of)

Bryan Christian — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:29:00 GMT

Image via E! Online

Normally, we wouldn't print anything that had only one source, but considering supposedly adored hockey mom Sarah Palin got booed at a hockey game over the weekend, it's entirely possible that she's looking to get out of that rumored Saturday Night Live appearance. Not to worry, though: we've got much more thoroughly backed-up news on ER, Life on Mars, Eleventh Hour, South Park's Indiana Jones controversy, Star Trek, Star Wars, and the distinct possibility that a certain human-masked lizard alien miniseries is gonna get a remake.

-- Someone we've never heard of says that those rumors of Sarah Palin getting a chance to turn the SNL tables on Tina Fey in their 10/25 Jon Hamm-hosted episode are just that: rumors. Hey Jezebel, do you know something about "Bill Lucey" that we don't?

-- So... the second episode of outgoing medical drama ER beat the premieres of both Life on Mars and Eleventh Hour last Thursday in the all-important 18-49 demo. What's more, in the overall ratings, ER came in third with the other two shows basically tied. Yes, we believe we have identified the most interesting timeslot of the year.

-- No one will be going after Matt Stone & Trey Parker for South Park's angry (if reiterative) depiction of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas raping Indiana Jones. According to Nikki Finke, Viacom and Paramount, parent companies to Comedy Central and occasional partners to Dreamworks, just want the situation to go away. Not likely.

-- Someone may finally be following through on the often-rumored remake of V, the 1983 alien invasion miniseries that inspired a sequel series and weekly show that introduced us to Michael Ironside. Hey, any of you kids bothered to watch V recently? Wa bought a copy a while back; it's got way more WWII stuff in it that we'd remembered. Imagine Vichy France where the Nazis ate birds!

-- So let's get this straight: right when the Star Wars franchise is making the shift to TV, Paramount execs have decreed that Star Trek has to be more Wars-y -- which (from what we can tell, and what io9 suggests) means making it more movie-ish and, it seems, decoupling it from abject slavery to the TV franchises?

"Life on Mars": "Out Here in the Fields" (Pilot Episode)

Ben Kallen — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:20:00 GMT

If you've been reading The Remote Island for a while, you know we're fans of the original British version of Life on Mars -- and we've been tracking the American series through all kinds of changes, from new producers to a new cast to a move in setting from L.A. to New York City. So how did the show turn out after all that? Pretty well -- though with all the introductory material in the pilot episode, we don't get to see this fantastic group of actors really show their stuff quite yet. And the story is virtually identical to the BBC's version -- which means if you've seen it, you already know what to expect. If not, you're lucky, because it's a unique and original concept.

But let's start from the beginning:

An attractive pair of cops (Jason O'Mara as lead Sam Tyler, and long-time-no-see Cosby kid Lisa Bonet as his girlfriend Maya) are driving through NYC, having a relationship argument. They're pretty calm, considering that they're in a line of police cars speeding to a crime scene with sirens blaring. They're after a suspected killer, who makes a run for it. Sam chases him down and catches him. In the interrogation room, it turns out that there's a lot of evidence against him, but he's got what looks to be an airtight alibi: A security tape shows him gambling at a casino somewhere else when the crime took place.

But guess what? The guy has a twin brother, and that's who's really on the tape. Unfortunately, Maya has decided to keep track of the killer by following him on foot -- and when the cops go to rearrest him, both he and Maya are gone, with nothing but some bloody clothes left behind in a park.

Sam -- whose cop car, for some reason, is a Jeep Grand Cherokee -- drives off to the killer's apartment, with David Bowie's "Life on Mars" playing on his iPod. (Because that's the name of the show; presumably Time Cop was already taken.) But the moment he gets out of the car, another car zooms by and hits him so hard it's like a cartoon. He falls into the street, unconscious.

And then he stands up, seemingly unhurt. Except he's suddenly in a vacant lot, wearing a leather jacket and an open, wide-collared shirt. And where the apartment building was just a minute ago, now there's just a sign announcing its impending construction, in 1973. (Sure, they may have borrowed that bit from Back to the Future, but we get the point.) And "Life on Mars" is still playing, except now it's coming from an 8-track in a rad '70s muscle car.

A uniformed cop confronts Sam, who's still disoriented. He reaches into the car's glove compartment for the registration, and it's in the name of Sam Tyler. "I need my cell," Sam says. "You need to sell what?" the cop says. Ha! Then Sam looks up, and sees... the twin towers of the World Trade Center. (Okay, that's how he figures out that he's gone back in time. But using such a potent symbol for a plain ol' TV cop show seems, frankly, kind of wasteful and just a little bit creepy.) In case we still don't get it, we now see an extremely brief title sequence in which a big "2008" turns into a "1973."

Sam starts wandering around the city streets, which seem straight out of Serpico, or maybe Shaft. There are burned-out hippie types everywhere, and a groovy cat bopping along to a transistor radio. Sam finally notices the semi-leisure suit he's wearing, and pulls an old-time detective's ID from the pocket with his name and photo on it. Not only has he gone back 35 years, but apparently he belongs here.

He enters what seems to be his own police station house, which is now crowded with strangers and full of smoke. "You look like you've seen a ghost," says a guy with long sideburns. Another cop, sporting long hair and a handlebar mustache, looks exactly like Christopher from The Sopranos. Hi, Michael Imperioli! They've been expecting Sam, who's supposed to be transferring to the detective squad from somewhere upstate.

Seeing nothing where it's supposed to be, Sam yells out in frustration and anger. The commotion wakes the squad commander, Lt. Gene Hunt, who comes out of his office, not looking happy. Hi, Harvey Keitel! Sam asks Hunt what year it is; the lieutenant responds by punching him hard in the gut. Yep, that's the Gene Hunt we know and love from the British version, or close enough.

Sam sits at a desk, and now we see an old Alka-Seltzer commercial on TV and a headline about Vietnam on the front page of the paper. Still not getting it, he tries to call Maya. That fails, and he starts hearing voices in his head that sound like doctors operating on a patient. He screams, which makes the voices go away but leads the other cops to further determine that he's crazy. And maybe he is.

They send him to a female officer with a blonde blow-dryer hairdo. Her name is Annie, but she's referred to as "No-Nuts" -- because she's a woman, get it? (Really, is that what sexism sounded like 10 years after Mad Men?) Anyway, hi, Gretchen Mol! Annie determines that Sam's basically healthy, even though he claims he's from the year 2008. And she's not a doctor, but she does have a psychology degree -- not that anyone cares, because she also has boobies, which disqualifies her from any important police work.

Hunt and the crew come in and say they've found the body of a missing girl. Her blouse was left in East River Park -- which just happens to be where Maya disappeared. And the murder sounds exactly like the m.o. of the serial killer who took her. "Is this why I'm here?" Sam wonders. In the morgue, he notices a fiber under the girl's fingernail that also matches the 2008 case. But trying to explain to the others that he's found a connection between this crime and one that won't happen for decades makes him seem crazier still.

Annie takes him to the apartment the police department has found for him, and it's not bad for New York City. (Today it would cost $2,500 a month, and it probably wouldn't have been remodeled since 1973 anyway.) He takes one more stab at telling her what's happened to him. "I had an accident and I woke up 35 years in the past. Now, that either makes me a time-traveler, a lunatic, or I'm lying in a hospital bed in 2008 and none of this is real." Yep, that about covers it -- although the producers have implied in interviews that they've come up with some even more unlikely explanations for his predicament.

When Annie leaves, a doctor on TV starts talking about a patient named Sam, who sounds just like our hero, but is in a coma. He exhibits "low responsiveness," but isn't in a persistent vegetative state, and may be "operating in an alternate reality." Sam tries to communicate with the doctor, but can't.

He ends up at a cop bar, where he learns there's no such thing as a "Diet Coke," so he orders a double scotch. Now he's starting to fit in. Gene Hunt enters, and gives a speech about his tough policing philosophy. As monologues go, it's not exactly Tarantino material, but it'll do. Sam convinces Hunt that he has a handle on the case, so he's given a chance to run it. But his newfangled psych talk about getting into the mind of the killer only ends up making the other cops frustrated again, so they leave to comb the streets for the perp.

Meanwhile, the dead girl's friend has gone missing, too. And Sam decides to bring the grandmother of the 2008 suspect in for questioning. Earlier in 1973, she had made a complaint about a noisy neighbor, but the sound had stopped immediately afterward. Sam, who's figured out that the fibers under the victims' fingernails were soundproofing materials, realizes this means he might be the perp. And, sure enough, the missing girl is at the neighbor's apartment. The new suspect runs away, and Sam rushes after him in a chase scene that echoes the earlier one from the future. The guy pushes some shelving onto Sam, knocking him over, and grabs his gun. Sam thinks being shot might actually get him sent back to his own time, and his babbling about it confuses the suspect long enough for Hunt to get there and punch the guy out.

They load him into a squad car, and two little boys standing outside the apartment wave at him as he leaves -- it's the twins from the future! We realize that one of them will grow up to be a murderer, in imitation of his childhood neighbor.

Later, Sam goes back to the building, and seems to be considering shooting the kid as a preventive measure. But before he can, he hears Maya talking to him on the car radio. She says she's safe, everything's okay, and that he should come home. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how.

Maya's voice is interrupted by a report of a robbery, and Sam drives off to work it -- because until he can figure out what's going on, he's a cop in 1973.

Previously:
All about Life on Mars

Top Ten New Shows: #4 - "Life On Mars"

Bryan Christian — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:30:00 GMT

The new fall season is almost here. Starting next week, the cable and broadcast networks will begin rolling out their new shows to see if they take off like castaways on an island or singing casino managers. Here, then, are the top ten new shows we're most looking forward to seeing.

There are lots of reasons to be nervous about Life on Mars. It's yet another reworking, this time of a much revered British sci-fi-tinged procedural. It's had a troubled history getting to the ABC lineup, undergoing substantial story reworking, last-minute cast replacements, and a change of venue in just the last few months. And it's a period piece, stranding its main character, modern day ~~San Francisco~~ New York cop Sam Tyler, played by Irish actor Jason O'Mara, in an era that scares costume designers, set dressers, and prop masters nationwide: the 1970's.

But if the downside is big, so's the upside. By which we mean: any show that decides to replace Colm Meaney with Harvey Keitel is moving in the right direction. (No offense, Colm; we love ya, but you can be a little broad sometimes.) Throw in Michael Imperioli as Tyler's partner, and Gretchen Mol and Lisa Bonet as Tyler's past and present girlfriends and, well, we're starting to hate this O'Mara kid for getting such a cushy gig. Now if they can just keep the props and costumes from getting embarrassing... Um, hey, ABC, if there's a Swingtown estate sale, be choosy.

Life on Mars (Thursdays at 10PM EST) premieres Thursday, October 9 at 10PM EST on ABC

TOP TEN NEW SHOWS 2008

#1. "Fringe"
#2. "True Blood"
#3. "90210"
#4. "Life On Mars"
#5. "The Mentalist"
#6. "Sons of Anarchy"
#7. "Do Not Disturb"
#8. "Eleventh Hour"
#9. "Kath & Kim"
#10. "Knight Rider"

This Sounds Cool: AMC To Remake "The Conversation"

Ben Kallen — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:23:00 GMT

Those nostalgia nuts at American Movie Classics are at it again, diving back into the past to turn Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 thriller The Conversation into a TV series.

The Oscar-nominated film, which starred Gene Hackman as an amoral surveillance expert, was seen as a perfect reflection of the paranoid and privacy-challenged early '70s. And while the show will also take place in that period, it'll offer a mirror on our own time as well. "It gives us an opportunity to look back at the 1970s through the filter of 2009," producer Tony Krantz tells The Hollywood Reporter. "The issues of privacy and individuality, and issues of spying and listening, are as relevant now as they've ever been."

Of course, this will be just one of TV's many attempts to delve into recent history, if you count the possibly soon-to-be-canceled Swingtown, the upcoming Life on Mars and AMC's own remake of The Prisoner. But if The Conversation manages to capture the '70s as well as Mad Men deals with the '60s, it'll be pretty awesome.

Check out the movie trailer below:

Previously:
Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen To Star in AMC's Remake of The Prisoner
Mad Men Recap: Something Special in the Air
Yet Another Life on Mars Hiring Update

The Weekly Rewind: Baby, We Love Your Way

Ben Kallen — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:29:00 GMT

In the warmth of midsummer, here at The Remote Island our thoughts turned to the celebrities we love.

We heard that beautiful, sensible young Topanga is all grown up and ready to steal our jobs. And so, apparently, is A.C. Slater.

We learned that Lisa Bonet and Gretchen Mol will be joining the cast of Life on Mars -- a show that had better be good, or the sheer wastefulness of it all will make us sad.

We watched the appealing, flawed, doomed people of Mad Men celebrate Valentine's Day in 1961, then attempt to pick up new fans in Grand Central Station.

We learned that someone on Ugly Betty is going to start dating Kelly Ripa's handsome husband -- and we don't mean Regis.

We listened as lovely Lindsay Lohan got a special shout-out from the chief of police.

We got jealous when we saw Dave Letterman and Agent Scully making out. But we thought those kids from Gossip Girl should get a room.

We watched 10,000 beautiful and graceful Chinese performers at the Olympics, even though we weren't supposed to.

We watched Dr. Horrible for the 20th time, and put it on the site so you could, too. Then we watched Felicia Day's new project -- or maybe we were just watching Felicia Day.

We saw Sharon Osbourne try to check under the hood of an Ozzy impersonator to make sure it wasn't really her husband.

We were shocked to hear that Brooke Hogan doesn't vote, then decided it's probably for the best.

We were surprised to hear that Torchwood's John Barrowman is in talks to play Captain America, then decided no one would mind.

We saw a Judge Judy plaintiff hang on to her wits, and her clothes, in the midst of the L.A. earthquake -- which is more than we can say for these Big Brother contestants.

We didn't know what to think about J.Lo and that hooker lady's respective future plans, but we wished them well.

And we decided that the best way to end the week would be to hear Lisa Bonet sing -- in a French-dubbed clip from High Fidelity, naturally.

Previously:
The Weekly Rewind: Endless Summer

Yet Another "Life on Mars" Hiring Update

Ben Kallen — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:05:00 GMT

And it gets even better: According to Entertainment Weekly, former Cosby kid Lisa Bonet will join Harvey Keitel, Gretchen Mol and Michael Imperioli in the cast of Life on Mars, playing stuck-in-the-past detective Jason O'Mara's present-day girlfriend.

Forget the show -- we just want to be invited to the cast party.

Photo: Entertainment Weekly

Previously:
Life on Mars Casting Update: Gretchen Mol
Life on Mars Just Keeps Getting Better
Today in Mulligans: Life on Mars Hits the Reset Button

"Life on Mars" Casting Update: Gretchen Mol

Ben Kallen — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:23:00 GMT

We've been keeping you informed on the many changes Life on Mars has undergone since dropping producer David E. Kelley and most of the cast earlier this year. The fantasy cop drama, based on the British show about a modern detective who mysteriously finds himself in 1973, has already pulled in some pretty big guns: The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli as a tough cop, and the great Harvey Keitel as the detective squad's violent boss.

Now EOnline is saying that Gretchen Mol is in final talks to play Annie, the squad's lone female. A plucky young woman who has to face off against sexism as well as crime, she's the only one who knows about the stuck-in-time detective's predicament. (The actress originally slated to play the role, equally gorgeous Rachelle Lefevre, was said to appear too modern for the period -- although she's currently demonstrating perfectly good '70s chops on Swingtown.)

Mol, of course, has done plenty of time-traveling through her movies, from Donnie Brasco to The Notorious Bettie Page to 3:10 to Yuma. She famously fell victim to the "Vanity Fair curse" after the magazine put her on its cover 10 years ago, predicting that she would become Hollywood's next big thing. But while she never quite achieved superstardom, she's been great in a long string of films -- and we think she'd be great in Life on Mars. Which is now shaping up to be the highest-star-powered show of the fall season.

Previously:
Life on Mars Just Keeps Getting Better

Life on Mars -- Can This Show Be Saved?

"Life on Mars" Just Keeps Getting Better

Ben Kallen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:27:00 GMT

Okay, so who is going to play punch-happy early-'70s detective-squad leader Gene Hunt on the American version of Life on Mars, whose near-complete recasting we discussed here? Friggin' Harvey Keitel, that's who!

Gentlemen, you officially have our attention.

Photo: VH1

Previously:
Today in Mulligans: Life on Mars Hits the Reset Button
Life on Mars: Can This Show Be Saved?

Today in Mulligans: "Life on Mars" Hits the Reset Button

Ben Kallen — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:24:00 GMT

A while back we told you about the troubled history of Life on Mars, ABC's remake of the brief but terrific British series about a modern detective who suddenly finds himself trapped in the year 1973. Headed by writer-producer David E. Kelley, the show was going to be set in Los Angeles and contain many elements of the original.

Well, problems ensued, as they say. One critic who saw an early pilot said that it was okay but that casting was uneven, despite the presence of the terrific Irish actor Colm Meaney as Gene Hunt, the violent, unevolved leader of the '70s detective squad. Kelley turned the show over to the creators of the recently canceled drama October Road, who moved the setting to New York City, and it was placed on ABC's schedule for next season.

Well, now it turns out that the new producers are changing more than anyone had imagined.

For one thing, the entire cast of the pilot has been let go -- other than the lead, Jason O'Mara, who stars as stuck-in-time detective Sam Tyler. (He played a tycoon on Men in Trees, and guest-starred as a creepy arsonist on this week's season premiere of The Closer.) In their place, new members of the force will include Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos' Christopher) as a tough-guy cop, and October Road's Jonathan Murphy as a naive rookie.

What's more, they'll be "expanding the mythology" of the show far beyond that of the British version. Instead of Sam merely wondering whether he's in a coma, is going crazy or has actually traveled through time, in the new version he'll come up with more than 12 possibilities as to what's happened to him. Meanwhile, the character of Annie, the only woman in the unit and Sam's potential love interest, will be more outspoken and more closely connected to the women's-liberation movement in order to deal with the intense sexism of the era.

And yes, the new showrunners say, they've figured out exactly where it's all going to lead in the end. Says executive producer Josh Appelbaum in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "We know the pitfalls of these extended mythological stories." (That's a burn, Lost.)

Is all this good news for fans of the original show? We say yes -- it sounds as if this version could be even better. And if not, ABC can always go back in time once more and start the entire process over again.

Photo of Jason O'Mara: ABC

Previously:
Life on Mars -- Can This Show Be Saved?

"Life on Mars" -- Can This Show Be Saved?

Ben Kallen — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:30:00 GMT

When ABC announced it was planning an American remake of Life on Mars, fans were intrigued. The two-season BBC show, about a modern detective who has a car accident and wakes up in 1973, was a fantastic combination of fantasy and police drama. As Sam Tyler battled crime in the '70s, he also had to deal with that era's lower-technology, higher-violence, civil rights-ignoring attitudes toward police work. At the same time, he tried to solve the overlying mystery: Had he actually gone back in time, or was this insanity or some kind of dream... and if so, how could he wake up?

But along with the intriguing concept and some great characterizations, the show's actual police-work plots were often simplistic. So it seemed natural that ABC would hire David E. Kelley, the prolific writer-producer of such shows as Boston Legal, who's known for complex storylines and a fondness for weird situations. But something went wrong along the way, and after several delays, Kelley turned the show over to the producers of October Road. Soon after, even the setting of the show had been changed from Los Angeles to New York City.

At this point, no one actually knows what Life on Mars will eventually look like. But the original pilot, made before all the changes went into effect, recently leaked onto the Web. And according to a writer for Britain's The Guardian who watched it, there's reason to worry. The main problems, he says, are with the casting: As Sam, Irish actor Jason O'Mara (Men in Trees) is stolid beefcake when compared with John Simms' more sensitive portrayal in the British original. Another Irish actor, the great Colm Meaney (The Commitments, Star Trek: The Next Generation), is sadly underused as Gene Hunt, the squad leader who likes to punch first and ask questions later. (Although that's a fixable problem: Just give him more to do.)

Even more problematic, apparently, is the casting of knockout actress Rachelle Lefevre as Annie, the plucky policewoman who fights '70s sexism along with crime. You may remember Lefevre from such roles as the gorgeous stripper in What About Brian, or the gorgeous prostitute in Boston Legal -- heck, if you've ever seen her at all, you'd remember -- and she apparently looks and acts far too modern for the role. (It's not that a great-looking actress can't effectively play a detective -- Sarah Shahi pulls it off on Life -- but according to this article, Lefevre "appears to have wandered into the building by mistake.")

Of course, it would be unfair to judge the actual show by this outdated pilot, and some of the issues may be gone by its scheduled premiere in September. But even if ABC's Life on Mars isn't as good as the original, what we really hope is that BBC America -- which aired the British version in the U.S. -- eventually also airs Ashes to Ashes, a sequel in which a modern female detective is stuck in 1981 London with the original Gene Hunt. That sounds like a past worth looking forward to.

Below: The opening credits to the BBC version of Life on Mars: