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.
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