Welcome to The TV MegaSite's Primetime TV Site!

(Best viewed in the most recent browser versions--update now!)

Please click on the menus above to browse through our site...

Primetime Show Reviews

"Life on Mars" Series Review by Eva 10/24/08

Life on Mars Thursday 10 Eastern 9 Central time on ABC.

"Life on Mars" is a remake of the popular British TV series of the same name. It has a great cast the premise of the show is that a present day police Detective Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara ) gets hit by a car and wakes up in the year 1973. He doesn't know if it is a dream or if he is really there, or what.

Sam is like a fish out of water who misses the modern technology of today that he uses to solve a case. Sam is also trying to find his way back home to his girlfriend Maya Daniels (Lisa Bonet). The cast also includes acclaimed actors Harvey Kietel as Sam's boss Lieutenant Gene Hunt, and Michael imperioli as Detective Ray Carling.

I want to make it clear that I have never seen the British version of the show, so this is only my opinion of the American version of the show. I think it pays homage to old 1970's cop shows where the detectives figured out what happened easily and the criminals confessed to the crime during the first five minutes of being interrogated. If you have seen any of these old shows on TV Land or Nick at Night, you know that the dialogue was corny. I think, in these aspects the show is right on the money. I didn't want to watch the show at first because I didn't like the 1970's while they were going on, so why would I want to watch a show about them? I admit, though, I missed the first show and started watching from the second show, and I kept watching because I am rooting for Sam to get home to his girlfriend and family.

The show has two main problems, in my opinion. It shows way too much police brutality and violence, given it is set in the 1970's, and the second problem is that it has tough competition from ER, which is in its final season, and the show Eleventh Hour on CBS. If Life on Mars survives the competition to a second season, it should be interesting to see if it or Eleventh Hour wins the Thursday ratings battle. I give this show a 3 out of 5 and recommend that you watch it if you enjoyed old 1970's cop shows. However, if you didn't enjoy them, then you should not watch the show.

Back to the Main Primetime TV Page