Life on Mars US
Sep. 5th, 2008 09:33 amAnyone that's a fan of Life on Mars (which aired in the UK but also has been on Showcase here in Canada and possibly BBC Canada too, not sure), may know there's a US version debuting on ABC on October 9. Here's the ABC official site. It had a rather icky start in life back in the spring, they aired the pilot episode and it was pretty bad. They had Colm Meany as "Gene Hunt" which I thought might have been ok but i've seen the pilot and he really didn't suit the part. They also didn't include the roles of Chris and Ray which was mystifying. Apparently they have seen the error of their ways and have recast it, relocated it from LA to NYC and ... best of all, cast Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt. This is excellent! He is a tad old for the part but he's so good it won't matter. Also, they're reinstated Chris and Ray and have cast someone from the Sopranos as Ray Carling. Better and better! It might actually be worth watching. I really loved the UK series so it's got big shoes to fill. I'm lukewarm on the actor playing Sam Tyler in the US series but with a good cast to support him, he'll probably warm up to the role in time. There are photos and other blogs on it here at TVScoop as well with a gallery of the new cast.
( Original cast pic )
( Original cast pic )