Skip to main content

It Really Was "Life On Mars"

Damn, I hate investing all that time in a TV show only for it to be cancelled. The greatest show on TV (in my humble opinon) came to a screeching halt last night after only one season. A knock-off of a British series, ABC's Life On Mars was nevertheless an excellent show with an exceptional cast. The premise involved a cop hit by a car in 2008 who wakes up in 1973. So he felt like he was living on Mars. Indeed he met himself, as a kid, and both his parents. Last night in the season/series finale we learned he really was living on Mars - he , and the cast of characters, were astronauts waking up from a deep space sleep and about to touch down on the red planet. That's right, it was all a dream!

The show was a mix of police drama meets science-fiction. It was quirky enough to draw me in week after week. It had a great soundtrack - from the 70s, natch - and the main character's awareness of the future led to some comical plot developments.
And now it's gone. And without it, I truly know what it is to live a Life on Mars...
For old time's sake here's a great cover version of David Bowie's Life on Mars by a great group - the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain...

Labels:

Comments

Mike said…
You could always close yourself into a deep freezer.

Pretty soon the oxygen will be gone and you'll be really really cold.

Just like if you were on mars!

Paint it red first, eh?
2 April 2009 at 11:01
David said…
I too really liked that series, even short-lived as it was. And I am ticked that they cancelled it.
2 April 2009 at 12:30
nonamedufus said…
Spaz: Just wouldn't be the same.

David: I'm with you, yeah, next they'll tell me "Fringe" isn't coming back!
2 April 2009 at 14:35
Trukindog said…
Well I'm just plain PISSED OFF! I loved this show it was one of the best on TV in YEARS!

Only a network dickwad with his head so far up his ass he'll never see the light of day would cancel such a great show.
2 April 2009 at 15:08
nonamedufus said…
TD: Don't hold back, man. Tell us how you really feel about it!
2 April 2009 at 15:57
Tuesday Taylor said…
What the hell happened to that show?
2 April 2009 at 19:16
Dalton J. Fox said…
I never watched this show, but I can definitely relate to where you're coming from. There's been many shows that I was really interested in over the years that just suddenly got cancelled. It seems like the network execs wouldn't know a good TV show if it came up and bit them on the ass. The good shows always seem to get cancelled.
3 April 2009 at 00:43
My Daily List said…
Add me to the list. Add to the list that it was really funny and always willing to take a poke at itself, that it was fun to look for the Wizard of Oz references, and that it was the #1 facial hair show on TV since Magnum PI.

I haven't watched them yet, but I'm recording the sequel on BBC America Ashes to Ashes (another Bowie song.) New characters flashing back to the early 80s.
4 April 2009 at 10:52
nonamedufus said…
SH: Apparently the ratings weren't stellar.

Dalton: Yeah who knows how their minds work. Jericho's another mystery - twice!

MDL: Good thinking...I've gotta hunt that down along with the original BBC series. I'm going into serious withdrawal. (Hey, btw, welcome to HBDC!)
4 April 2009 at 11:51
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born.  That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network.  And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard.  But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door.  And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran.  The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993.  I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share.  The formula was pretty simple.  A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains.  The show opened as follows... Imagination Day!  Oh boy!  You know what happens on Imagination D
41 comments
Read more

My Back Pages - November

I know, I know, I know I should have reported in before now. But sometimes real life just gets in the way. I attempted 5 books in November. I say attempted because I slapped a big DNF (did not finish) on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I just can't seem to get into this guy. It's the second or third of his I've given up on, Not so the other four, starting with a biography of Stephen Stills called Change Partners. This followed by a hilarious biography of the guy responsible for National Lampoon called A Stupid and Futile Gesture - How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. I ended the month reading yet another biography, this one of the man behind Rolling Stone magazine,. It was called Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine. A fascinating read. So last month I hit the magic number 50 I'd imagined for myself back in January. If I roll this month into my yearly total I'm at 54 books. And I still hav
Post a Comment
Read more

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.
53 comments
Read more