# Life on Mars 2-11-09 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486 "2009-02-12T04:40:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/1 "2009-02-12T04:40:19Z")
I ended up watching and enjoying this ep a lot more than I thought I would. I like the show when I remember to watch it! Who is the actor that played the Rock Star, Sebastian? He looks a little familiar but also new. Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/2 "2009-02-12T05:10:30Z")
[Cheyenne Jackson played Sebastian.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2091145/) He does Broadway, but he’s done a few other television shows, and he was in even on Top Chef this season (the Christmas episode). I love this show so much. Sam is such a dork, and all the characters are really starting to grow on me. Even Ray. ABC has ordered 17 episodes. I’m hoping they at least play all the eps before they cancel the series. Yes, I’m quite confident that a show I love will die in the first season. It’s the story of my life! ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/3 "2009-02-12T06:14:04Z")
They even went so far as to create a [fake Sebastian Grace Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Grace). Not a terribly convincing one, but good enough to fool my boyfriend for a few minutes. You gotta love a show that bothers to think of something like that. It’s definitely growing on me. ---
**Author:** ![ptr2void](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ptr2void/32/3406_2.png) [@ptr2void](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ptr2void)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/4 "2009-02-12T15:02:15Z")
My wife and I were pretty sure while watching it that Sebastian was just Sam (Jason O’Mara) in a wig and makeup. I figured Cheyenne was Rocket Girl. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/5 "2009-02-12T15:33:54Z")
I also enjoy this show, which means its fate is doomed. Is it wrong that I’m already anticipating getting the DVD of the season? Last night, right after a dramatic scene (Sam in the meadowlands, lifting the body out of the water) the show abruptly cut off to a screamingly loud brash commercial, completely jarring me and ticking me off. I am growing ever fonder of skipping television altogether and waiting for a series on DVD where I can skip those !@##$$ing commercials and watch 3-4 episodes in a row. No love for Wallace Shawn? Didn’t NoNuts look hot in her jeans at the end? I can’t stand Maria, by the way. We need more episodes where Sam literally loses his shirt. One of my fondest memories so far is of him handcuffed to his bed, shirtless. (Poster fans her face gently.) I like the weirdness, too–the little bits of the bigger puzzle. And the music! More early-seventies music, please! The fact that Sam is ridiculously hot has nothing whatsoever to do with my appreciation of Life On Mars. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/6 "2009-02-12T16:00:40Z")
They do a great job of slipping in the modern references someone like him WOULD normally say in that situation, without belaboring or over-playing the joke. The bits about “Send it to the lab and run the DNA.” “The what?” “uhhh, the fingerprints.” etc. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/7 "2009-02-12T16:12:45Z")
I enjoy this show as much for the musical nostalgia as anything else. Got shivers hearing the opening bars of “Starman” by Bowie last night. It will probably be canceled sooner than later, most likely too eclectic to hold a decent audience share. The good news is that this is based on an earlier BBC show of the same name. It ran two seasons and I assume that it was only supposed to last two seasons. So it shouldn’t be too tough to just give it a decent burial at the end instead of cutting it off abruptly. The original is available via Netflix IIRC, in case anyone is interested. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/8 "2009-02-12T18:20:13Z")
The original Life on Mars is so awesome, I reacted with extreme skepticism when I heard there would be an American remake–and somebody besides John Simm playing Sam Tyler! I didn’t want to like it or Jason O’Mara. But I really like way the new version kept the important aspects of the original, but allowed the show to develop its own tone. Simm!Sam Tyler is not a huge dork like Jason O’Mara’s version. And Harvey Keitel brings a very different edge to Gene Hunt. But instead of jarring me into thinking “Ugh, this is wrong,” it actually makes me happy. I also like how the first six episodes mirrored the first season of the original LOM, but now they’re going off in their own direction without losing what made the original six so great. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/9 "2009-02-12T19:01:36Z")
I’d be willing to bet they won’t use the BBC show’s ending. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/10 "2009-02-12T19:07:25Z")
Sam and Annie have just GOT to get it on! Is she as cute as a button or what? That cast is really growing on me, except I agree that I can’t stand Maria. Let’s get that spacey naked neighbor girl back. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/11 "2009-02-12T20:06:21Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Sam and Annie have just GOT to get it on! Is she as cute as a button or what? She’s freakin’ hot in last night’s episode, when she loses that annoying flip in the front of her hair. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/12 "2009-02-12T21:05:51Z")
> [@misling](#): > > I’d be willing to bet they won’t use the BBC show’s ending. They’ve already indicated that the show will take a different tack for the whole thing, incuding the end. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-2-11-09/485486/13 "2009-02-13T03:37:43Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > They do a great job of slipping in the modern references someone like him WOULD normally say in that situation, without belaboring or over-playing the joke. The bits about “Send it to the lab and run the DNA.” “The what?” “uhhh, the fingerprints.” etc. Another one was in an episode where Sam started to say something about the “African-American community” and then quickly corrected himself to say “the blacks.” I love this show.