# Life on Mars US -- premiers tomorrow 10/09 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050 "2008-10-08T20:05:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/21 "2008-10-10T13:55:22Z")
> [@kingpengvin](#): > > BTW anybody else get that same chill as the character when he turned and looked up at the Twin towers? I felt like I was kicked in the chest. That was a difficult scene to watch for me. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/22 "2008-10-10T14:17:47Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I was pretty amused by it. I had seen part of one episode of the BBC version without having any idea what it was about. I surmised it wasn’t about living on Mars. It made a whole lot more sense now that I’ve seen the premiere. > > I love the soundtrack and was just thinking about what I would be doing in 1973. I’d buy a Porsche Speedster and a 1967 Camaro SS for cheap. I’d have unprotected sex with Gretchen Mol because if worse came to worse, there was nothing that couldn’t be dealt with by a shot of penicillin. I’d go and catch the Who’s performance of Quadrophrenia at the Philadelphia Spectrum. > > Harvey Keitel is pretty great. I wonder which episode he’s going to go Bad Lieutenant on us. Given that Gretchen Mol would be fourteen months old at the time, I think that STDs would be the very least of your worries. Attica! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/23 "2008-10-10T14:33:13Z")
I’d have found the whole thing more believable if I’d heard Harvey Keitel say “And that’s the LAST time I want to hear about your freakin’ subconscious or the year 2008!” ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/24 "2008-10-10T15:55:45Z")
It’s on the DVR right now. One question: Did it have the Creepy Test Pattern Girl? ---
**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:** [October 10, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/25 "2008-10-10T16:11:51Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Did it have the Creepy Test Pattern Girl? No, unless she came on while I was in the kitchen. It did have the TV scientist/doctor. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/26 "2008-10-10T16:27:55Z")
I found it enjoyable, though I don’t find the lead actor very appealing. Liked the scene at the end where he’s in the car, talking to the creepy kid. Liked not knowing what he was going to do. Makes me want to check out the British version. Some random thoughts: Either tv is getting better generally, or my standards are going down, as there are quite a few shows on that I like right now. Things change so quickly. I was in college in the 70s so the fact that the 70s are being treated as being so alien really really really makes me feel ancient. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/27 "2008-10-10T16:48:31Z")
That’s what I like about the show so far. It is alien. Your looking at an analog world. No cell phones, personal computers, word processors, home theatre, internet, very little in live news reporting (shot on film and had to be processed and edited then run on the telecini). Movies stayed in theatres forever and then languished until eventually run on TV a decade later. All dials, knobs, and tuners. Looking back I can’t believe we got by on the “stone knives and bear skins” technology we had. Then there is the whole social aspect that, if this show does well enough, will be interesting to watch. So many now social taboos broken casually without thought. Plus a decent look at the corruption of the police depts in the big cities of the day. Can’t wait for more, and may start watching the original soon. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/28 "2008-10-10T18:47:09Z")
I enjoyed. I had always intended to catch the original series on BBC America, but only managed to catch the last four episodes of that series on this weekend’s marathon. I did read up on the show on the 'net, and I’m looking forward to the anachronisms that viewers loved to see on the original. Only found one so far, though. When Sam gets to his room for the first time, it’s still daytime, maybe late afternoon. _Cannon_ was on the television, and it probably shouldn’t have been on at that time (IIRC, about the only things on television in the afternoon in the early '70s were soap operas, game shows, Phil Donahue and the Nixon-Watergate hearings.) And I second the question about Lisa Bonet. Did she turn up safe because Sam had a talk with the serial-killer-to-be? And did the original have a girlfriend of Sam’s waiting for him in the future? ---
**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:** [October 10, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/29 "2008-10-10T19:17:32Z")
> [@Sean\_Factotum](#): > > And did the original have a girlfriend of Sam’s waiting for him in the future? Yeah. Don’t recall if she’s a fellow cop or not. There’s also a subplot with Sam trying to rescue a young woman from a local gang before the gang’s boss kills her. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/30 "2008-10-10T19:26:54Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Yeah. Don’t recall if she’s a fellow cop or not. She was. It was implied that she was saved by the second season. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/31 "2008-10-10T19:41:58Z")
> [@Sean\_Factotum](#): > > Only found one so far, though. When Sam gets to his room for the first time, it’s still daytime, maybe late afternoon. _Cannon_ was on the television, and it probably shouldn’t have been on at that time (IIRC, about the only things on television in the afternoon in the early '70s were soap operas, game shows, Phil Donahue and the Nixon-Watergate hearings.) I recall seeing cop shows rerun in the late, late afternooon - say about 5pm. I don’t remember _Canon_ in particular, but I do recall seeing similar shows such as _Ironside_, _the Streets of San Francisco_ and _Harry-O_ in reruns aound 4-6pm weekdays, circa the mid-70s. ('73 was a little early for me, I was 4 then, but I imagine there wasn’t THAT much difference in programming between '73 and '78.) So, I wouldn’t consider that anachronistic. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/32 "2008-10-10T20:54:04Z")
Shows typically don’t go into syndication until they have at least 100 episodes. “Cannon” had about half that in spring of '73. If the knob on Sam’s TV was set to anything other than 5, 9, or 11 during that clip then it’s almost certainly an anachronism. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/33 "2008-10-10T22:22:08Z")
I was extremely impressed with one meta joke in the show. Sam is talking to Gretchen Mol and telling her that he’s ‘going to walk until his subconscious runs out of ideas of what it needs to populate the world with’. (paraphrased, obviously) That fact that he was saying that to the woman who played the lead in “The Thirteenth Floor” was pretty clever, I thought. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/34 "2008-10-10T22:51:08Z")
Sam said that in the original, too. So it was probably more of a coincidence than a meta joke… ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/35 "2008-10-11T00:10:14Z")
I hadn’t seen any of the BBC show, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I did like the way they did the scene when he was talking with the kid near the end; I was trying to figure out how he thought was going to be able to get away with killing him, since the kid still seemed intent on following the same path. Having his future partner’s voice come on the radio to tell him she was okay was nicely done. I assume this means that what he did in the past prevented all the future killings? I did have one minor disconnect when he was standing on the street talking with the lady cop and the instrumental opening for The Who song used for CSI:NY started up. It took me a second to realize that in 1973 that was a current song. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/36 "2008-10-11T01:55:27Z")
I haven’t seen the original either, though I had heard great things about it, and was spoiled for the ending. And I thought that this was AWESOME. Instant fan. I actually watched it twice tonight, which I never do. I can’t get BBC America here, so I think I’m off on a hunt for DVDs… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/37 "2008-10-11T04:32:52Z")
As a certifiable Old Fart, I liked being back home in my own time. Wrong city, but it’ll do. However, by '73 nobody but me was playing “Out of Time,” and then it was the Chris Farlowe version, thankyouverymuch. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/38 "2008-10-11T05:31:00Z")
I just watched it on [abc.com](http://abc.com). I have never seen the original. I liked it. It think it will be my replacement time travel show since Journeyman is gone. Both Jason O’Mara and Gretchen Mol would be less than 1 year old in 1973. Also, Jason O’Mara does not do a good fake Yank accent. Overall, a B+. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/39 "2008-10-11T05:32:35Z")
My take on the show - boomer wet dream. Not bad, but I don’t know if I can get over having my nose rubbed in the extreme boomers reliving their glory days episode after episode. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050/40 "2008-10-11T05:45:14Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > My take on the show - boomer wet dream. Not bad, but I don’t know if I can get over having my nose rubbed in the extreme boomers reliving their glory days episode after episode. Bite me! 😉 These days I think of how John Gacy, who was trolling around my place of business late at night (my hours), never thought to try to kill me. My wife says it’s because I looked too intimidating, but I can’t help but think it was because I, then, I thought, a handsome and fit guy, wasn’t hot enough to murder. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-us-premiers-tomorrow-10-09/467050.md?page=3)