Comments | lifein1973: Life on Mars in Slate

altorogue in lifein1973

Life on Mars in Slate

Jan 19, 2010 07:23

Here's an article from MSN's online magazine, Slate, talking about the US and UK versions of Life on Mars, and why the US version had the "stupidest thing I have ever seen happen on a scripted TV show. It insults the intelligence of everyone, living and dead, who has ever followed the logical narrative arc of a television series." The UK version ( Read more... )

media coverage, lom usa

Comments 36

lozenger8 January 19 2010, 13:31:25 UTC

That was an interesting article, thank you.

There were two things I disagreed with (Lost is not a better show than LoM, sorry --- and Sam is not emasculated, semi or not. He's sensitive, and he's not even that all the time. There's a difference.)

altorogue January 19 2010, 13:36:07 UTC

Lost is not a better show than LoM, sorry- Well, yeah! :D

And I think this guy and I have different ideas of masculine- but he did have a point on size that I never thought about. I think part of why Keitel never worked for me was that he wasn't a big guy at all- and maybe the personality would have been fine without the physicality, but it wasn't.

jantalaimon January 19 2010, 13:57:04 UTC

Yep, agreed, although the other problem is that Jason O'Mara can't act isn't John Simm is a really big guy. If they were dead set on Keitel (which, sorry, but I really did think that he was miscast, even though I have no problem with him in general), they should have hired a smaller, slighter Sam.

(Yeah, I know, O'Mara was the only constant from the original pilot into the production TV show, back when Colm Meaney was Gene. So nevermind. XD)

lozenger8 January 19 2010, 14:26:00 UTC

O'Mara was the only constant from the original pilot into the production TV show...

That is something that has ALWAYS confused me. Of any of the things that needed to be changed from that pilot, they didn't notice the most important? Really?

Thread 9

(The comment has been removed)

altorogue January 19 2010, 13:39:08 UTC

It took me quite awhile before I could get past that first episode because it was trying too hard to imitate the original. When they did some not-copied storylines, or took a couple in a different direction, it was really well done; the football killing, for example, had a couple really great things added on along with Americanizing it.

cyber_moggy January 19 2010, 21:32:49 UTC

talkingtothesky January 19 2010, 14:34:40 UTC

About the ending: WTH. Really? I kept expecting the article to turn around and go 'just kidding'. Seriously?

*laughs self to death*

templeremus January 19 2010, 22:00:30 UTC

I know. You can actually watch the last 5 minutes here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cak2_m_9i8M
And it's just...cheap. Glossy, and high-budget, and full of supposedly glamorous actors, but still so cheap.

animagiblender January 19 2010, 14:59:51 UTC

Do you live in range of the KUHT PBS station in H-town, Texas?

If so, howdy, neighbor!

altorogue January 19 2010, 20:06:46 UTC

Nope, WTTW in Chicago! But I'm guessing PBS in general just got the rights or something.

wolfine January 19 2010, 16:59:03 UTC

"Twice as handsome"? I think not! John's downright edible. (tomayto, tomahto)

I stayed away from the US version, wisely as it turns out, and I can understand the feeling of a cheat at the end. I never watched "Dallas" back in the day either, but as I recall, there was a similar idiotic switch-up that had the entire country groaning in unison.

wolfine January 21 2010, 02:11:36 UTC

Yeah, really! I don't really like the quarterback type.