is there anything good on UK telly that the US won't just copy?

[winterbadger]

So, I'm checking out the IMDB listing for Life on Mars, after having watched the first ep, whihc was simply wonderful.

And there's a pre-production listing for the 2007 US series.

Well, I can only hope that it's half as good. What an amazing tour de force! John Simm, Philip Glenister (who I've been seing in little bits and pieces of roles for years finally gettting a meaty piece), and the stunningly beautiful Liz White.

It resonates for me all that much more being set in the early 1970s. The music, the clothing, it's all eerily familiar and comfortable, and that just adds to the amazing mind-bender of trying to see the experience of this DCI pushed back 30 years in time (or is he?) trying to solve the precursor to the murder he was workign on when he was injured (or is it all in his head?) Amazing! Bedtime? Balls; I have to watch at least one more ep...

Comments

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I adored Life on Mars :0) It was just the right mix of humour and action for me

[winterbadger]

who wasn't yet born until ten years after this show is set)

That's certainly part of the fun for me; I'm probably about the same age as the lead character, maybe a little older (I was in my teens in the 1970s), but I know that for a large part of the audience the 1970s are a foreign country. Then I think about my parents, watching "Danger UXB", "Piece of Cake", or "Foyle's War" and I wonder what they must think. :-) (Much harder to name a US TV show about the 1930s and 1940s; "Carnivale"? the all-too-brief "Homefront"? "The Waltons"?)

I was surprised to find that the US is still trying to make exact copies of UK shows (thinking they might have learned their lesson with Coupling, which wasn't particularly good here to begin with, in my opinion)

On the one hand, I'm glad to see them trying to think outside the blinkered Hollywood box, but mindlessly copying something else because it's successful isn't really thinking. I gather that the remake of The Office actually took the concept and reworked it to make it more American, instead of jsut takign the scripts and giving them to American actors (which is what I gather they did with Coupling).

[tylluan-wen.livejournal.com]

I've been enjoying Life on Mars greatly. I graduated from high school in '74 and, even though it is set in another country, it brings back a lot of memories.

The writing is sharp and I love the characters.

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

Kevin got me the series on DVD as soon as it came out!

[carolinab.livejournal.com]

We'd recorded many episodes and finally got around to watching the first one Tuesday night. We watched two Tuesday and two last night. SUCH a good show. I love everything about it; how often does that happen with a tv program? Are you coming to the game tomorrow?

[winterbadger]

I love everything about it; how often does that happen with a tv program?

Exactly!

Are you coming to the game tomorrow?

Yep! I'm doing something with a friend beforehand, so I'll miss the tailgate, but I couldn't miss Tino's triumphant return to RFK (snort). :-)

[snow-lion.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Life on Mars. I hate to use a term so pedantic as "quirky". It's unusual.

I have discovered a reason I'd like to go to Scotland. The Edinborough Fringe Festival. I've been listening to cuts of the comedy festival online at work. My coworkers are all asking me what I'm laughing so much about.