Thursday, October 23, 2008

Tonight: Episode 3 of "Life on Marzzzzzzzzzzzzz"


Tonight at 10, we will bravely soldier on and watch "Life on Mars."

Meanwhile, Hunter-Gatherer, an aficionado of classic TV from here and abroad, weighs in today on the U.S. version of "Mars":

Hollywood, ladies and gentlemen, is now officially out of ideas. The first two episodes borrow so heavily from the UK version that one wonders at first if ABC bothered hiring writers at all for the domestic offering. But after watching a bit of the show I quickly realized that dialogue this flacid could only be made in the good old USA. Is there such a thing as TV karaoke?
I love Harvey Keitel, and I really like Michael Imperioli and Gretchen Mol. But good actors as they are, they are all hogtied by a dreadful script that attempts to Americanize a UK concept for pablumesque primetime consumption. In this portrayal of life in 1973, howlers reign supreme and Michael Imperioli’s character, Det. Ray Carling, leads the cavalcade of cringe with lines like “he’s as crazy as a fruit bat at a cranberry convention” ……….wow.


Well put.

And HG ends with a sensible question: "[W]hy not just show the original series?"

See you at 10!
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6 comments:

  1. esquared™October 23, 2008 at 1:38 PM

    I agree. I've always said that the original series was much better than this Americanized version. Any BBC series that have been Americanized -- "from Man About the House to The Office -- the original was almost always better. Remember when they tried to Americanized Coupling and Absolutely Fabulous, didn't work.

    However, as for HG's question --"[W]hy not just show the original series?"

    Well, because, this series is located in the EV (as supposed to Manchester), which makes us nostalgic for the old EV, esp. with all these gentrification going on (which got this whole Life on Mars thing started in the first place). Not about the plot or the actors or their acting.

    And, of course, the lovely Miss Mol is in this U.S. cast.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 23, 2008 at 2:12 PM

    Did the BBC version make people nostalgic for the old Newcastle?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 23, 2008 at 2:13 PM

    MANCHESTER.

    ReplyDelete
  4. esquared™October 23, 2008 at 3:25 PM

    Probably.

    One thing I do know is that Gretchen wasn't on the BBC cast.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousOctober 23, 2008 at 11:02 PM

    dateline 11:00 pm 10.23.08......even the goddess gretchen cannot save this series........

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousOctober 23, 2008 at 11:13 PM

    Good lord...that was a painful way to spend 60 minutes...I'm with you HG.

    ReplyDelete

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