I'm back [for the time being]

Holy cats getting on to the blog is frustrating. Things that I have learned : Google is the product of Satan.


Anyway, just finished watching this series on BBC America and also from some tapes a friend gave me. Wow, another "cop drama with a twist" that I watched this year that I really enjoyed. The first was Dexter, and I think these two shows are the best dramas I've seen this year.

When it first aired on BBC America, I gave it a pass. I think it had to do with that it came out around the same time they introduced Hex--and that is a horrible show.
But it stars John Simms who will be a major player in Season 3 of Doctor Who, and I heard great things about Life on Mars, and that there was an attempt to do an American version of it-- so I gave it a shot.


It's hard to describe it. It would probably turn most people off, maybe coming off as silly.
Detective Sam Tyler gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973.The show follows him as he struggles to work in a very un-PC, corrupt police department. Lacking in modern forensics, computers, and mobiles phones also add to Sam's frustrations.
They bring up the question of 'if he went back in time' or is his 1973 world all part of the coma that he is in back in 2006.
I'm pretty sure it's from the coma because the men he has to work with , even though they are the most offensive cops around, are made from the cheesy stuff on tv and movies that we watched growing up. His supervisor Gene Hunt has the DNA of Starsky & Hutch, Charles Bronson, and a good dose Quentin Tarantino.Maybe Gene is named after Gene Hackman aka Popeye Doyle of the French Connection movies. They even throw in some Starsky & Hutch gags, by having Gene knock over some trash cans when he pulls his car up.

One of my favorite things about Sam's relationship with his fellow detectives is that they never successfully get a "buddy cop" vibe pairing that you would expect in most action cop shows. Sam & the guys constantly bitch and fight the whole time.There's tension in every episode. I loved that.

Gene had the best line to Sam: " I'll listen to the snot in my hanky before I'll start listening to you"

That is a great line.

I also like the Prisoner type feel whenever they focus on the issue of Sam being in a coma. He picks up conversations broadcasted through his tv or radio of his doctors and his loved ones talking about his condition. It's creepy and also deeply affecting because it's torturous for Sam. He doesn't know how to wake up. Is there a secret he must face, a truth made known, or some atonement that has to be done that will finally let him wake up.

Really, there is a lot of good stuff going on here. Part cheesy detective show, and part fantasy all hitting the right notes. Unlike Robin Hood where it can't quite balance its cheese factor. This does.

If they still progress with a US version, please, please drop it on Tarantino's desk. I think he's the only one who could handle the tone of this. I've seen his CSI work, he could do it.

p.s. to add: The soundtrack! David Bowie, the Who, Elton John, The Young Rascals, Paul McCartney. Great music, it really adds a cool touch.