I’ve found another little TV gem to tide me over until Lost, Battlestar Galactica and Prison Break (new season starts Monday!) return to the tube.Life on Mars, a fantasy on BBC America is a cop show set in 1973. Only, the main character, Sam Tyler, is really from 2006. While investigating a serial murder case, Sam was hit by a car and when he woke up, he was stuck in 1973, complete with flared-leg pants and wide collared shirts.
Sam believes that in “reality,” he’s in a coma. So he acts funky towards people and doesn’t try that hard to get along because they’re all figments of his imagination, right? However, he’s not completely convinced of that fact. The detail in this dream he’s having is too specific, right down to feeling sand on the hands of the policewoman who convinces him not to fling himself from the top of HQ to prove that everything going on is one big hallucination.
Occasionally Sam gets close to waking up, but either he does something to stay in the dream or something in the “real” world keeps him under and the dream continues on. I haven’t seen all the episodes, but I get the feeling that at some point in the “real” world, one of his loved ones may have to make the decision to pull the plug on him a la Terri Schiavo, since he may be in a persistent vegetative state.
Creepy.
A good show, though I know that I miss all of the in-jokes a Brit would get and I need subtitles to understand what the hell they’re saying. I have to catch up on the episodes I’ve TiVoed.
Take this quiz to see if you’d be able to survive in 1973.
Technorati tags: Life on Mars | BBC
4 comments:
I think the main possibly in-joke was just the contrast between what passed for a reasonable representation of reasonable policing in the seventies and what we accept on TV today. British men drank too much in the seventies and British women allowed it. Gratefully!
I loved this series. I was surprised I loved it. It builds so well and keeps the enticing uncertainties growing.
Man, I'm feeling the premise but I hate jumping onto a series in the middle of its inaugural run. I always feel like I'm missing too much! Anyway, I'd be willing to give it a try. Not to mention, alllll right! Michelle's a Prison Break fan too. I can't wait until Monday to see how far the cons get in the outside world. That show is the hotness.
Hi, JVS! I noticed that Sam's boss, in addition to openly drinking on the job, is really brutal. He slaps suspects and his own men too. Is that supposed to be a parody the British police of that era? Was police brutality a big problem at that time?
Frank, I love Prison Break. It's so bogus, but I love the inticacies of the escape plan. This season is going to be a remake of The Fugitive, I guess. Cool!
Give Life on Mars a try. I'm sure they're repeating all the episodes.
Hi. Police brutality was mainly a problem if you were (or appeared) Irish, a problem for the working class and not those with money, as far as I understand things. I don't know, I'm only young.
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