Review: Life on Mars and Eleventh Hour

Two new dramas finally fill the black hole time slot up against “ER” on Thursday Nights: Life on Mars (ABC) and Eleventh Hour (CBS), both following the upward trend of stealing shows and actors from across the pond.

Life on Mars - B+

The eagerly awaited Life on Mars –a remake of the British show of the same name, which wrapped up only last year—follows detective Sam Tyler (Jason O’Mara) on a time-trip to 1973. In the middle of a murder investigation that ends in his girlfriend/fellow detective Maya (a grown-up Denise Huxtable, aka Lisa Bonet) missing, Sam is hit by a car and wakes up 35 years in the past and the owner of a new wardrobe and a David Bowie 8-track.

Times sure are different in 1973— no computers, no cell phones, polyester, moustaches, and female cops who are relegated to nurse duty. He attempts to solve his cases with 2008 logic while following the rules of 1973 and battling his superior Lt.Gene Hunt (the marvelous Harvey Keitel) and Det. Ray Carling (The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli)

Used to the male-female equality of the 21st century, Sam confides in Annie Norris (Gretchen Mol), the only woman in the precinct, and tries to use the intelligence she keeps hidden from her coworkers to solve cases – and the mystery of why he’s in 1973. Is he in a coma? A dream state? Crazy? A time-traveler? (Lord, I miss Journeyman!)

I’ve never seen the British Life on Mars, but for that I’m glad – I wouldn’t want to spoil any of the twists I’m sure are to come. I want to enjoy the ride with this one, although I don’t know how our talented American writers are going to keep Sam in ’73 for 22 episodes, when the original came to a conclusion after just 16.


Eleventh Hour - C

Fringe meets CSI in this new procedural from CBS – as if we didn’t have enough. Eleventh Hour is adapted from a British miniseries featuring Patrick Stewart as Dr. Jacob Hood, a biophysicist working for the FBI. The new installment is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer –what isn’t these days?—and stars British actor Rufus Sewell and his creepy eyes as the quirky doc. Hood and his FBI handler Rachel (Marley Shelton), a petite blonde with a sarcastic streak, investigate weird happenings across the U.S. — first, a cloning experiment in Seattle, then a case of 11 year old boys having heart attacks in the deep south.

The premise is a little bit more fantastic than your average procedural, but not as unpleasant as much of today’s science fiction, but fails to succeed at either one. Eleventh Hour may be a happy medium for viewers who want the strange but not the unbelievable, but its wavering nature only comes off as hesitation and self-doubt.