[supremus]

Hmm, not sure about Life on Mars US. They seem to have created a more authentic, well populated 1970s, but the fun and warmth seems to be missing, not just from the environment, but also from the characters. Keitel is a fine actor, but Glenister's Gene Hunt was an instant classic, and on first impressions, there's no real comparison the two. The guy playing Sam is kind of wooden, and although he seems less smarmy than John Simms, he doesn't really have much chemistry with either Keitel or Gretchen Mol, and in almost every scene, I kept thinking the guy from Journeyman would have been much better in the role. The only character that really caught my attention was The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli, and it was kind of nice to see Lisa Bonet back on TV as well.

I thought it was disappointing how closely the pilot followed the UK version, and as a result made many of the same mistakes, and even found room for some new ones. They rushed the setup, and the opening car sequence looked cheap and felt forced, which might not have seemed too important in the grand scheme of things, but it gave a bad first impression. They were sensible enough to cut the mind-numbingly stupid rooftop scene, although, it did serve the purpose of setting up the ending of the UK series, so hopefully this means future episodes will start to take a different route. The Office US was also off to a comparatively weak start, but eventually managed to not only match, but completely surpass the UK version, and certainly in terms of plot, that shouldn't be too hard for Life on Mars, but I do have my concerns about the characters.

First impressions: A resounding "meh".