"Life On Mars" (The American Version)

Anyone watching this show?  If so, how is it?  I don't get T.V. service, and I wanted to know a bit more about this show before I went and started to D/L the 7 episodes shown so far.  It kind of looks like a re-tooling of "Quantum Leap", and I keep hearing people talk about it.

I saw this topic dropping down with no responses, so I thought I'd chime in.

I've not seen the American version yet, but the UK version is brilliant, so if it's anything close to it then it should be great. From the handful of previews I've seen, though, Harvey Keitel seems to be playing his role quite low-key, which is pretty much the exact opposite of the way Philip Glenister did it.

I'm a big fan of the UK version, dug it the whole way through. A solid 8.5 - 9 / 10

I only watched the first few US episodes but it wasn't watchable. I saw the UK version quite a while before ever seeing the US one, so I don't know how it would come off for someone completely unfamiliar with the series but I can't imagine it would be any different. The episodes I saw were direct rips of the UK episodes (right down to the little jokes... "I was driving a jeep." "You were driving a military vehicle?" etc.) The acting feels wooden, Keitel seems completely out of place as the guv, the pretty boy they got for the lead doesn't work as anywhere nearly as well as Simm did, and everything comes off as unnatural. 5 / 10. That's right motherfucker, 5/10. On paper you'd think the US version would work just fine given how much they share in common - but watching the US take on the series it's pretty clear the original was more than just the sum of its parts. 

If you haven't seen the UK version buy it and watch it (it doesn't have a R1 release, I imported mine off of Amazon.co.uk and since I have an Oppo it played without a problem, you'll need a DVD player that can handle an R2 PAL release.)

Skip the US version either way, complete waste of time.

Thanks for the reply guys.  I was able to get the full 7 U.S. episodes + the first try at a U.S. pilot (with Colm Meaney from Star Trek in the Harvey Keitel role) , and also the 2 seasons of the U.K. version.

I love the show!  It was alot better then I thought it would be.  I do enjoy the American version just as much.  It's nice to have the two versions, and I can see why it was re-made for the U.S. viewing public.  I think alot of us here at O.T. are much more adapitible to such culture differences then the rest of the viewing public.  The lead actor in the U.S. version reminds me of an American Daniel Craig type.

The US version sucks ass and if you like it you are likely a terrorist.