doubleofive said:

I just read how Life on Mars (US) ended on io9's 10 Big Reveals That Made Stories Even More Confusing (SPOILERS FOR STUFF). Is that actually what happened? I would have been so pissed off.

Yeah, that was the ending. They were on a space mission to mars and while in cryosleep the crew's minds were fed a virtual world of their choice. The main character choose to be a cop in the 2006 (or whenever the show was on) and thanks to some computer bug things glitched out and it change the date to the 1970s mid program. Not only that, but the cops he works with in his glitched out cop fantasy are the other crew members of his space shuttle, the police chief he is constantly at odds with throughout the show turns out to be his dad and the antagonistic relationship they always shared was a result of daddy issues.

It kind of ended like the Wizard of Oz (it was just a dream, and you were there, and you were there, and you were there...), only the Wizard of Oz was cool and featured midgets and flying monkeys.

Not sure who thought the technological twist on the "it was all just a bad dream" cop out would be a good idea for an ending, but I do believe I heard that they had to rush to tie it up because it got cancelled.