"Life On Mars" begins with a sci-fi/fantasy premise (man is hit by car, wakes up 33 years in the past), but soon settles down into a period buddy cop show, with a "case-of-the-week" format, laddish "male bonding" humor, a pinch of drama, and moderately engaging characters. The only fantasy elements in most episodes are some subtle and not-so-subtle hints that the main character may be in a coma back in 2006 and doctors/relatives are trying to revive him. Only in the last episode of the first season do we get a purpose to his experience (a crucial discovery about his own past), but not a resolution to his situation. And while I am reasonably curious to find out what happens to Sam Tyler, I'm not in much rush to wade through eight more "1970s CSI"-type of episodes to find out. In other words, these comments refer to the 1st season only. It's good for what it is, it's just not what I was hoping for.

It's shows like this that make me realize how awful American television is. There are an abundance of cookie-cutter police dramas, many with a ridiculous number of sequels, but Life on Mars is in a class all its own. And not just because it has a scifi slant to it. It's just exceptionally entertaining.John Simm is a real gem of an actor. What a treat to come across him in this performance. There are a lot of scenes in which he's quite emotional and it fits perfectly with the whole feel of the show. It has a perfect balance between the all-out ballsiness of the crude policing style of the era and the locale and the touches of nostalgia in reverse for the current state of policing.Kudos to the writers for their originality and daring to mix a touch of sci-fi with a gritty and irreverent British police drama.The ending is the most brilliant part. It is even more enigmatic than the finale of Lost. In Life on Mars, the ending lends itself to multiple speculations. Just when you think you've figured out what was really going on you realize, no, that's not possible because...wait a minute...what if...You get the idea. Just watch it and see what theory you come up with.

The premise of this show, just the idea of a 70's cop show, has huge potential. It's one of those ideas that a bunch of people in Hollywood will come up with all at once in a wave, just because the 70's are such low-hanging TV fruit. Unfortunately, the idea that was chosen is a lame one to begin with, "I woke up in the 1970's! Not sure why!" "Life On Mars" also has some very good actors. That's why it's painful watching them, as I write this comment, woodenly coughing out really, truly terrible, formulaic, banal, boring and predictable lines to a raucous backdrop of equally-formulaic 70's-era hits and flame-filled non-sensical explosions. For the past hour Sam has roamed the episode constantly dropping clever bon mots from 2008 and modern-style cop puns so that we won't forget even for a second that he's from the superior future. The writers don't miss a single moment to cram it down our throats that we're in the 70's now. I've seen every LOM so far; I held on and hoped for the best, but tonight I finally reached my disgust threshold."Life On Mars" has everything it needs going for it except sufficient cleverness. "Lost", the show that comes on (for me) before it, is so well-written that one can suspend disbelief while an entire island (replete with ghosts, no less) disappears and skips around the Indian Ocean. "Life On Mars" has a far more down-to-Earth plot, but it needs a miracle at least as big as Lost's sapient island to make it work.

I don't rate many shows the full 10/10 and I will never rate a show the full 100%, but this show (Among with The Simpsons, Futurama and Scrubs) is one of the closest you will ever get. It has got everything, good story lines, good characters and it is just as much of a surprise when things happen to you as it is to the actual characters. The mystery of the show is so brilliantly well written and the show as it goes on really becomes something of its own.The show, for those who don't know stars Sam Tyler who after a car crash finds himself in 1973, he does n't know whats going on and neither does the audience as all 16 episodes of this series slowly getting to the conclusion of the mystery behind the show.The characters really bring a lot to the show and if you did n't feel for them there would be a lot missing from the show (Kinda like the American version suffers from every now and then). There is of course Sam who is the fish out of water, he provides the voice of reason behind decisions made by his superior officer, DCI Gene Hunt who is a reckless alcholic who is only used to his "Fists first, Questions later" policy and it is Sams job. 2 of Hunts loyal comarados are Ray Carling, a slightly irresponsible cop who Sam hates. There is also Chris, a clumsy rising up detective who you really begin to feel for as the show goes on. At the other end of the coop comes Annie, the girl keeping Sam sane, she is stuck at a worse job the other detectives because she is a women and resents that. Along the series Sam and Annies relationship becomes in depth.With these characters, you can really feel why Sam would feel so out of water. I think this show was right in its decision to pull the plug early so it would n't get boring of bogged down. While I would have liked to have seen another season I can see why they quit while they are ahead.