After a lot of shake-ups, the US version of the original British series Life on Mars will debut tonight on ABC at 10pm.  If time travel is your thing, you should check it out. It comes on right after Grey's Anatomy on Thursdays.

Life on Mars is about a detective who finds himself stuck in the early 1970s and thus has to go about his modern professional life absent the help of thirty or so years of technology and forensic science.  The series had a rough transfer to a US network after the first pilot by Ally McBeal's David Kelley was scrapped and the whole thing had to be redone from scratch.  ABC has announced that it now has ABC drama October Road producers Josh Appelbaum, Andre Namec, Scott Rosenberg at the helm.

Some potential premiere spoilers ahead.

In the first episode, we meet NYPD Detective Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) and find him working with secret girlfriend Maya Daniels (Lisa Bonet) en route to tracking down a murderer.  The suspect turns the tables around and kidnaps Maya.  Before Sam can rescue her, the car he used is hit by a car.  He gets the shock of a lifetime when he finds himself in New York – 1973.

Now Sam is understandably baffled.  He doesn't know if he got in a coma after the accident, or was he dreaming, or did he get sucked by a time warp or something.  Sam doesn't know. And surely the viewers have no idea either.  But we know it's true, especially after he is recognized by the police as a transfer to the unit. Sam finds his place, all of a sudden.  He checks his car and his name on the deed. His badge tells him the same thing.  Sam's attempt in adjusting to a different era will be the focus of Life on Mars' first season.

Catch Life on Mars tonight at 10pm on ABC.



-Glenn L. Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: The Globe and Mail, Cinema Blend
(Image Courtesy of ABC)