The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion
Television/Movie Mysteries
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Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes
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I have seen Life on Mars, both the original and US versions. The last ten minutes or so of the US final is a monstrosity!But I liked the ambiguity at the end of the UK version.
Saw Ashes to Ashes on BBC America this spring. I may actually like this even better than Life on Mars.
There's a second series? Yesssssss.
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The US ending had them on a space craft landing on Mars! The crew was in suspended animation for the long trip. It was a shame because up to that point they did a pretty good job with the show.
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Donna wrote: "Spoiler AlertThe US ending had them on a space craft landing on Mars! The crew was in suspended animation for the long trip. It was a shame because up to that point they did a pretty good job w..."
The way I look at it, we got an ending, not like some shows ( journeyman, john doe etc) that just disapper with no closure. It was orginial and made me sit up and say HUH?
They did get that literal about the title! Perfectly dreadful. I missed my TV brick.
The final shot was "Gene Hunt"'s 1973 shoe landing on the Martian surface. That was a WTF moment.
US Life on Mars did not get great ratings, so I doubt it. And they did indeed try to promote it (the ads were everywhere last fall, when it was debuting).On the other hand, ABC, the network that made it over here, is trying to revive a program they killed after less than a season TEN years ago (Cupid). So weirder things have happened.
Considering the ending they gave Life on Mars, frankly I don't even see how they could do a setup for Ashes to Ashes. Perhaps I don't have enough imagination for network television?
Probably just the wrong kind of imagination.I agree, though, TV is going downhill. And I actually like some reality programming.
Over here, NBC is giving the retiring host of their late-night talk show 5 hours a week in prime time. I suspect because it would be a great deal cheaper to produce than dramas or sitcoms. (Same motive as with the reality shows - cheap to produce.) I, frankly, am not interested. If it were Johnny Carson? You bet.
The FOX New Years Eve thing last year was entirely former artists from their own reality shows, I think (granted, they have American Idol and a couple of those are now very big stars over here).
I have seen part of the first UK series of The Apprentice. It is much better than the US version, believe it or not.I like Dragon's Den. The dragons are dead serious, and the applicants are a real variety of "cool idea" and "are you nuts!?!"
They don't tend to revive old series as much over here (exception: Dallas or Dynasty or something similar, which will do an occasional TV mini-series). But the new ones tend to be dumber than they used to be. And a lot of them are spinoffs. And they wonder why viewership is down.
BBC America is running what I think is the first series of the UK Apprentice, which I find kind of fun. As I said, better than the US version with Donald Trump.
I can't believe I never saw a single episode of these programs! As they'll probably be re-run on Sky, I'll have to keep an eye out for them.
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I keep forgetting when it's on. And it's not listed in my TV guide, which doesn't help. The first series was superb, though.
Ashes to Ashes is on Tuesday at 10:00 on BBCA. I've seen it but am watching again. Currently almost all the way through the third and final season. Had a hard time with the show at first - after all, my beloved John Simm was nowhere to be found - but by the second season I was on board and this final season has been great.
Ah. I would seem to have missed the entire second season, then, if they are currently running the third.
No, sorry for the misunderstanding. BBC America is running the second season currently. I think episode 3 was last night.
Oh, good, then.
You're right about Gene - great character with many good qualities - but it would be very difficult to like him today.
I didn't know there was already another Ashes to Ashes so I will keep an eye out for it on BBC America or in Netflix.