'Life On Mars' Diverges From Original After Premiere

[Brian Damage]

It's hard for fans of the original "Life On Mars" to see anyone in the role of Sam Tyler than the great John Simm, but the ABC run of the show that premieres Thursday night will only spend a single episode on the same track as the original.
After that, the American version of the show will take a life of its own.

"I think once you see the episodes roll out, the pilot is definitely the one episode that we had to stick close to the story of the BBC version because it sets up the story," said Jason O'Mara, the new Sam Tyler in the ABC series. "But once episodes 2, 3 and 4 come along, even though there are elements there form the original, it starts to go in a different direction."

"Life on Mars" focuses on Sam Tyler, a cop from 2008 who suddenly finds himself stuck in 1973. He can't figure out what he's doing there, or how he got there, but he takes on the role of a cop there, and is constantly trying to get back in touch with his own time.

The new "Life On Mars" had struggles right out of the gate. David E. Kelley, who brought fans the like of "Ally McBeal" and "Boston Public," left the show after the pilot as part of his agreement to give one more year to his critically acclaimed "Boston Legal" series. ABC then gutted the cast of the pilot, which included "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" alum Colm Meaney, and replaced all the actors with bigger names to surround O'Mara like Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli from "The Sopranos" fame.

While that might cause one to question a network's commitment to a particular show, executive producer Josh Appelbaum says that's not the case with "Life on Mars."

"Thanks to the support of our two studios, which is Twentieth Century Fox Television and ABC Studios, we have a really generous budget," Appelbaum said. "They're really behind the show. The network is behind the show. I think you'll find that we have not really scrimped on anything."

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