jason omara

(S01E09) Finally, we get a continuation of the cliffhanger phone call ending from November! Mind you, it was kind of weird (notice that the song about the white room with black curtains played while Sam walked into a white room with black curtains). I wish they showed this episode first, as it was the better episode of the two and really showcased Michael Imperioli's talent as Detective Ray Karling.

Gene Hunt seems to be a big fan of 70's pop culture, as he keeps referring to it in his interview. Ray, on the other hand, keeps using the pseudo-profanity that Disney only permits. Ray also thinks of very colorful and amusing metaphors. It becomes cartoonish after a while. The episode also prodigiously used the slo-mo effect to the point where I thought they must have had to fill time.

(S01E08) This show has found a new directive. That directive is: deviate from the original British series as quickly as possible. It was bound to happen. I just didn't think it would happen so soon or to such a large extent.

To begin: WTF??? When we last left Sam Tyler, he was answering a mysterious phone call. Now we have a jump in time out of Lost and he's at the scene of a suicide in mid-attempt. That's page one of sloppy serial storytelling.

...Nine foreign Americans

With all of the starry-eyed, out-of-work Midwesterners who litter Sunset Blvd., one would assume that our television landscape would be similarly populated with corn-fed blonds. You would, however, be wrong. In fact, there are a ton of non-Americans who have come to Hollywood to take all of our primetime show-starring jobs.

What's fun for me is watching the shows to see who does a good version of an American accent, and who needs to spend a little more time with their dialect coaches. Below are nine stars who've jumped the pond to come to the good ol' U. S. of A.

(S01E07) In what would have been the season finale if this were the British version of the show, Sam finally meets his father (and talks to himself as well, in an amusing timey-wimey sort of way). Originally, his father left him on his fourth birthday right after the party. Now, something else happened.

On a tangential note, I do wish this show had theme music of some sort. Preferably something akin to the style of '70s police television dramas. The opening montage seems to go too quickly. At least, this is what I thought while listening to the '70s-style music during the opening chase scene.

Life on Mars does has a slower pace than most of the other shows on television. Fortunately, it is kept interesting by being filled with eye candy such as wide shots and different colors. The shirts and the wallpapers alone fascinate me. I even got a laugh from Gene Hunt's loafers.

(S01E06) Gotta love that old school funk that the episode started with. I've been constantly commenting about how similar the individual plots and characters are to the original British version of the show (which has been noticed in the feedback), but in this episode I saw a lot of the show coming into its own. Some of the plot differences even make more logical sense that the original version.

The attention to detail from the entire series is superb. Little bits like Sam's frustration with using an old style typewriter add to the flavor of the show. As usual, Michael Imperioli gets the best lines. It wouldn't surprise me if he got a best supporting actor Emmy nomination for this role, despite its cartoonish nature.

(S01E05) "Have you died and gone to moron heaven?" - Gene Hunt

What we had here, my friends, was a real theological episode. There were lots of references to angels, miracles, prayer and the question of whether or not Sam is dead. If so, is he in purgatory or hell or heaven? Does that explain his predicament? And is the old gray beard a vagrant or a heavenly messenger?

Overall, what I really thought made the show percolate was the teaming up of Sam and Clams. "Clams" we learn is Fletcher Bellow, Sam's mentor, and he pops up in the middle of a potentially explosive riot, with African-Americans going after Puerto Ricans when a little girl plummets from a rooftop at the hands -- or so it seems -- of Angel Ramirez.

(S01E04) "Just resign already, will ya?" - Sam, after seeing Nixon on TV

Well, it's probably not the main reason, but it looks like Sam finally figured out one the reasons he's in 1973 - keeping an eye on his mother. Last week, after Windy mentioned to Sam that maybe 2008 is the dream and 1973 is reality, it got me wondering if any of Sam's family would be around. Of course, that was quickly confirmed when Sam saw his father (Cobra!) and his young self heading off to a Knicks game at the end of the episode. Now, I'm no expert on the whole space-time continuum thingy... but isn't the world supposed to blow up or something when you see your past self?

(S01E03) Sam Tyler and company have to investigate a murder at a park in Queens. At least, I'm pretty sure the park was in Queens. Sam said he grew up near there and the Vietnam Vet that died was from Queens, so it's a fair guess.

At this rate, "let's get this guy" is going to become a Harvey Keitel/Gene Hunt catchphrase. It's better than his "you're surrounded by armed bastards".

"It's dangerous to be part of the Sopranos family. I didn't even make it out of that family."

ABC's 'Life on Mars' is one of the most promising new shows of this fall TV season -- and some might argue that it's not necessarily new, being a remake of a BBC series of the same name, but it's always been truly American to steal our best ideas from the Brits, anyway. (Oh, kidding.)

Jason O'Mara stars as an NYC detective who goes to bed one day in 2008, but wakes up in 1973. But his girlfriend in the present day is Lisa Bonet, and his girlfriend in 1973 is Gretchen Mol, so life can't be all bad, right?

Michael Imperioli co-stars as another detective, and he and O'Mara sat down for an Outside the Box interview to talk about the show and all things related and unrelated -- such as American accents (O'Mara is Irish), their guilty pleasure TV shows, what TV family they'd want to be a part of, and the worst acting jobs they've ever had.

Check out Outside the Box: Life on Mars, AND notice how good Michael Imperioli looks with a beard. Am I right, or am I right?

Jason O'Mara is the star of the new ABC drama Life on Mars, but the show features a few other actors who look even more familiar ... such as Michael Imperioli, otherwise known as Christopher Moltisanti (or as I always think of it, "Christapha") on HBO's The Sopranos.

O'Mara and Imperioli sat down for an Outside the Box: Life on Mars interview to talk about the show -- which, at the time they taped the interview, was getting its pilot completely scrapped and redone -- and some other stuff, including guilty pleasure shows, their worst acting jobs ever, and what TV family they wish they could be a part of. (And no, Imperioli doesn't want to be a member of The Sopranos. Again.)

In this clip exclusive to TV Squad, it's again with the Sopranos! This time, O'Mara asks Imperioli about the difference between filming an HBO series and a network series -- and they ALMOST bust out the swear words. Darn it, maybe we should have given them some beer.

Watch Outside the Box: Life on Mars

Last night's second episode of ABC's new drama Life on Mars, the American version of the British hit, took a precipitous drop in the ratings. This is really bad news because Life on Mars may be the best new show of the season, unless you're in love with The Mentalist, which I am not, or maybe The Eleventh Hour or My Own Worst Enemy has tickled your fancy.

What's clear is that ABC is trying to build a solid Thursday with Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Life on Mars, but Ugly Betty is off to a rocky start, Grey's isn't the powerhouse it once was, and the pressure is on Mars to keep Grey's lead and improve on it.

The show got off to a good start in the premiere, but last night was off 25%. That's not good.

(S01E02) I said it before and I'll say it again: Life On Mars has a fantastic soundtrack. They also continue their use of yellow filter to simulate the dirtiness of New York City in the 1970's. When they go to scenes from 2008, the filter becomes blue. I wonder if the creators intended a deeper significance with that?

(S01E01) Having been a fan of the original BBC version of this show, I was somewhat skeptical of the idea of an American remake. After watching the first episode, I was both elated, as it seems to translate well into an Americanized world (I practically predicted a shot of the Twin Towers before they appeared on screen), and concerned over some of the differences.

Let me start with the differences...

Have you checked out ABC.com at all today? If you do, get ready to be caught off guard. To generate some buzz, the Alphabet network's home page opens up with an advertisement for their new drama Life On Mars and it looks an awful lot like some funky virus just invaded my computer.

Life on Mars continues to add to its cast.

Just days after it was announced that Gretchen Mol had joined the ABC remake of the British hit comes word that Bill Cosby's TV daughter is coming aboard too. She's going to play Jason O'Mara's girlfriend (the one in the present-day, not the 1970s - Mol will play the other one).

As we reported earlier, the entire pilot is being reshot, with a brand new cast. Some of the people they have in the new version certainly sound interesting (including Harvey Keitel), though I think I would have liked to have seen original pilot cast members Lenny Clarke and Colm Meany. Bonet had an infamous falling out with Cosby while filming The Cosby Show in the 80s and then got her own spinoff show, A Different World. She went on to such movies as High Fidelity and the new film Gambit, and was married to rocker Lenny Kravitz (son of Roxie Roker, from The Jeffersons) for a while.