TVSquad

(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.

For some reason, reporters were kicked out of the ballroom so ABC could set up for this press conference. But all I saw when I walked in an hour later was palm trees and 1973-era ABC signs (like in the picture above). Wonder why I had to abandon my laptop for that?

Anyway, because many of the critics were fans of the BBC original, the gathered throng of testy TV watchers were eager to question the panel for ABC's version of Life on Mars. It was a relatively small panel, with executive producers Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, and stars Jason O'Mara and Michael Imperioli. You have to realize that having no pilot to base questions on makes us critics a cranky bunch, and the fact that the show is undergoing a show-runner change (from David E. Kelley to the Applebaum and Nemec), a massive recasting (all of the original pilot's cast, except for O'Mara, is being recast as we speak) and location change (LA to New York) only fuels more questions.

All things considered, the critics took it relatively easy on the panel.

(S04E01) "Hello, just plain Brenda." - Bill Croelick

Isn't it nice to have Brenda back on our televisions? It's like catching up with an old friend. Or, old friends, as the case may be. And what a way to come back. Multiple homicides, an entire park for a crime scene, the return of an old foe, and more shenanigans on the home front. Brenda's plate is very full as we jump into season four, and that's a good thing.

Wondering what the deal is with new fall TV show Life on Mars? Now, you can ask two of its stars, Jason O'Mara and Michael Imperioli, yourself!

AOL TV's new video interview series, Outside the Box, takes questions submitted by fans and poses them to cast members of the hottest shows. We're already gathering questions for Scrubs, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money.

If you don't know much about the series, O'Mara plays a modern-day police detective who suddenly finds himself transported back in time to 1973. There's been a lot of buzz and gossip surrounding around this show, which is a remake of a popular British hit.

If you've got questions for O'Mara and Imperioli, submit them in the comments below by Tuesday, July 15. Be sure to include your first name and city/state. We'll take the best entries and ask some of them in the interview. Good luck!

I was watching a Red Sox game last week (yes, stay with me here, this really does have something to do with Life on Mars) and they had Lenny Clarke in the booth as a guest. He shows up from time to time, usually with Denis Leary (they're both from Boston) and riff on everything for an inning or two. The two announcers asked Clarke what he was working on and he mentioned that he was in the pilot for the ABC remake of the British series but didn't know if he was going to be in the rest of the series. He didn't really know what was happening with the show.

He's not the only one.

I don't know if this is good news or bad... David E. Kelley may be checking out of Life on Mars, the ABC pilot based on the hit BBC crime/time travel drama. According to Variety, the prolific Mr. Kelley -- Boston Legal, L.A. Law, Picket Fences, Ally MacBeal, The Practice, Chicago Hope, etc. -- is unhappy with the financial arrangements and if things aren't worked out, he's going to move on.

Life on Mars was a terrific show. The UK version has played on BBC America, starring John Simm and Philip Glenister. Following the British model, the series lasted just two years -- 16 episodes total. In the ABC pilot, which Thomas Schlamme directed, Jason O'Mara (Men in Trees) is playing Simm's role, Sam; Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation) is Gene. Kelley wrote the American variation on the story of Sam Tyler, a police detective in present day who awakens from a car crash to find he's living in 1973. Has he really gone back in time or is it all in his head?

I'm sorry, but every time I see Kyle MacLachan I think of that scene in the film Blue Velvet where he's hiding in the closet, nothing on but his birthday suit, while Dennis Hopper sucks in oxygen and swears at Isabella Rossellini. So, I came into this review a bit jaded. Turns out that Kyle didn't appear naked once during the entire show.

In Justice is a procedural show, first and foremost. There's an injustice, the Justice Project team investigates, Kyle MacLachan's character goes the legal route, and there's a happy resolution.  They also incorporate features from other procedurals, such as the flashback from such shows as CSI and Without a Trace. But it's also slower and a bit more character-driven than, say, Law & Order.