TVSquad

(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".

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.

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.