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...

• At 8, ABC has a new Ugly Betty, then a new episode of Grey's Anatomy and the series premiere of Life On Mars.
• CBS has a new Survivor at 8, followed by the season premiere of CSI and the series premiere of Eleventh Hour.
• NBC has a new My Name Is Earl at 8, then the series premiere of Kath & Kim, then a new episode of The Office, then the series premiere of SNL Thursday Weekend Update, and a new ER.
• FOX has Game 1 of the National League Championship, the Dodgers vs. the Phillies at 8.
• The CW has new episodes of Smallville and Supernatural.
• At 8:30, HGTV has a new Myles of Style, followed by a new Rate My Space.
• At 9, History Channel has a new Modern Marvels.
• TLC has a new American Chopper at 9.
• At 10, FX has a new It's Always Sunny..., then the series premiere of Testees.
• Food Network has a new Ace of Cakes at 10.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has another new episode of The Sarah Silverman Program.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk show listings.

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.

The good folks at the New York Television Festival have been nice enough to give us four full festival passes to give away this week! These passes will not only get you into all panels and pilot screenings (except the Industry Day panels on Monday the 15th), but will also get you into all of the premiere screenings and after-parties (21 and up only) that will be held that week, complete with the stars and producers of each show. Among the shows that will have premieres that week: Fringe, Life on Mars, Life, and Worst Week. The Festival will be held from September 12-17 at New World Stages in midtown Manhattan.

To enter, leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Tuesday, September 9 simply telling us which of the premieres you most want to see. As always, we'll randomly choose four winners amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.

It's coming. The table is set, the players are on the field, the sails are raised, and the pretty maids are all in a row. Of course, I speak of the 2008-09 television schedule. In just a few short weeks viewers will be able to dine on a number of favorite and new dishes that are being served by the networks as well as the increasing number of cable channels who are delving into original programming.

While other fall seasons have come and gone with nary a whimper, this season may be different. Due to the prolonged Writers Strike many shows ended their seasons quite early. Programs like Life, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, and Heroes haven't aired original episodes since the end of 2007. Heck, there hasn't been a new episode of The Shield since June of last year! So, the beginning of the 2008-09 season will be a second chance for some of these shows, particularly the ones that premiered last season, to show their worth to fans and the networks.

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.

I was really excited about the prospect of Life on Mars coming to ABC television. I speak in the past tense because everything that has happened since that initial announcement has me doubting that ABC's Americanized Life on Mars will ever make it out of the first season. It may not even air six episodes.

There have been production changes, the first pilot was trashed, they've inserted new characters, they've remade the mythology of the show (with the approval of the British creators), and now more news. The character of Annie Norris on Life on Mars will be played by Gretchen Mol. Yes, the beautiful, sexy and very blond Gretchen Mol. (Okay, she can dye her hair.)

I have the ultimate respect for Ms. Mol. She was excellent in 3:10 to Yuma (a really amazing Western that should have gotten some Oscar consideration). I just think she's the wrong choice for the role of Annie.

A few weeks back, I enthusiastically reported the plans for One Life to Live's 40th anniversary celebration. Viki was going to have a near death experience and heaven; a classic OLTL moment would be re-created, the Iguaza Falls plunge; and in an elongated mini-arc, Bo and Rex would be transported back in time to 1968, the year OLTL began. It was an ambitious undertaking, but it was still nice to hear that they were thinking big, as opposed to General Hospital which did virtually nothing to commemorate their 45th anniversary in April.

So, now that Viki's visit to heaven -- which did not include Pearly Gates -- has concluded and Sarah and Cristian have gone over the falls -- and look to be dead -- I felt compelled to comment. First, Viki. I really, really like Erika Slezak. She's the Meryl Streep of daytime, able to take on all kinds of stories and make them work. Fortunately for Erika, she didn't have to sing any crappy ABBA songs like poor Meryl in Mamma Mia!

(Check out part one of this four-part report)

Friday

Morning was weird, as I was still on east-coast time. My alarm was set for 7 AM, but I was wide-awake by 5:30. I was scheduled to go to an X-Box breakfast that morning, but I was getting freaked out that I'd miss getting in to wait for the Stargate panels, most of which I was saving for Rich but I knew would be incredibly popular and busy. Thankfully I made the right decision -- the line for Ballroom 20 was already insane by the time I arrived.

As I waited for Ballroom 20, I saw another line creeping up the patio outside. I learned that this was just a glimpse of what to expect with waiting for panels in the enormous Hall H, as the line I saw was for the popular Watchmen panel. Trust me, part of me was jealous I wasn't in that line to see the new footage.

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.

After Jimmy Kimmel left the room, ABC Entertainment Steve McPherson got on with the business of facing the press at his executive session. I kicked it off with a question about Scrubs, following up on what Bill Lawrence told me in May about a possible "next generation" ninth season.

"We do think there's an opportunity after (this eighth season)," said McPherson. "If any or all the cast is a part of that, I think there's a growth (opportunity) there. It's a show that, despite being moved around into like 17 time periods and really never being given the marketing support, has really performed unbelievably well on NBC." He went on to say that they hope "it won't be a one-season situation."

Other than that, most of the conversation revolved around the network's returning shows, which makes sense, since the network is only debuting a few new shows (none of which had pilots that the network thought were suitable for preview) this fall.

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!

Former Sopranos mobster Michael Imperioli is returning to television as a police detective. The actor has been cast in ABC's Life on Mars, an American adaptation of the BBC series. Imperioli landed the role of Detective Ray Carling, one of the lead character's colleagues. Ray is described as "a rough, tough sexist who has never heard of the phrase 'politically correct'."

This cast addition is the latest of many changes made to the drama. David E. Kelley is out as the Life on Mars showrunner, and October Road's Josh Applebaum, Andre Nemec, and Scott Rosenberg have replaced him. Producers also decided to move the show's production and fictional setting from Los Angeles to New York City.

I don't know about you, but I was kind of ticked off that General Hospital decided that 45 years on the air wasn't a good enough reason for a special episode. They had a cake -- good for them -- but generally speaking, the media celebrated the GH anniversary more than the show did. Well, ABC and One Life to Live are doing just the opposite for four decades of broadcasting. One Life to Live will celebrate its 40th anniversary -- officially July 15th -- with three special, out of this world storylines. It all starts on July 21. How out of this world? Well, it will be celestial.

Headwriter Ron Carlivati told TV Guide that his plans, which are extensive, include sending Viki back to Heaven. Longtime fans will recall that in 1987, Viki "died" and went to Heaven, which was inspired by Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and looked very sci-fi.

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.