Two things tonight:
Hockey season starts tonight and the defending NHL champion Detroit Red Wings are taking on the hated Toronto Maple Leafs. As a side note, anybody know anybody that would want an XL Pavel Datsuk jersey? I got one I don't need.
Life on Mars premiers tonight on ABC at 10 pm. Ginger and I are watching the British version and it's really good. Hopefully it won't be Americanized too much. Or should I say that I hope it is Americanized well. The early criticism of The Office was that they copied the British version exactly and the actors were basically trying to act like other actors. I want Harvey Keitel and Micael Imperioli to act in the badass way they do. There have also been reports that the New York of 1973 on the show is not as gritty as the real 1973, which is a shame. In many ways, the tension on the show derives from the 1973 cops behaving in a way that is about to coming crashing down on them. The audience knows that there is about to be a backlash against everything they do, but they have no idea and proceed as if they have no other choice. The tension also comes from the fact that our hero knows that the way the cops behave is wrong, but he is tempted by the ease of the shortcuts and violence. The hero is forced to ask which is more important "rights" or "justice" and if the two can be seperated. A good show and I'm hoping it comes off, as I only have nine more episodes of the British version left to watch.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
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5 comments:
I really liked Life on Mars when it was on the Beeb (think I only ever saw the second season). Definitely an interesting show on several levels... and the 'backlash' of reform to the old practices was explored to a very good extent in the follow-up, 80s-set series Ashes to Ashes (though it wasn't as critically acclaimed). It also added a degree of self-awareness to the transported cop - she was some sort of psychologist I think.
You know that quite a few people here on this side of the pond think that the US Office is, exceptionally, a very good adaptation. (predictably the exported version of the show gets thrown right back at us by US hegemony of TV programming...)
anyway, I'm interested in seeing what the US Life on Mars will look like. To a certain extent, I'm more familiar with the US 70s cop world through all the gritty movies from that decade, than I am with the equivalent UK scene (which was more prevalent in TV dramas, which aren't as accessible to posterity).
but most importantly, I want to know how their version of Gene Hunt is created. really like Harvey Keitel as an actor, but I'm not clued-in enough with American culture to know quite how they can get the absurd bigotry to translate... emphasis on the absurd, of course.
I'd probably buy that Jersey off of you -- became a huge Datsuk fan during the playoff run. We need to talk about that GTFF shirt anyway.
gabba,
so far in the commercials, all I have seen are scenes that are almost direct rip offs of scenes from the BBC version, which does not bode well. For instance, I have no idea how you recreate an episode that deals with soccer hooliganism. The season 1 episode dealt with the rivalry between City and United. I guess you could translate that to Yankees and Mets, but it's not like Americans are known for their baseball riots.
I am also interested in the fact that Lisa Bonet is prominently mentioned as a co-star of the show, leading me at first to think that she replaces the Jamaican bartender, but apparently she's the girlfriend that get (spoiler) killed in the first episode. I guess it would be interesting if she were both.
Ah well, let's see how it goes and if anyone else watches. The real fear is that ABC will yank it after 3 episodes and we'll never know how the show might have grown away from the Beeb version.
dave -
re soccer hooliganism, I originally meant to say (and as you mentioned it in the first part of the post) what about hockey hooliganism?
though I don't think that usually spills over onto the streets either...
I think the AV Club nails it:
Probably the biggest difference between the two, and the biggest problem that the new series has, is that the original was much better at letting the scenario play out naturally. The remake is too forced, trying to hit as many bits of its source material (even down to the dialogue) as it can, and it doesn't have the rhythm right. Everything feels rushed, scenes and actors arriving at conclusions without bothering to think through them first. Harvey Keitel is getting too old to be a convincing physical threat, and there was the usual over-editing and color-filters, but the biggest let down is that lack of patience. The only way the series works—the only way Sam's dilemma and the contrast between modern policing and seventies-style enforcement will ring true—is if we can believe in these character making their own decisions. Right now, everybody seems to be running for the end credits.
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