SciFi Stream

Maybe it’s all the time shifting going on in “Lost” that went to the people in charge of scheduling at ABC, but this week’s episode of “Life on Mars” looks like it should have been aired last week. Who knows? The way the ratings are going, it may not matter in the long run. Apparently, the suits at ABC wanted a stand-alone episode of “Life on Mars” to air after the much hyped return of “Lost.” Perhaps they felt that picking up from a cliffhanger might confuse new viewers, who didn’t bother to show up anyway.Whatever the reason, I found the sequence change too noticeable to ignore, which makes me suspect that ABC is using smoke and mirrors to keep this show running. That is not a good sign. You rarely hear of successful shows having their episode orders tampered with. As far as the plot goes, …

If there was any doubt whether or not “Life On Mars” should’ve been on the bubble list, it has been totally erased this week. The American version of the popular British show fell to numbers so low, it almost fell behind the audience of “Knight Rider.” “Life On Mars” earned a 3.7 rating/6 share Wednesday, according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research, finishing behind both a new episode of “Law & Order” on NBC and a rerun of “CSI: NY.” “Life On Mars” has struggled in the two weeks it moved to Wednesdays after “Lost,” dropping 52 percent of its audience since its premiere, and more than 30 percent of its audience since it last aired on Thursday nights before the Christmas break. It also didn’t carry more than 42 percent of the audience picked up by “Lost,” …

Maybe more than 60 days between new episodes is just a long time for a new series. Maybe coming on after “Lost” wasn’t as good an idea as it seemed when first proposed. Or maybe “Life On Mars” simply isn’t getting the attention it deserves. When I read through the audience numbers for the latest episode of what has become one of my favorite ABC series, I almost shuddered. More than 25 percent of the audience that joined Detective Sam Tyler as he fights crime in 1973 just before Thanksgiving didn’t show up to watch the new first episode. And I don’t know about you, but I want the audience to come back. There is just something about “Life On Mars” that makes me smile, and almost yearn to live in 1973. And it seems that many things in my life have come to revolve around some aspect of …

The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for “Take A Look At The Lawmen,” the seventh episode of ABC’s “Life on Mars.” I feared that a long layoff would do some damage to this series, which had finally hit its stride before the two month hiatus. My fears were unfounded — “Life on Mars” returned with a solid episode and a couple new complications. This was, by far, the lightest episode of the season. In fact, I’d say that at times, it was laugh out loud funny. The procedural elements were okay — not terribly complex. The main plotline involved a startup Russian mafia cell holding an immigrant’s family hostage. They force him to rob a bank. He fires his gun and an innocent bystander dies. But that is not the focus of the episode. Gene Hunt’s rivalry with an old friend turned longtime rival takes …

On paper, putting “Life On Mars” on after “Lost” seemed like a good idea. But if the first week is an indicator, it could be a killer for the cop time travel series. “Life On Mars” earned a 4.0 rating/7 share on ABC Wednesday night, according to Fast National Ratings from Nielsen Media Research. That was down more than 25 percent from the last time it aired a new episode just before Thanksgiving, when ABC was still airing it against “Eleventh Hour” on Thursday nights. But the new Wednesday slot was not so busy. In fact, “Mars” only had to compete with a rerun of “CSI: NY” as well as a new episode of “Law & Order” on NBC, both of which beat “Mars” handedly. “Law & Order” drew a 48 percent larger audience than “Life On Mars” despite having a rerun as a lead-in. “Mars” can’t …

Instead of layoffs like many of the other studios are doing, 20th Century Fox Television is instead asking some of its shows to slice off 2 percent from their production budgets. The shows affected include ABC’s “Life On Mars” as well as Fox’s upcoming mid-season series from Joss Whedon “Dollhouse.” But it’s not just genre shows that are getting cut. “Family Guy” and “24,” which both air on the Fox network, also will experience some budget trimmings to reduce costs, according to TV Week. “In these challenging economic times, we’ve asked all of our showrunners to trim their budgets by 2 percent, an assignment which they have all embraced,” a Fox spokesman told the industry magazine. “Everyone understands that revenues are down and these steps are necessary to protect our business.” …

It’s not often that an Americanized version of a British television import gets high marks from the people who created it in the first place, but Ashley Pharoah says he loves what ABC has done with his show “Life On Mars” since David E. Kelley left after the original pilot. “We’re really very proud of it,” Pharoah told The Hollywood Reporter while visiting the show’s New York set. “I think it’s marvelous.” Pharoah co-created the series for BBC, which starred John Simm, who would later go on to play The Master in “Doctor Who.” The original was a short-term series which ended with Simm’s Sam Tyler discovering his trip to the 1970s was a result of a coma. The American series, which stars Jason O’Mara, has already moved in a different direction, and that’s perfectly OK for Pharoah. …

The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for The Man Who Sold The World, the seventh episode of ABC’s Life On Mars. In the fourth episode of the season, Sam Tyler met up with his mother in 1973. This week, it was time to see the father’s side of the story. The interaction between Sam and his father was far more intriguing that it was with his mother, which helped deliver the strongest episode of the season. I suspect that at least some of this has to do with the quality of acting. Dean Winters was quite good in his short stint on Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, but this role as a shifty con man suits his tough persona much better. Jason O’Mara toed the line nicely between adoration and skepticism. They even looked enough alike to be believable as family members. As for plot, …

The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for “Tuesday’s Dead,” an episode of ABC’s “Life On Mars.” It’s the second week in a row that an episode title contained the word “dead,” but fans can relax: Sam Tyler is far from dead. His relationship with Maya in the future might be, but that jumping a bit too far into the episode final minute. This show has become one of my favorites this year. While some of the writing has been uneven, the show is starting to hit its stride, and the cast is forming a consistent chemistry. Work still needs to be done on this front though. Harvey Keitel is an excellent actor, but his character, Gene Hunt, is written in such a clichéd stereotypical fashion, that he bears little resemblance to a believable human being. The rest of the hour was comprised of a hostage …

Trying to pair up its shows smarter than how it started the season, ABC said it will move “Life On Mars” to Wednesdays at 10 p.m. following “Lost.” While schedule moves are typically annoying for viewers, fans of “Life On Mars” may want to set that annoyance aside as many have complained that “Grey’s Anatomy,” which typically draws a much different demographic than “Life On Mars,” has been a poor lead-in. Pairing the show with “Lost” on Wednesdays will allow similar demographics to carry over from the serial to the procedural drama that “Life On Mars” is designed to be, both with science-fiction elements. At the same time, ABC is pairing “Private Practice” with the program that originated the storyline, “Grey’s Anatomy,” in a pairing that many thought would’ve taken place …

The ABC edition of “Life On Mars” has come to life with some instant attention, following the success and critical acclaim of the original BBC series in the United Kingdom. Normally for a freshman series that is a good thing, but Lisa Bonet, a somewhat press-shy actress, has found it a difficult experience. “To have my face reinstated in minds and homes once a week was an intense decision,” she said, according to People magazine. Bonet originally came to fame through her teenage role on “The Cosby Show” and has had to deal with the paparazzi from an early age. Her family life also has received interest as well as the actress is expecting her second child with her boyfriend Jason Momoa, who genre fans should know as Ronan Dex from “Stargate Atlantis.” And at points she believes the attention …

The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for “Things to Do in New York When You Think You’re Dead,” an episode of ABC’s “Life On Mars.” Five episodes in to the inaugural season of “Life On Mars,” I finally feel that I have reached a comfort level with this series. This was a solid episode in a pretty uneven season so far. I found this episode quite entertaining and have learned to live with the small annoyances that appear to be here to stay. Watching “Life On Mars” is sort of like watching a ping pong match. The show has bounced between good episodes and disappointing ones, and very little answers are provided. Yet I keep watching. The show has tremendous potential that it simply has yet to realize. This episode featured, among other things, a guest appearance from Whoopi Goldberg, …