In Life on Mars (Thursday, Oct. 9, 10 pm/ET), ABC's remake of a BBC series, present-day NYPD officer Sam Tyler (Irish actor Jason O'Mara) gets hit by a car during a particular high-stakes case and wakes up in 1973. Just like that. His journey back to 2008 is hampered by a precinct full of rogue cops, including Harvey Keitel and The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli, and a capable though before-her-time policewoman Annie Norris (Gretchen Mol), who becomes Sam's closest ally. Plus, there's the tricky fact that nobody quite believes him. It's a nutty premise, but Hollywood has shown us that 1970s New York cop stories are rich with dramatic possibility. We talked to O'Mara and executive producer Josh Appelbaum — read on to see why they relocated the show from Manchester, England, how O'Mara mastered the local accent, and, well, what the heck this show is really about.
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Amy Madigan has booked a multi-episode arc on Grey's Anatomy, sources confirm to me exclusively. The Oscar-nominated thesp — and former co-star of HBO's gone-but-not-forgotten Carnivale — is playing a psychiatrist who, and I'm just speculating here, may be the one to help Meredith get over her commitment issues, thus paving the way for the Mer/Der reunion Shonda Rhimes has been hyping.Meanwhile, Madigan's former Carnivale co-star, Clea DuVall, will fill the "everywoman housewife" role I teased in last week's Ask Ausiello. Her George Clooney-esque husband will be played by Jason O'Mara (Men in Trees, In Justice). I'm guessing one of them will be a patient. Both are on board for two episodes.Oh, Carnivale, how I miss thee….
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Question: Do you know when the final season of Life on Mars will air on BBC America? Let me tell you, it's hard to avoid spoilers for a show that finished its run months ago in Great Britain when I'm searching the Internet for an airdate. I greatly enjoyed last season and have been looking forward to watching its concluding second season. Is the new version being developed by ABC causing the holdup?
Answer: Can't really comment on the timing except to say that word from BBC America during its recent press event in L.A. was that the second season will premiere in December. David E. Kelley has finally found the lead for his adaptation (Jason O'Mara of The Agency), so it sounds like the American version is getting closer to reality. Back in England, there's also a spin-off in the works, titled Ashes to Ashes, set in the '80s and built around the character of DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). Don't even ask me about an airdate for that one ...
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Celtic thesp Jason O'Mara, who had the lead in ABC's new take on investigator Philip Marlowe (but, alas, that pilot was not picked up), is still set to do some sleuthing, only this time in the '70s. According to the Reporter, O'Mara has been tapped to front Life on Mars, David E. Kelley's BBC-series-inspired ABC pilot about a detective mysteriously transported three decades into the past after his girlfriend is kidnapped.O'Mara's role was deemed so tricky to cast that Life was suspended from this past development cycle, and now hopes for a mid-season bid. What About Brian's Rachelle Lefevre has the female lead, playing the rare lady detective during the disco days.O'Mara's recent creds include Men in Trees and In Justice.
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• In Justice's Jason O'Mara is in final talks to play Philip Marlowe in ABC's drama pilot.• Something About Amelia reunion alert! Ted Danson has been cast as a corporate titan facing off against Glenn Close's litigator in FX's get-a-title-already legal thriller pilot, says the Hollywood Reporter.• Oscar nominee Alan Arkin will play a prison pal of Damian Lewis' wrongfully imprisoned cop-back-on-the-force in the NBC pilot Life.• Legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is a guest judge on NBC's Grease: You're the One that I Want on Feb. 11.• Lucy Liu and Jerry O'Connell appear on the Feb. 15 episode of Ugly Betty, playing a once-frumpy college classmate of Daniel's and a man Alexis meets in a bar, respectively.• Lisa Donovan (aka YouTube's "Lisa Nova") joins the cast of Mad TV on Feb. 17.• Desperate Housewives' Mark Moses guests on Without a Trace on Feb. 25.
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