Jason O'Mara
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 by Jim Spellman/WireImage.com and Clea DuVall by Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com
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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Welcome to another Men in Trees blog by your friendly host, Bergl. I've just returned from a promotional shoot for the UK launch of Men in Trees, which is very exciting for me because I'm originally from England (my dad is British and my mom is Irish). Did you know that Jason O'Mara, who plays the charming publisher Stuart Maxson, is Irish? He has the most amazing American accent, which you will be hearing again in subsequent episodes. (Ladies, don't you love how they keep adding even more handsome men to the show? James Tupper can't be expected to shoulder all the burden on his fisherman sweater-clad shoulders, which, yes, do look as good in real life.)Jason O'Mara is from Sandycove, which is right around the corner from the town of Dalkey, where my mother grew up. Now our Irish relatives can watch us on Men in Trees. Up until now, my appearances on UK TV were mostly limited to The Rage: Carrie 2 and an episode of CSI: Miami, and in both of these I kill people — most notably...
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Question: Has In Justice been canceled? I just read on the entertainment news page that Jason O'Mara has been cast in a new show. I quite like In Justice. It's perfect for Friday night, and it would be a shame if ABC didn't give it more of a chance.
Answer: When stars of "on the bubble" shows like In Justice take roles in pilots for the following season, these new roles are in what's called "second position." In other words, if In Justice gets renewed (which seems unlikely, though it's not dead quite yet), he'd have to stay with his previous show and they'd have to recast his new role or otherwise rework that pilot. Kind of like what happened to John Stamos when Jake in Progress got a pickup (what a mistake) and ER's producers had to rethink the cast-regular role they had planned for him ...
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Per the Hollywood Reporter, Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River) will play therapist to Jason O'Mara's insomniac detective in the ABC drama pilot Drift.... Jane Alexander (Warm Springs) has been cast as a witchcraft-wielding clan's matriarch in CBS' The Way.... Romy Rosemont (Shopgirl) has decided to swim with CBS' Shark, which stars James Woods as a celebrity-attorney-turned-prosecutor.
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In Justice's Jason O'Mara has landed the lead in the ABC drama pilot Drift, about a New York detective battling insomnia.... Kevin Alejandro has joined Fox's Faceless as a meth-addict gang member.... Rachel Perry will play a scientist in Fox's Beyond.... Bruno Campos has left ABC's Southern Comfort to fill the lead in Fox's The Wedding Album.... Charlotte Ross has dumped ABC's Ugly Betty and is now in talks to join Alicia Silverstone in ABC's Pink Collar.... Vanessa L. Williams, whom I have always considered a twin for Ross, will replace the NYPD Blue alum on Betty.
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Question: I enjoy your column each week and I usually agree with you. However, today I felt prompted to write in, as I totally disagree with your comments regarding the predictable nature of In Justice. I believe it is extremely unpredictable television, and a welcome change from the predictability of the CSIs and Law & Orders of today's TV. It is also extremely well acted, especially by Jason O'Mara. Did you happen to catch last week's episode regarding the mentally challenged prisoner on death row? If you did, need I say more about the unpredictability and the acting? Thanks, and keep up the great work!
Answer: After receiving several letters about last Friday's (Feb. 17) episode in the wake of my dismissal of the show, I decided to watch, figuring (rightly) that our heroes at the National Justice Project must have lost their appeal this time. The result was a better episode than the norm, though I could have done without the manipulative use of "Amazing Grace" to underscore the
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