Life on Mars
p>"Can a series finale make a show jump the shark?" asks my colleague Mickey O'Connor, referring to ABC's wackadoo Life on Mars wrap-up, in which we discover that time-traveling cop Sam Tyler is actually an astronaut from the year 2035 on his way to Mars. Cue the David Bowie; it's going to be a wild ride.
You see, in order to make the two-year-long journey more bearable, the astronauts upload a type of virtual-reality vacation for the brain. In Sam's case, he thought it would be cool to be a cop "way back" in 2008. But of all the luck, the ship hit an asteroid field or something, which rejiggered the program's calendar, sending Future Sam even further back into the past — to 1973.
Nevertheless, there are some nice touches. Tyler's copilots on the 2035 Mars probe are played by the same actors from the 125, including Michael Imperioli, Gretchen Mol and Harvey Keitel — who, it's revealed, is actually Sam's father. But otherwise, the finale reveals that the entire show as we knew it was a fiction. All those cases and characters and complications never existed. (Poor Lisa Bonet!)
What did you think of the Life on Mars finale? Refreshingly original or an idea past its time?
Give us your thoughts after the jump.
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Jessica Simpson on I Get That a Lot
Wednesday's ratings recap:
8 pm/ET
CBS' I Get That a Lot, in which celebs played jokes on us regular peeps, got enough viewers — 10.34 million — to win the hour. Lie to Me placed second with 8.98 mil, dipping 10 percent from its previous outing.
A Law & Order: CI repeat (5.06 mil) delivered nearly double what the now-canceled Chopping Block had been getting. ABC's Scrubs scored 5.05 mil, discharging 280K, while Better Off Ted held steady at 4.7 mil. Top Model surged 38 percent, to 3.95 mil.
9 pm
American Idol delivered 23.7 million viewers, down 6 percent from last week's results show. Opposite (and yet trailing) a Criminal Minds repeat, Lost found 9.35 million heads, up 6 percent week-to-week. Life, meanwhile, taunted the "bubble" with a 29 percent gain, hitting 5.57 mil.
10 pm
As CSI: NY and Law & Order served leftovers, Life on Mars said goodbye to 5.86 million viewers, adding 190 thou in its last hurrah.
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Damages
Pedro
8 pm/ET MTV
No Real World alum has had a more lasting impact than San Francisco cast member Pedro Zamora (1972-94), one of the first openly gay HIV-positive men to appear on national television. After being diagnosed with the disease at age 17, he dedicated the rest of his entirely too-short life raising AIDS awareness among young people. This touching biographical docudrama chronicles the extraordinary life of the man who helped humanize the disease and vowed to "keep the cameras going every step of the way, no matter how bad it gets."
Read on for previews of I Get That a Lot, Damages, RENO 911! and Life on Mars.
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Jason O'Mara, Life on Mars
In a rare instance of mutual forethought and cooperation between producers and a network, ABC's Life on Mars will wrap up its abbreviated freshman run this Wednesday at 10 pm/ET with a proper series finale, bringing to a close Detective Sam Tyler's time-tripping odyssey. Here, executive producers Scott Rosenberg and Josh Appelbaum reflect on their Mars journey, reveal the one song that done them wrong, preview the "straight-out scary" follow-up they have planned, and promise closure for fans of their previous project, October Road.
TVGuide.com: The episode airing this Wednesday, is it more or less what you had envisioned the series finale as being? Or is it slightly different, if only because you had less time to build up to it?
Josh Appelbaum: We always knew that the season finale was going to be this episode, and we always knew what our series finale would be. Basically we went to [ABC] and said, "Our ratings are grim. We want to ...
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Grey's Anatomy - Season 5
New releases announced today, March 13:
Brothers & Sisters - The Complete 3rd Season will be coming out September 1
Castle - The Complete 1st Season will be coming out September 22
Desperate Housewives - The Complete 5th Season will be coming out September 1
Grey's Anatomy - The Complete 5th Season (Blu-ray and DVD) will be coming out September 15
Life on Mars - The Complete Series will be coming out September 29
Private Practice - The Complete 2nd Season will be coming out September 15
Samantha Who? - The Complete 2nd Season will be coming out August 25
Scrubs - The Complete 8th Season will be coming out August 25
Ugly Betty - The Complete 3rd Season will be coming out September 22
Visit TVShowsOnDVD.com for the complete stories on these and other news items.
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Jason O'Mara and Harvey Keitel, Life on Mars
ABC has canceled Life on Mars, but will allow the cop drama to complete its full one-season run. The network has opted not to extend the series beyond 17 episodes, according to Variety.
It's not all bad news, though. Rather than wait until May when on-the-bubble shows are typically told whether or not they'll be renewed or canceled, ABC told the producers now, so that they can plan for a proper series finale — a courtesy not extended to the recently unplugged ABC shows Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone...
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Jacques Pepin, Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio, Top Chef
American Idol
8 pm/ET FOX
Hollywood is turning Hollyweird with this sing-songy crew in town. Colorful real-world characters have dotted the landscape — and angry departures, weepy eliminations and jubilant triumphs have ruled the day. Last week's annual group performances, a usual source of ego conflicts, featured offbeat dramas (bye-bye, Bikini Girl) and catty clashing so suitable for divas-in-training. There will need to be more harmony in tonight's two-hour blast, which unveils the Top 36 semifinalists.
Read on for previews of Criminal Minds, Top Chef, Important Things with Demetri Martin and Life on Mars.
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Glenn Close and Marcia Gay Harden, Damages
Damages
10 pm/ET FX
So, Daniel Purcell is a liar. He's a cheater, too, with Claire Maddox (Marcia Gay Harden), the polluting corporation's lawyer, and formerly with Patty. And he's a wife beater. But a wife killer? The cops think so, so they must be glad that he's back in jail. And Patty? Who knows what she's thinking, but she is his lawyer and there's that ring to track down. Then there's the pollution angle in West Virginia that the Purcell-tied reporter was onto last week. Tonight Tom and Ellen join him in the Mountain State.
Read on for previews of Lost, Life on Mars, Biography, Make 'Em Laugh and Top Chef.
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Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) and Carmine Giovinazzo (CSI: NY)
Senior editors Matt Mitovich, Mickey O'Connor and Tim Molloy answer your questions every Wednesday. Please, feel free to drop us a line at mega_scoop@tvguide.com.
Grey's Anatomy's Derek has got his mother's ring. Now what? — Gayle
MATT: Dude needs to unload it and quick, I'd say! Instead (sigh), he will hold onto it long enough for virtually every Seattle Gracer — Meredith excluded, of course — to learn of the bauble's being and in turn offer their two cents on when and how he should pop the Q. Will Der stick to his original plan? And if so, does it involve a meticulously crafted arrangement of candles?
I love Tom Scavo on Desperate Housewives this season. Any scoop? — Marcia
MICKEY: Well, remember how it was Tom's dream to open an Italian restaurant, and how begrudgingly Lynette went along with the idea? Well, apparently now he has a different dream ...
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Kiefer Sutherland
TV Guide's Senior Critic Matt Roush takes your TV questions. Have a rant, rave or burning question about your favorite show you'd like addressed? E-mail him here!
Question: Something was very much glaring for me in the advance reviews for 24: Redemption. More often than not, reviewers questioned 24's relevance in the post-Bush era, droning on and on about the issue of torture in 24, how the show would adjust with a new president and relating just about everything to do with the show with politics. Look, I was not a big fan of Season 6, and I'm certainly not one of those who can't accept criticism of the show. If there are any problems with the plots and characters, please do fire away. But what I just can't stand is the penchant of many reviewers to "politicize" every single thing related to the show. To me a TV show has one main purpose: to entertain. If it does that, why the hell would I care if it is relevant with, say, the current political administration? Or whether it was associated with Bush politics in the past? I care far more about Teri's death, Mason's sacrifice, the nerve gas attack on CTU and Jack faking his death than those political perceptions with which the people in the media seem intent on tying the show. Let the show entertain. If it doesn't, point out its faults, simple as that, The only thing that will ever make a show relevant is its quality from a storytelling perspective, because in the end, that's what it really is: a fictional story. — Jack F.
See Matt's response plus questions on Pushing Daisies' cancellation, Life on Mars, Grey's Anatomy, Friday Night Lights, ER and more after the jump.
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