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Life on Mars

  • Watchlist
  • 73   Metascore
  • 2008-2009
  • 1 Season
  • Disney-ABC Domestic Television
  • Suspense, Drama, Science Fiction
  • TV-14
  • Watchlist

Sam Tyler is a police detective in 2008 when he gets struck by a car and is knocked unconscious. When he comes to and finds himself in 1973 he goes to his precinct and is mistaken for a transfer from another precinct. He finds himself trying to do things a little differently from what he is used to. And he tries to figure out why he is in 1973.

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Cast & Crew See All

Jason O'Mara
Detective Sam Tyler
Michael Imperioli
Detective Ray Carling
Gretchen Mol
Annie Norris

Season 1 Episode Guide See All

Episode 0

Unaired Pilot

Detective Sam Tyler working on a murder case in the present day is hit by a car and wakes up in 1972.

Where to Watch

Awards

  • 2009 - GLAAD Media Award - Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBT character) - nominated
  • 2009 - WGA Award (TV) - New Series - nominated
  • 2009 - Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Cinematography for a One Hour Series - nominated
  • 2009 - Saturn Award - Best Network Television Series - nominated

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It's a Godawful Small Affair! The Bizarre Life on Mars Finale

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.

Fri, Apr 3, 2009
It's a Godawful Small Affair! The Bizarre Life on Mars Finale