Life on Mars

If you're a regular reader of my blog, then you know--it's been well-documented: I'm a chubby girl whose favorite thing to do is watch TV and go to the movies...oh, and eat food.

But that makes me sound like someone who has little-to-no appreciation for real life, someone who never lives because she's always tucked safely into bed--eating her feelings and relating only to people who live inside the TV. The TV people. And that's not quite true. It's like...half true.

Really, I think, the reason I like TV so much is that it has the ability to sweep me away--to remind me that there is magic in life, or at least the potential for magic. Every now and then I'll come across a show that speaks to me in a sort of intimate way. Maybe it's the music, the acting, the writing, the direction--in the best shows it's a combination of all these things--that gets to me, but when the show is over I get the same feeling I do whenever I finish a great book, the kind of book that claims a little piece of your heart. The feeling: it's a feeling of accomplishment and of satisfaction. It's the feeling you get when you've cried for an hour and then, all of a sudden, you're done crying. And you feel better.

Just today I finished watching a series called "Life On Mars," based on a series of the same name that was produced in the UK. It was new this fall, produced by the same folks who brought us "October Road," an underrated little ABC drama about small town life and blue collar guys in the vein of the movie "Beautiful Girls." Now the American version of "Life on Mars" wasn't by any stretch of the imagination the best show I've ever seen. It probably wouldn't even make my top-ten list. But I did stick with it despite sagging ratings and an announcement midway through the season that the show would not be back next fall.

Still, there was something moving about it. And I think a lot of the credit should go to Jason O'Mara, who played the lead role of Sam Tyler with a wonderful vulnerability.

So, if you're ever in the mood for a good 70s cop show, with more than a touch of heart (and if you dig 70s music as much as I do) check it out.