I don’t watch much American television. I used to watch House before it jumped the shark. For diversion I will watch The Middle and Modern Family but they really aren’t must see tv. The wife and I watch Burn Notice because we are such big fans of Bruce Campbell but that isn’t great television. The only American television that I have to watch is Breaking Bad. That is great tv. I’ll write about it sometime.
For the past year I have been totally fascinated by British television. Shows like Luther, Top Gear and now Life on Mars.
Sam Tyler (John Simm) is a police detective in 2003 who is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. He doesn’t know if he is mad, in a coma or a time traveler.
The show is so well done. It mimics many of the 1970s’ tv shows like Starsky and Hutch. The best part is the music. They play great music from the late sixties and early seventies like Uriah Heep, Atomic Rooster, Sweet and The Move. Much of the music is a bit obscure and incredible.
The funny thing is the show was on in 2003 and I live in the future so as the songs are playing I point my Iphone at the tv and use the soundhound app to tell me what song it is.
The wife brought home the American version of the show and it was horrible. The actors looked like models and the music was the same old classic rock that they play on the radio.
The wife pointed out that the women on British shows have rounder faces and look more like real women unlike American tv. Here is WPC Annie Cartwright on the BBC series.
Now here is Gretchen Mol from the American Version
One caveat is that the accents are a bit rough and we had to go back and replay some of the scenes. We finally put subtitles on and then we tried to decipher some of the British sayings. I had to google, “Ee wants jam on it!” to find out that it means the person is greedy.
The library has the series so check it out.
Leastbest - But Still One of the Best 