My Favorite 2008 Television Show - Life on Mars

My favorite television show in 2008 was Life on Mars. When I saw the advertisement for the new show and that it was based around the 70s, I thought this show has to be good. I was just a kid in the 70s, so I don't remember much about this time. I spent my days watching the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family. The clothes they wear in Life on Mars are exactly the same as in the shows I watched. It is odd to see the sexual harassment, the drinking on the job and the police brutality in Life on Mars, but the show is very entertaining.

Another reason I was intrigued to watch Life on Mars was due to Michael Imperioli being in it. I liked Michael in the Sopranos. He was the head mob guy's, Tony Soprano, nephew, who was a drug addict and had a girlfriend that was pressured into being an informant for the FBI. In Life on Mars, Michael is a cop and I'm not sure if he is a good or bad guy, but one thing is for sure he is jealous of and doesn't like Jason O'Mara.

The show is based around Jason, who was a cop in present time. He was struck by a car and when he woke up he found himself in 1970. During the first episodes this fall, it is never explained how Jason winds up in the 70s. There are hints that he is in a coma and in every episode Jason tries to figure out why he is in 1970.

Before Jason was hit by a car, he was working on a serial killer case. His girlfriend, Lisa Bonet, has been abducted by the killer. In 1970, Jason runs into the serial killer when he is just a child. From this encounter, Jason believes that his purpose is to stop the killer from killing in the present. Is this the reason Jason is in 1970, it could be, but it's never confirmed.

Jason encounters his mother in the 70s. He did not know when he was a child that his mother had borrowed money from a criminal, who was threatening his mother to repay the money or bad things would happen. At the end of this episode, Jason saves his mother from having to do sexual favors to pay back the debt. Jason believes this is the reason he was brought back to 1970 and again, this is never confirmed.

The last episode has Jason interrogating his father, after he has been arrested and suspected of taking a little boy. His father tells Jason and the other cops that he works for a bad man. If they give this bad man a large sum of money, the boy can be saved. It ends up that Jason's father is the bad man. He finds this out on the day of his birthday party and understands why his father left him and his mother on that day.

Jason is hurt from his own father shooting him. His father does not know that Jason is the adult version of his son. While Jason is in the hospital, he remembers something his father told him about clues. Pulling the tubes out, Jason leaves the hospital to go to the precinct to look at all the case files he has worked on since he has been in 1970. He puts all the clues together, which form into an address. This house is in the woods and Jason goes in. There is this scary voice that has made contact with Jason and only he can hear it. In the house, the phone rings and it's the voice telling him to check the basement.

This is all we have been told about Jason's Life on Mars. The show starts up again on January 28^th, 2009. I can't wait for it to begin. I'm wondering if we will be told why Jason is in 1970, if he really is in a coma and who the scary voice is that talks to him.