Be Excellent To Each Other

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/a11511 ... -hunt.html
The US version of Life on Mars always seemed like a bad idea, but this casting sounds pretty good. There may be hope yet.

In other remake news: New Robocop film
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a115 ... bocop.html

I posted both those things in Bits and Bobs thread, like, hours ago.

Nobody seemed to care then, though, so maybe they need their own thread.

sorry, I should have searched. I don't read the bits & bobs thread

Sorry man, I cared but I just couldn't think of anything to say about it.

Ah, I wasn't having a go or anything. Just saying that nobody but us seems to care.

I didn't see it. I don't like the B&B thread.

I agree -- this is a good bit of casting that pips the show up from "probably dismal" to "maybe dismal". I know you slated the pilot, Rev. I didn't see it.

Reading between the lines, they seem to be keen to play up the sense of place as well as time -- they make a big deal that they've moved it to New York and that Keitel is from Brooklyn. I think this is a good move, and that the strength of using Manchester as a location worked better in Life On Mars than the relatively anonymous use of London in Ashes To Ashes. Of course, Manchester is rarely seen on film, whereas New York could be full of visual cliches. So it's still all there to lose.

Harvey Kettle might actually be good for this.

I agree with New York being over used - I bet 90% of US films or TV shows are set either in LA or NY. That's part of the reason I liked the bits of The Wire that I've seen - actually setting it somewhere a bit different. Why not set it in Des Moines or Tucson?

It'll only work if Kettle can say "surrounded by armed bastards" convincingly. Otherwise I'm not interested.

I can't hear about Harvey Keitel without thinking about TVGoHome's 'Bad Lieutenant 2: Worse Lieutenant'

I got him confused with Victor Kayam and thought he must be (a) old or (b) dead. Turns out it was (b).

This is the 2nd attempt at a US version, yes ?

Wasn't a US pilot already made that starred Colm Meaney as the Gene Hunt character ?
And didn't the producers admit they made a right mess of it ?

Correct me if I'm wrong, I seem to remember reading it somewhere....

Yeah. It was abysmal. It's easy to find if you want to see it, but it's not so bad it's funny, it's just I'm-depressed-I'll-never-get-that-45-minutes-of-my-life-back bad.

Which is a shame because Colm Meaney is excellent normally.

Yeah, I was expecting him to make an excellent Gene Hunt when I read of the casting. To be fair, the whole shebang was poor. Silk purse, sow's ear, etc.