the last episode of the American ‘Life on Mars’: no they didn’t!

It's funny. They had a perfectly good ending they could have used, but chose to come up with something idiotic. It just shows either how stupid American television is (there's plenty of evidence for that) or the contempt the writers and producers had in finding their show was canceled...

I didn't watch the remake but I watched the ending on YouTube. The Despair Squid was missing.

For someone who can't even articulate how enraged you are, you're doing a pretty good job of it.

Yes, I care neither about the British nor the American version of the show...but I find your rage to be quite articulate, heh.

..........whoa.

(although I didn't really like the ending to the original Life On Mars either. The rest of it was brilliant, though.)

Could've been worse. He could've woken up next to Bob Newhart. ;)

Personally I must quietly state I did love the finale and the series itself quite a lot and I think that, given the many clues spread arround the episodes, it was tough to come with a brilliant idea.
Now I'm ready to go throught the English one, and then go into Ashes to Ashes, I just find it all so enjoyable!

I thought the ending was basically a cop-out (pun not intended) for everyone who got invested in the show's details and history. I enjoyed the American version as well as the UK version, but the way the American one ended was like fixing up a gaping wound with a bandaid. "There you go! All fixed now!" No, you writer morons, it's not ok. Way too many loose threads shoved to the side in the name of this new Truth, patched on at the last second. Ridiculous.

Seriously?? That's their solution?!

If you'd have posted that a few days back I'd swear it was an April Fool's.

I had been interested in seeing the American version when it finally washed up on our shores, but not now. I don't need that polluting my love of the show.

I didn't like the American version because the British version of Sam Tyler was a MUCH better actor than the American version.

I watched a few episodes of the American series. And, frankly, while I thought most of the American episode was only so-so, I rather liked the ending, particularly last very last shot.

Well, "2B" was in the show from the start -- that hot chick called Sam "2B" in at lest the first 2 episodes (the only ones I watched).

I am kinda interested to watch the last few episodes now, though, just to see it... if only I could stomach watching the show.

We've just seen the last episode of Ashes to Ashes in the UK - it wrapped up the 5 seasons of the Life on Mars universe that revolved around Gene Hunt. And it was brilliant - the sort of ending that breathes life back through all the previous episodes. Not a closing off, but an opening up of the story, and of the significance of each of the characters and their actions. I loved it and I hope MAJ and the US readers get the chance to see it soon!

I wasn't that taken with the first series of Ashes to Ashes as it seemed like an unnecessary bolt-on to Life on Mars. Since then it's improved exponentially, with series three rightly garnering rave reviews from just about every quarter.

Having just watched the finale - which reveals the secret of Gene Hunt's world once and for all - I'm really not sure what to make of it. I think I loved it, but... to say any more would be spoilery.

I agree with Proper Dave, Maryann - the first series is not perfect and might feel a bit like a cash-in on Life on Mars, and (let's face it, Alex Drake is no Sam Tyler) but stick with it - it gets better and better. Series 3' finale is perfectly judged - one of the best finales I can remember in a long, long time.

Oh MAJ, I am sorry you have had to suffer the US series at all! I didn't even try after I saw a preview with the gag about ordering Diet Soda -- Just as in the UK version he orders a Diet Coke and doesn't get one. However, in the US version the joke is just way over the top to make sure the audience "gets" the idea that there was a time when Diet Soda was not made.

The worst part though is that Diet Soda *was* available in the US in the 1970s. I remember going to England in 1980 for the first time and how hard it was to find Diet Soda or anyone who had heard of it. This just shows not only how stupid they thought their audience was, but also how lazy and stupid the writers of the US series were, not to check whether their ideas about the 1970s were even correct!

I'm so bereft without Ashes to Ashes, I've been seeking out clips of the Spanish Life on Mars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsjSBEk7Mic