ABC’s Life on Mars didn’t catch on with enough viewers and was unfortunately cancelled after one brief season. Sadly, tonight we had to say goodnight to the outstanding cast of Jason O’Mara, Michael Imperioli, Gretchen Mol, Harvey Keitel, and Jonathan Murphy.
Thankfully, the show’s creators were given enough time to craft a true series finale. Executive producer Scott Rosenberg told Scifiwire, “Basically, this episode was always going to be the season finale, so we just switched things up towards the end. But we always wanted it to culminate with him and his parents… Amongst our favorite things that we did was always with his father and his mother. Every time we went to that well, it really worked for us. You’ll realize when you see it Wednesday night at 11:00, you’ll see that the whole theme of the entire 17 hours was all leading up to this. It was all about what we deal with in episode 17.”
Fellow executive producer Josh Appelbaum told Variety, “When you see you see the ending. as much as I think it’ll be wildly unexpected, it’s also sort of the inevitable. Even in the pilot there’s a lot of things that are leaning toward what the ending tells you. There were a million ideas thrown out early in the writers room, but when this one landed we all knew that was the one it should be.”
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Rosenberg concluded, “We’re not only answering the why of 1973 but more importantly, it’s what this whole journey was about for Sam — why it was these particular characters and this emotional landscape. It’s his emotional heroes journey that is answered by the end.”
So, what do you think of the series ending? It was a shocker to say the least. Are you happy to leave Sam and friends on the Martian surface?
Or, would you prefer to think that the Mars landing is actually a hallucination or another piece of Sam’s time travel mystery?
Image courtesy ABC.
The finale was very disappointing. It was obvious there was some feeling of a conspiracy or government project going on overall, presumably involving Soivet Russians. But there was a lot more going on in the way of the timeline involving the various crime cases, Sam’s youth and parents, and how he got hit by a car almost on purpose to get to 1973, that they simply ignored. Clearly up to the last 10 minutes were part of the original season finale and they just tacked on the finale. If anyone ever decides to tackle taking over the show or making… Read more »
what a joke ending. did they *really* know that this was *exactly* how it was going to end from the outset? excuse me while i don’t believe them one bit. terrible, terrible BS.
dallas, anyone?
Really, really bad ending.
Neilson must have their sets in the wrong homes!!! abc sure does suck! This was an interesting, can’t wait til the next episode, make you think about life, type show. Who’s running abc now – some 21 yr. old preppie know-it-all? They think we are all dummies that only want bland, stupid, comedy’s – what they call comedies. I so hate sit-coms! Life on Mars fueled out imagination! Idiots for bosses at abc!!
awww, was a great show, I loved it. Wish there was another season.
I really enjoyed the show. I didn’t know the show was cancelled until I saw the ending of the finale. Sad to see it go. 🙁
loved this show!!
it will be remembered in syndication when more people will watch it
cant wait to own it on DVD
WOW what a show
unique and very much a dream we all have …..to go back
Hope the cast moves on to good stuff
they deserve it
I loved this show and I loved the ending. I recorded it and have watched the end five times already to make sure I understood everything. I wish ABC would have given it more time to grow on people.
Great ending, The writers gave us a sensible upbeat answer. Good Job!!
Amazing show!!! Everything a show should be. Sorry to see it go.
Typical TV executive genius. They should have given the show more time to get an audience.
The finale to Life on Mars was extremely dissapointing. The entire series( I know it was only 17 episodes) was leading us to believe that Sam was there for a purpose, giving the impression that Sam had to fix something within himself in order to go back home. The first 50 mins of the finale was actually going in that direction. Then, all of the sudden, the writers realize they only have minutes to conclude the series and create a cryogenic dream implant scenerio? It was insulting to the fans who were looking for Sam’s redemption?, catharsis?, happiness?, love?. Whatever… Read more »
Loved this show!! More people should’ve watched it.
this was such a great show!! I cannot believe it is cancelled… the cast was amazing!!!
abc sucks great show will miss it