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.
My husband and I LOVE Life On Mars– original plot and great actors. We DVR’d every episode. Does Nielsen count tDVR viewers? Half the people I know DVR their favorite shows. What a shame the show has been cancelled. Great story for HBO to pick up; it’s more interesting than their True Blood series.
What a letdown! Brings back memories of the episode that led to the end of Dallas. It was an addicting show and had a phenomenal cast. The ending was just bush league.
I’m a 14 year old girl and this was ABSOLUTELY my favorite show. It was all simply amazing. When the finale was over I started to cry. The ending was okay not the best but I was really confused at first. I really hope a channel like NBC or CBS or even HBO will pick up this amazing show. I looked forward to Wednesday nights.
I MISS YOU ALREADY LIFE ON MARS!!! 🙁
I just saw the ending of it… It was pretty good, I mean how far you think they were gonna go with the story. It was a great ending and i hope they do another smiliar to it… I love ms. No-Nuts norris and also WINDY was fine as hell…..lol
wow. ridiculous…one of the best shows on TV in a long time and its canceled because idiots dont know i good show when they hear about it….sad…..but we can all watch American Idol, cause thats so much fun to watch. Bunch of bums out there
I too was shocked at the ending and now that I realize this show was canceled , even more disappointed. I had hoped that the Mars scene was part of the smart delusional feel of this show. How sad that another good show has “not made the cut” according to the ratings.
its going to be hard for it to come back seeing as how they had to wrap it up .
but they reallly should ; that show was outstandinnnnnnng .
it made me laugh cry and scream ( really loud ) in shock when i saw
some things happen . i hoep abc relizes all the people that liked that show isstead of all thoose reality shows !?
ABC PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE . your leaving alllllllot of people
upset and disappointed in you . plus life on mars its to kiiick bum .;)
It always seems that the good scriped well acted shows dont grab enough viewers. I was a late commer to life on mars. I did enjoy it alot. I was hoping for a diffrent ending. I will get this when it comes out on Dvd.
It was a very well written and a great cast. My family looked forward to Life on Mars every week. Next to Big Love I think it was the best show on TV. Unfortunately as in a lot of good series TV the best does not always survive the Axe..
I really prefer the original ending from the British series. But I will really, really miss this well written, well directed and very well acted series.
The earlier suggestion that all or most TV series should have a scheduled ending is great. No loose ends to tie up. All in a Mini-series format would be preferable. Life on Mars will be missed in our household. We even had a farewell party last night. It was sad. At least we still have LOST – as confusing as it is, I am addicted to it.
Personally, I loved the ending — both the one we got with Sam on the phone in 1973, accepting his situation, and the one in 2035. But for those suggesting that Lisa Bonet should have been there in 2035, this wouldn’t have worked. Keep in mind, the only reason the other astronauts were there in 1973 was because of the glitch. There were no people from his real life in the 2008 fantasy — it was purely fictional.
i thought the series finale was ok for the time they were given,but i would have prefered an ending that was more clear,you start to care about characters and then you found out they’re all fantasies of other characters. My brother thinks the ending sucked . 2008 wasn’t real, 1973 wasn’t real so that means nothing was real, and so the show didnt matter.
This was possibly the worst series finale ever. I am no longer angry at the Sopranos or the L word, because now I see just how bad an ending can be. I liked the show and had hoped it would stay on,but after watching the last few minutes of the finale, I’m glad it is done. If I had wasted several seasons watching a show just to have it end like this, I really would have been pissed. If this show somehow gets put back on the air, I’m not sure that I would watch it, just because of that… Read more »
How much longer could this show have gone on until the end or we got tired each week of not knowing Sam’s fate? 2, 3, 4, 6 seasons? I think the ending was too soon and somewhat rushed but effective due to the series being cancelled so soon, however, if this show was billed as short run to start with, then I think it would have done much better in the ratings. I think this is why some of those so called reality shows keep coming back season after season, because you know that it will have a new cast,… Read more »
I agree w/ Robin — would have liked to see Lisa Bonet character as one of the flight crew — afterall an all white flight crew in the future is NOT plausible and the love triangle would have been fun. Also what’s with Norris’ hair at the the end? What self-respecting Col. would have such a useless hairdo?!?!? Had to be devised by men!