Feb 03 2009
Life and Law & Order vs. Lost and Life on Mars
This is shaping up to be quite the annoying week, isn’t it? After the pile-up on Monday, and then a big nothing on Tuesday, we’ve now got two hours of excellent competing television with Life and Law & Order on NBC against Lost and Life on Mars on ABC. Time to break out the recording devices for the L-shows.
Life ended its fall run with Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) getting shot point blank when he answered the front door. Unfortunately the suspense of what happens to him is kind of over with NBC running promos of the new Life episode with…well, Charlie Crews. Granted, we sort of knew if he got killed there wouldn’t be much of a show left. Still, I hate big cliffhangers that get answered by commercials instead of the actual program. There’s the mystery of who actually shot him, though, plus a new crime to solve this week with his partner Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi).
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If you’re not into quirky and amusing ex-con (wrongly convicted), Zen-inspired, fruit-eating redheaded police detectives solving crimes, then you can always turn over to <i>Lost</i> and watch your head explode over time traveling-islands, pre-determined destinies, and murderous sociopaths. All I keep thinking of is Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager saying “The past is the future, the future’s the past–the whole thing gives me a headache.” It’s been an okay sort of headache, though, with the characters we love banding together a bit more against the insanity of what’s going on around them. There’s a whole new arc to explore this season, and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a few more answers to the ever-building twisty questions.
Following Lost is Life on Mars, a show both quirky and occasionally headache-inducing as we try to figure out if modern-day cop Sam Tyler (Jason O’Mara) time-traveled to 1973 or is simply hallucinating. Amidst the nostalgia trip of a cop show, we also have cryptic messages and phone calls from people who either seem to know more than they should or are a voice from the future. Occasionally the TV will switch over to something relevant only to Sam. It’s mind-boggling, but fun trying to figure how it’s going to play out. In the meantime, they’ve started establishing the 1970s characters more. Last week’s episode gave us a lot more insight into Lieutenant Hunt’s (Havey Keitel) personality, as we learn the truth behind his rivalry with another precinct. Lovely Annie Norris (Gretchen Mol) also keeps up the dance of sexual tension with Tyler, breaking our hearts with the unrequitedness of it.
Opposite that we have the far more straightforward cop/lawyer show Law & Order, which finally seems to have settled on the right casting choices after the shake-ups of recent years. I wasn’t sure how Anthony Anderson was going to work out, but he and Jeremy Sisto have settled into a comfortable partnership as Detectives Bernard and Lupo, respectively. Linus Roache (as Michael Cutter) is still duking it out with Sam Waterston (as Jack McCoy) for screen time, but he’s always a treat to watch. What I’ve noticed is that on the police side, S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Van Buren has been involved more in cases and taking an active role in some investigations. Somehow she doesn’t seem to intrude the same way on the detectives that ADA McCoy does on the lawyer side, though. I’m not sure yet if it’s a difference in the writing, the characters, or the actors. In any case, Law & Order is as strong as ever in its 19th season, still giving us compelling characters and exciting cases to work through each week.
Watch NBC, starting at 9/8c for Life, followed by Law & Order.
Watch ABC, starting at 9/8c for Lost, followed by Life on Mars.
Or start recording…
