This entry is part of my "Videodroming Project," which you can read about here. Basically, it is to record my impressions of entertainment media that I watch...with a view especially to semiotics -- or how entertainment programming and commercials draw on the social and political issues of the day. So Wednesday night I flipped on "Life on Mars," not knowing anything about it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had a first-rate supporting cast: Michael Imperioli (of "The Sopranos"), Gretchen Mol and the one-and-only Harvey Keitel. Basically, it is about a man who is from the present day, but has been magically transported back to 1973, where he works as a detective in an NYC precinct under Keitel, with Imperioli and Mol as his cops-in-arms.

The main thrust of the show is that he is trying to find a way to return to his own time (obviously this "fish out of water" tale has been done many times before -- Irwin Allen's '60's show "Time Tunnel" is the one that springs to my mind, not to mention certain "Star Trek" episodes such as "City on the Edge of Forever" -- and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"). In any case, this allows the show to offer up some compare/contrast between then and now -- in a social and political sense (e.g. cops using walkie talkies instead of cellphones). I really liked the overall style of the show -- it had the look of '70's crime movies -- such as "The French Connection" and "Fingers" with Keitel. It also had a soundtrack like the cop shows of that period -- with the "bow chika bow bow" wah-wah guitar. Some of the look, and the antics in the precinct, reminded me of the first "Hill St. Blues" episode (1981), that I saw recently on DVD (a brawl broke out like those that happened regularly on "HSB," with someone jumping on a character's back, like Belker used to do). But "Life on Mars" also features contemporary film techniques like the swishpans and quick cuts of "NYPD Blue."

The plot of this episode was bit flimsy -- it involved a NYC Councilman who, like the show's protagonist, had been transported from the present. He had found a way to get back to 2009, but was killed before he could make the journey home. The fact that he was a Councilman helped accentuate certain political themes. At one point, he told a character, "The future is not like today -- there is hope." Hmmmm.....many would argue that 1973 looks pretty damned rosy compared to now. But maybe he meant it in the sense of the crime-ridden NYC of the '70's vs. today's Big Apple? But I found this to be a highly facile way of describing "the future" by parroting the mantra of the Obama campaign.At one point, the lead character was quizzing him on events since 1973, to find out if he was for real. The Councilman said, "We have a black President." The lead replied almost incredulously, "Wait -- he won?" (Presumably, he was zapped back to '73 before the election). Later, in a hallucinatory sequence, video images of Obama flashed on the 1973 TV screens behind the lead. A dream-like voice intoned, "This is not your time yet. Your time will come."

In any event, the Councilman had been a crusading liberal (from the future), fighting for the minimum wage and gun control. It was for this that he got killed. At one point, one of the characters said, "It's thanks to his re-zoning that my business was closed down." (Echoes of common woes of today -- losing a business, house, job etc...albeit this character's woes had to do with a politician's actions rather than economics). Also in the show, there was a subplot around Women's lib, as Imperioli's character took issue with Gretchen Mol being a policewoman -- and in some of the feminist views she shared with his wife, whom he obviously wanted to stay at home in a more...ahem...traditional role.

One of the guest characters of this episode was a black prostitute with a bleached-golden afro -- very much like the characters from blaxploitation films and cop shows of the period, such as "Baretta." She played sort of a mystical role in this episode, since during the hallucinatory sequences, she was telling the lead character certain things pertaining to his time-space dilemma. During these sequences, "Over the Rainbow" sung by Judy Garland would play -- and I think the prostitute said, "Click your heels and you can go home." I instantly thought of Diana Ross as Dorothy in "The Wiz." There was also a stereotypical character of a Chinese waiter delivering food to the Precinct.

To go with the Wizard of Oz motif -- it turned out that the man who had the secret for returning the Councilman back to the present was a white-haired sorcerer figure with a cane featuring a rabbit's head ("Alice" anyone?)

The show had another subplot revolving around familial themes -- in this case it was about the conflict between Keitel and his daughter. Echoing this and the Women's Lib subplot of Imperioli's wife was when Keitel suspected an inside job within the Precinct in the murder of the Councilman. He said, "There is no greater betrayal than when it's one of your own family." In the show's climax, Keitel's daughter was held at knifepoint as a hostage by the killer, with Keitel talking him out of it. Again, this was playing on recurring themes I have noticed since starting the "Videodroming" project -- that being threats to the family unit (and the American family specifically). I noticed this especially when I was watching "My Own Worst Enemy" with Christian Slater. The show has been cancelled, but I may share my notes on it at some point.

During the commercial break, there was a spot for "Grey's Anatomy" about the next episode featuring the saving of babies. Again, this is one of the major themes I keep noticing popping up on television. I will write about the commercials that played during this hour in my next blog entry. One last thing, I loved that "Life on Mars" opened with "Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet (one of my all-time fav bands -- keep in mind that my tastes range from the current sounds to Classical, which I have just really been exploring lately). Neverthless, "Ballroom Blitz" is my least favorite of Sweet's hits -- their other famous song, "Fox on the Run" -- is what I call the greatest pop-rock song of all-time, if I had to vote for one. (For just sheer hard rock -- I call Led Zeppelin's "Achilles Last Stand" the greatest). But I digress...