10 Most Bizarre TV Series Finales In History
2. Life On Mars Goes To Mars
On paper, an American remake of the BBC's Life on Mars had legs. By transporting modern cop Sam Tyler back in time, the show explored the tropes and problematic aspects of both 1970s television and policing in the UK. A remake could do something similar with American attitudes to both policing and cop shows. After all, there are marked differences between the griminess of The Sweeney and the hip coolness of Starsky and Hutch.
Despite featuring actors like Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt and a supporting turn from The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli, the remake never took off and was cancelled after one season. In ending the series, the American writing team made a wild departure from creator Matthew Graham's original vision. Rather than reveal that Sam had been in a coma, they opted for something much more literal.
The closing scenes of the series find Sam waking from hyper-sleep on the first manned mission to Mars. The 1973 cop show he's been inhabiting has been a simulation created by the ship's computer to keep him entertained on his long journey. His fellow cops were all members of the crew, including Gene Hunt, who is revealed to be Sam's estranged father. To quote David Bowie "Hey, that's far out..."