This may be the blog turf of Time TV critic James Ponzionsoinzweik, but I had to bring it up. ABC's Life on Mars just aired its series finale. And when my friend's mom told him what the show's twist ending was, and he told me, I had to see it for myself. Now, I never watched the American version of the program, but I would argue that this crazy series-capper is more enjoyable without ever seeing one second of the actual regular show.
Click here to watch it. (Or, click here then click a few more times and hope for the best.) But once you're at the series finale – skip ahead to minute 37.
Isn't that a balls-out, hail-Mary of an ending? They just go for it with insane Futurama jokes and a bizarre literal interpretation of the show's title. The big plot payoffs are all the more goofy fun having no idea what the setups are. Is this a “good” ending? Who knows. It's just surreal to take it in ice cold, knowing nothing, putting your TV inference skills to the test. Maybe this is how ER should have gone out.
Wow. That's just... wow. I heard they weren't going to copy the original British version ending, but they took the title of the show a tad literally.
Kemper
Apr. 3, 2009 08:46:am
at 08:46:am
I had never seen the British version, but when I watched this the other day I had to see if something so stupid was copied or original.
Rorschach
Apr. 3, 2009 10:58:am
at 10:58:am
Oh believe me, this one was all yours-100% american. To see how completely differently the original did it go to wikipedia, there's a full description there.
lissm
Apr. 3, 2009 18:58:pm
at 18:58:pm
The British Version is a better show, but truth be told the series finale is *Every bit* as self-defeating as the ending to the American Version was. Completely different ending, mind you, but just as bad.
republibotthreepointoh
Apr. 5, 2009 11:39:am
at 11:39:am
It's a nice ending. I always dig the surreal direction, even though I've never watched this show.
On the other hand, I think ER ended exactly as it should have. Moving forward and letting the hospital keep running the way it's been doing for 15 years was the only way to go on a modern-day urban hospital drama such as this.
I often wonder what an ending to the Simpsons would be like. I imagine there've been discussions in the writers' room about it. Would a stand-alone episode do it, or would there be another way to end the run with these cartoon characters.
eduardojencarelli
Apr. 12, 2009 22:46:pm
at 22:46:pm