TV: "Life on Mars" and "The Philanthropist" Revamped

Apparently people hated "Life on Mars" so much after catching a preview that orbited the net, that ABC decided to redo it. It's odd that the network would even lead with this as a potential pilot for next season when two similar shows, NBC's "Journeyman" and FOX's "New Amsterdam," were just canceled. ABC's solution was to replace the executive producers with the ones from another canceled show, "October Road." They're also thinking about replacing the entire cast and maybe even the lead, Jason O'Mara ("Men in Trees"). Here's an idea: cancel it before you even bother wasting more energy. Or maybe ABC should just stop trying to poach an idea from overseas and make it American. The show centers on a guy who gets hit by a car and wakes up in the 70s where he has to keep being a cop and play along. I think where this show and "New Amsterdam" went wrong is that they didn't keep time traveling. As for "Journeyman," in which the character continued to time travel, his mission needed to be a little less noble and a little more Bourne Identity-ish. I mean, think about it. Imagine if Jason Bourne was the main character in a time traveling instead of location-hopping version of Jumper. That would be pretty awesome.

Another network that's decided to scrap their pilot and start fresh is NBC with "The Philanthropist," a show about a rich and eccentric tycoon who decides to use his money to help people after his son dies. According to the main site, he will be "dodging bullets in third world countries to hand deliver vaccines," as well as doing other dangerous and insane stunts to be a vigilante philanthropist. That sounds a bit much, but I guess it could work with the right lead and content. Their solution to their problem is to hire Peter Horton ("Dirty Sexy Money"), David Eick ("Bionic Woman") and Charlie Corwin ("Miami Ink") to direct and executive produce it. Who knows if that'll work.