ABC's Life On Mars Highest Rated Premiere of Season to Date

And it got some great reviews as well. Apparently, ABC spending all that money to recast and reshoot the pilot paid off.

TV Guide's Matt Mitovich in the Seattle PI:

It was neck-and-neck for dueling newbies Life on Mars (11.6 million) and Eleventh Hour (11.59 mil), though ABC came out on top in the demos. As a Grey's lead-out, Mars improved on Big Shots' year-ago performance by three million. Eleventh Hour, meanwhile, showed 50 percent retention of CSI's premiere audience, whereas Without a Trace delivered 67 percent last September.

Eleventh Hour is also a BBC remake. In fact, the first season of the UK version is airing as I write this on BBC America (the Birthplace of American Television, as they like to say). My DVR is rolling right now on that, as I did not get to see the US pilot, though I can always catch up on CBS.com.

Is it my imagination, or does the US Life on Mars give you more information faster than the original? It's been so long since I saw the other that I'm not really sure, but it seems that Sam Tyler knows a lot about what's going on with him at the end of the US pilot, more than John Simm's character did.

Although she's blonde (and has a different last name, too) in this version, I like Gretchen Mol (above right) in the role of Annie Cartwright Norris almost as much as I liked Liz White as Annie Norris Cartwright. (Thanks for the correction, Toby)

We'll see how the show plays out in the weeks ahead, but for now I'm a fan. Yes, I miss John Simm, but I'm still a fan.

Of both. Okay?