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E-mailThird time unlucky for Jason O'Mara as 'Life on Mars' axed
Irish actor Jason O'Mara's third big American break has fallen flat as ABC has axed his show "Life on Mars."
The show - which starred heavyweights such as Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli and Gretchen Mol - just didn't attract the viewers.
ABC entertainment chief Steve McPherson said "it was the right thing to do for the producers and the fans and creatively."
O’Mara's earlier breaks included roles in the Steven Spielberg mini-series “Band of Brothers,” and the Touchstone drama “In Justice” – which Fox network cancelled.
"Life on Mars," was named after the famous David Bowie song.
O’Mara starred as NYPD cop Sam Tyler, who is spirited back in time to 1970s New York after being hit by a car and is forced to do his work without modern conveniences like computers. O’Mara was forced to ditch his pronounced Irish accent for the role.
“Life on Mars” was originally a British show, set in Manchester, a gritty city in the north of England and it told the story of a tough and not always likable detective, Chief Inspector Hunt, who is mysteriously transported to the 1970s, a grim decade in UK history. The series was a big hit, and won awards at the Emmys and Baftas.
There were constant whispers behind the scenes about the US drama’s progress. In November 2008, O’Mara said: "I have to substitute the anxiety of doing this role for anticipation and enjoyment." Irish actor Colm Meaney was originally slated to play O’Mara’s partner, Gene Hunt, and he was in the pilot, but ABC later gave the part to Harvey Keitel. "I had to roll with the punches," O’Mara said in the same interview. "Whatever challenges we had, everybody seems to be on the same page now." Not for long, it seems.
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