VID REC: Life on Mars - "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better"

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

Vidder: culf
Musical Artist: John Barrowman + Ruthie Henshall (Irving Berlin)
Pairing: None
Vidder on LJ: Still culf!
Vidder's Website: None.
Why this vid kicks ass: A long time ago in a kingdom far, far away, the US adaptation of Life on Mars was just a rumour. AND THEN someone leaked the unaired pilot for the US version on teh intarwebs, and all hell broke loose. Me, I love Colm Meaney, but even he couldn't save it. The thing that was most unbelievable about it was that the actor recruited to play US-version Sam Tyler was one Jason O'Mara...and in that unaired pilot, he seriously could not act his way out of a paper bag. It was AWFUL. Simply, eye-gougingly awful.

Apparently the people at ABC didn't like it, either. The whole thing was scrapped, including most of the cast---except O'Mara. They even changed locations from their original pilot version set in LA, and moved it to New York City for the series proper. And they changed years! The unaired pilot was going to take place in 1972, but the US version now seen on ABC on a weekly basis in the US is set in 1973. To be fair, I did give the US version a shot at not actively sucking and watched the first episode of the NYC version. It wasn't nearly as bad as the LA pilot, thankfully, but since it relied so heavily on the script of the original, I couldn't find a reason to want to watch it, particularly since I find O'Mara's acting to be roughly on par with Hayden Christensen.

ANYWAY, now that the long backstory is out of the way---this vid? After LoM fandom was in a tizzy when the LA-based unaired US pilot came out, culf snarked quite wonderfully and cleverly about the differences between the two Sams. Her editing is brilliant, and I believe will illustrate quite handily just why most of us were fairly disgusted with that pilot. :)

Anything Sam Can Do, Sam Can Do Better

[ETA: Fixed the artist; wrong version listed earlier. Sorry! :)]

Comments

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

LOL! I admit, that was funny. ;)

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

That's not Ethel Merman singing...that's Reba McIntyre, from the recent revival of "Annie Get Your Gun," so you've got two "I can do anything better than you" instances for the price of one!

[culf.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's John Barrowman and Ruthie Henshall from the program "The Sound of Musicals." No Reba McIntyre.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

!!Wow! She fooled me. And John Barrowman!

[loz]

You've been waiting a long time to make that rec, haven't you?! ;)

The thing that I find sweetly amusing about it is how it's our Sam who gets to be the shot on "I'm a girl." (Even though part of the reason is, of course, that 'the girl' is the triumpant one of the song.) It's that kind of in-joke affectionate nature that just tips it over the edge from being one great big snark and into one great big brilliant meta snark.

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

Whatever gave you that idea? *halos innocently*

culf is brilliant, plain and simple. If it was just a normal snark, I don't think it would have been nearly as impressive. But her editing skills? Are completely mad, yo. :D

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

I've never seen the American LoM, and I never want to, either. This was wicked and brilliant. Had me chuckling and nodding knowingly throughout.

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

Even I have to admit the retooling is better than the unaired LA pilot. But I'm still not interested in watching the US one, either. To each their own, though. I've better things to spew vitriol about. ;)

[culf.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec, I appreciate it!
*hugs*
Though, tiny nit pick, the song is sung by John Barrowman and Ruthie Henshall.

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

Doh! I'll confess...I didn't watch it directly before posting. I watched it when you originally posted it, yes, but apparently I suffered massive brain fade when posting last night.

Could have been my dead-tiredness and looking forward to another day of even more dead-tiredness today. I'm amazed I'm online at all. D: But you're very welcome, and thanks for the correction---fixed the post now. :D

[euryale000.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with your assessment of American LOM. It is such crap. I don't understand why they can't just import good shows. Less financial investment for them and better quality for us! Seriously, ABC, your top rated show is dripping in subtitled Korean dialogue, why do you think people would be afraid of English accents?

Also? Quality vid.