Everything old is new again on two cop-show remakes

"Life on Mars" is yet another new drama based on a ridiculous premise borrowed from an overseas TV show. In this case, it's about a cop mystically and inexplicably transported from the present day back to the '70s.

Jason O'Mara's New York City police detective Sam Tyler is struck by a car on the street shortly after listening to David Bowie's "Life on Mars" on his car iPod jack. He wakes up back in 1973 in view of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, outfitted in a leather jacket and an open-neck shirt with a dove-wing collar, and with "Life on Mars" still playing on his automobile sound system - on an 8-track on the dash of his new muscle car, that is.

To which I say, if we're going to steal British TV shows and make them American, can't we go all the way and have him listening to some classic American rock - like the Raspberries' "Go All the Way?" Or even Chicago's "Old Days," which at least would make more sense as a title.

Yet the amazing thing about "Life on Mars" when it airs at 9 p.m. today on ABC's WLS Channel 7 is how, despite this ridiculous concept, which doesn't even have originality to recommend it, it's actually pretty good. Like the new CBS retread "The Ex List," its divine execution makes up for its intended stupidity, thanks in large part to a terrific cast. Where "The Ex List" benefits from a talented ensemble of no-names, however, "Life on Mars" draws on established stars who fit right into their pre-PC roles and delight in the period details.

Harvey Keitel, who already played "The Bad Lieutenant" in the '80s, is an even worse commanding officer as Lt. Gene Hunt in the rough-and-tumble '70s. Even better, Michael Imperioli, the beloved "Christafa" on "The Sopranos," turns up in a classic '70s handlebar mustache as detective Ray Carling, Lt. Hunt's right-hand man. When Tyler was immediately embraced into the homicide unit in the pilot two weeks ago, only to have a nervous breakdown over his time travel, Carling simply advised him, "Why don't you get yourself a Scotch?"

They have a certain nickname I can't repeat for Gretchen Mol's policewoman Annie Norris - remember, this is still a year ahead of Angie Dickinson's groundbreaking "Police Woman" - and she even tolerates it. Yet, being from an ever so slightly more enlightened era, Tyler befriends her first, especially as he pines for his own professional and personal partner, Lisa Bonet's Maya Daniels, who's waiting for him to come home in the present day.

The show gets a kick out of violating all the PC taboos, and I can't wait for them to run into Frank Serpico. Yet I have to ask: Why send this guy back there from the here and now in the first place? Why not just do a show about NYPD cops in the '70s? Did AMC have to have Don Draper conk his head on the floor while listening to the Four Seasons' "Walk Like a Man" over one too many martinis in order to send him back to the '60s for "Mad Men?" So as for me, given "The Wizard of Oz" references or not, I hope Sam Tyler never makes it back home. Enjoy that Me Decade while you can, man, oh, and don't forget to bet on the Mets to make it to the '73 World Series.

Meanwhile over on CBS' WBBM Channel 2 at 9 p.m. today there's yet another Americanized British cop series. "Eleventh Hour" originally starred Patrick Stewart as a hyper-aware scientist-detective, and I'm ready to bet sight unseen that it's just gotta be better than the U.S. remake, which stars Rufus Sewell as Dr. Jacob Hood and Marley Shelton as Rachel Young, the hot, blond FBI agent who squires him around. It comes off as just another series about an eccentric detective, again without even that much originality to recommend it.

So with NBC's "ER" going through its final-season swan song on WMAQ Channel 5 by bringing back every character that ever appeared on it just to say goodbye (having bid adieu to Maura Tierney's Abby Lockhart just last week) a viewer's choice is clear. One can go briskly back to 1973 on "Life on Mars" or slowly back to 1994 on "ER" or stay here with "Eleventh Hour" in the present, where there are no new ideas.

In the air

Remotely interesting: John McCain produced the highest ratings in almost three years for CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman." His appearance on the show last Thursday drew 6.5 million viewers nationally, about 2 million more than "The Tonight Show" on NBC. CBS has extended "The Mentalist" for a full season. It airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on WBBM Channel 2.

Turner Classic Movies has copped an old idea from WGN Channel 9. In December, it will run a weekly Sunday festival of kids-oriented Disney films under the title "The Family Classics," starting with the 1950 "Treasure Island" at 11 a.m. Dec. 7. Of course, Channel 9 ran a more wide-ranging array of films under the title "Family Classics" for years on weekends, with Frazier Thomas and later Roy Leonard as hosts.

End of the dial: Newsweb Radio is ditching the "we play anything" music format on its local FM stations and instead will simulcast its progressive-talk format from WCPT 820-AM on WRZA 99.9-FM, WKIE 92.7-FM and WDEK 92.5-FM. They'll also go beyond the dawn-to-dusk signal on 'CPT, but will give way to "Dance Factory" music from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

WBBM 780-AM and TV's Channel 2 have again united on a Voter Guide for local and national elections, found at cbs2chicago.com/votersguide.