OMG how bad is this?

[txteach]

wow, do I feel foolish. I guess we copied all of those shows. You would think hollywood would have a few original ideas but I guess not.

[Bo8a_Fett]

lol hollywood heart of plagerism

[misterdroid]

The thing that propels the original Life on Mars is this... England circa '72 is more than the setting. It's practically a character in and of itself. Everything is somehow connected to that fact. From the David Bowie song that gave the series it's title, technology, social levels, prejudices and immigration, etc. It's time travel taken far beyond the Dr. Who "would you like to meet the queen" variety (not that there is anything wrong with the fun Who variety!).
It's incredibly well thought out and lovingly detailed.
I can't imagine the same thing could be done as successfully with the USA as the setting. I mean, it could conceivably be done, but I can't imagine will be attempted. The USA of the era portrayed in Life on Mars, just isn't that interesting and the interesting bits would almost certainly be played down or ignored. Our TV programming is not nearly as risque as UK stuff. Our past will almost certainly be portrayed with campy 70's stereotypes.