Life on Mars - Almost Famous

"Don't eat the brown acid!" - Ray (Michael Imperioli)

Oh Life on Mars, what are we to do with you? Week to week you show occasional flashes of brilliance, and then this week you deliver UFO's and Sebastian Grace and The Electric Insects. I'll admit, though, there were a lot of great 70's rock cues, like Max's Kansas City and the great Crawdaddy magazine. The rest felt like it was cribbed from Almost Famous, right down to the Penny Lane-like super groupie Rocket Girl. And there was even a throwaway reference to Bad Company's "Shooting Star," when Rocket Girl's father says "'Love me Do', I think it was," describing the moment he really lost his daughter. So there's that.

Besides Sebastian, Rocket Girl had apparently shacked up with Frank Zappa, David Crosby, Keith Richards, Rod Stewart and members of Black Sabbath, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steppenwolf. And with Led Zeppelin coming to town next, she was about to open her own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This week's song choices were inspired, as LoM continues to avoid the obvious choices. Take for example the bands The Action and Traffic Sound, both bands who never quite made it here in the U.S. The short-lived Mod band The Action, were precursors to power pop, fusing the Byrds and The Beatles, anticipating the likes of Badfinger, The Raspberries and Big Star.

Meanwhile, Traffic Sound were Peru's answer to Os Mutantes, part of the surprising South American psychedelic rock scenes. The 'go to' compilation of their stuff is Yellow Sea Years 68-71, from Light in the Attic records, the best label for reissues of this sort. The other two songs were a lot less obscure, to say the least, but no less inspired. The Kinks' "Supersonic Rocket Ship" and David Bowie's "Starman" are both great songs, and fit the 'paranormal' subject matter, obviously. I expected to hear a lot more Bowie in the series, given it's title and subject matter, but the music supervisors haven't disappointed otherwise.

There's good and bad news on the ratings front, based on last night's numbers. The numbers are way down in total viewers, but LoM excelled in the coveted 18-34 male category. In fact, ABC had it's best Men 18-34 number in the time period with regular programming since October 2007. That was in the first half-hour, though, boosted by the Lost lead. The second half-hour saw the numbers plunge again.

Playlist: Life on Mars - Episode 1.10
1. "Look At The View" - The Action
2. "Yesterday's Game" - Traffic Sound
3. "Supersonic Rocket Ship" - The Kinks
4. "Starman" - David Bowie
5. "The Last Planet I Kissed" - Sebastian Grace and The Electric Insects



Previously: Out of Order (Episode 1.08)

Fame's a killer

It's the mid-season finale for Nip/Tuck and the number one question on my mind is: What will it take for McNamara/Troy to finally get a security system? Seriously, throughout this season -- and really, throughout Nip/Tuck's existence -- folks have been breaking into both the offices and the home of the suddenly famous plastic surgeons, while Christian and Sean seemingly treat it as part of the job. Same goes for the set of Hearts & Scalpels -- even a restraining order for Colleen doesn't seem to inspire an increase in security. Ok, enough on that, and we'll table Colleen for later.

The theme of this episode was all about the price of fame, which is appropriate given McNamara/Troy's move to Hollywood. N/T's take here of course pales in comparison to what Ricky Gervaise did with the finale for Extras, an episode which did a better job on all fronts, but we'll try to look past that. Jennifer Coolidge reprises her Candy Richards role here, as an actress who's caught up in believing she's famous, when she's really just this week's dead girl on Law & Order SVU. Coolidge is great at the over-the-top performance, and it's a clue to the outrageousness of all that that follows. Her Candy character also threw out a reference to 'the locusts,' which, whether intentional or not, had me thinking of Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust, which tells the tale of Hollywood dreams gone sour - an appropriate reference to be sure.

Speaking of dreams gone sour, Julia's still alive after being shot in the head, but has still fallen victim to tired plot device #32: she's lost her memory. Sean, like Edie last season on Desperate Housewives, sees this as an opportunity to start fresh with Julia. We can already see how this ends -- even without the benefit of last season's flash-forward. Back to tightening security, why does anyone still trust Eden, exactly?

I can't help but think the 'Matt sleeps with his sister' story arc was put into play purely so we could hear Christian say: 'I can't believe I'm saying this, but you can't sleep with your sister again!'' That and to set up the above shot of Christian riding Emmy's amputee mother -- his bare ass splitting the uprights. Perhaps Emmy herself is a representation of the award, with the metaphor being winning the award is like making love to your half-sister - it may feel good on a certain level, but it's just not worth it. To be honest, I think N/T's days of trying to sleep with it's half-sister Emmy are now in the past -- let's hope it's the same for Matt.

Finally, let's get to the music, and, in turn, back to Colleen. At the end, when Sean begins to perform surgery on his daughter, we hear David Bowie's "Fame," which on the surface seems like a benign choice, given the theme, and the prior use of Irene Cara's similarly titled song. But let's not forget who else sings on Bowie's song. It's none other than John Lennon, who you'll remember was killed by a stalker/fan in Mark David Chapman. So even though there was no "Tubular Bells" to signal Colleen's entrance, like in the past, hearing Lennon's voice was a good clue that she was lurking with psychotic intentions. We'll have to wait until this summer now to find out Sean's fate -- and whether Colleen had Catcher in the Rye on her at the scene of the crime.

Other favorite lines this week:
"And people... let's try and save that camera, it's a damn good Leica!" - Sean acting in Heart & Scalpels, prepping his team to remove a camera from a paparazzi's anal cavity.
"If a tree falls in the forest, and there aren't a bunch of nerds with cameras there to record it, does it make a sound?" - Candy, on why she called the paparazzi.

Playlist: Nip/Tuck - Episode 5.14
1. "Fame" - Irene Cara - Candy's surgery
2. "Take A Picture" - Swizz Beatz - Candy sets up her exit for the paparazzi
3. "Fame" - God Lives Underwater - Sean and Christian are mobbed by paparazzi
3. "Fame" - David Bowie - Annie's surgery / Colleen stabs Sean
Compiled by Avalon at Niptuckforum.com

More: While the song title is the key reference here, you could really just substitute Bill Wither's "Lovely Day" in place of "Take a Picture" as they just used the sampled intro, minus Swizz Beatz' vocals. And really, any excuse to listen to Withers is reason enough in my book.

Previously: Always a Critic (Episode 5.13)

Just like Tango & Cash

This month's Spin has a feature on the team-up of Johnny Marr with Modest Mouse and in support of that, lists the 25 greatest team-ups in popular music history. Starting chronologically with the Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins) and ending with Modest Mouse's latest, the list is full of great albums that prove egos can mesh.

Playlist: Spin Magazine's 25 Greatest Team-Ups

There are a few team-ups missing that are pretty glaring. While they included one great Brian/David team-up (Eno/Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts) they missed the most important one with the album Low, where Eno teamed up with David Bowie to change the underground music landscape forever.

Other more recent oversights include the debuts from Gorillaz, New Pornographers, and The Raconteurs. I'd even include Robert Palmer's debut Sneaking Through the Alley, which featured the team-up of Lowell George (Little Feat) and The Meters.

What are some of the less memorable team-ups? HSAS (Hagar, Schon, Aaronson & Shrieve,) Planet Us (Hagar and Schon again,)Asia, GTR, and really, for that matter, the other Robert Palmer team-up The Power Station.

Think of any other great and forgettable team-ups?

tags: playlist, music, classic rock, spin, modest mouse, brian eno, david byrne, david bowie, robert palmer, gorillaz, new pornographers, indie rock, rhapsody

Little fat man who sold his soul

While we're six months behind the UK on this (Stereogum,) David Bowie's appearance on Extras last night has to be one of the funniest rock cameo's in television history.

Bowie writes an impromptu song called "Little Fat Man," after hearing Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) complain about the series (When the Whistle Blows)he sold to the BBC.

Little fat man who sold his soul,
Little fat man who sold his dream...

Pathetic little fat man,
No one's bloody laughing,
The clown that no one laugh's at,
They all just wish he'd die.
He's so depressed at being hated,
Fatso takes his own life,
He blows his stupid brains out,
But the twat would probably miss.

He sold his soul for a shot at fame,
Catchphrase and wig and the jokes are lame,
He's got no style, he's got no grace,
He's banal and facile, he's a fat waste of space

See his pug-nosed face...Pug, pug, pug, pug,
See his pug-nosed face...Pug, pug, pug, pug,
See his pug-nosed face...Pug, pug, pug, pug,
The little fat man with the pug-nosed face, Pug, pug, pug, pug,
Little fat man, pug-nosed face, Pug, pug, pug, pug,
He's a little fat pug-nosed face, Pug, pug, pug, pug.

Bowie is most certainly having a laugh.

tags: music, television, soundtrack, extras, david bowie, ricky gervais, hbo

Watching some good friends screaming let me out!

Song: "Under Pressure" Queen w/ David Bowie

Aaron Sorkin's new series STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP makes good on it's promise to hold a mirror up to TV, complete with a Howard Beale moment from Paddy Chayefsky's NETWORK in the intro (and of course Chayefsky comes up in Sorkin's dialogue.) The show, a behind the scenes look at a Saturday Night Live-like sketch comedy, is smartly written and demonstrates incredible promise, much like Sorkin's previous work (SPORTS NIGHT, THE WEST WING.)

And if that weren't enough, they adeptly used "Under Pressure" (Queen/David Bowie) to end the show, which works to sell me on nearly anything. Damn them... they seem know my weakness!

Missed it? Watch last night's pilot in it's entirety. Or, watch a 2-minute recap. (NBC)

tags: television, music, soundtrack, studio 60, aaron sorkin, queen, david bowie, paddy chayefsky, rhapsody