A return visit to 'Mars'

"It's Suzi Tripper!" he berated himself, walking back to his mark again.

It's no surprise that O'Mara was feeling the pressure. There's a lot riding on getting this latest take of "Life on Mars" right.

ABC's version of the popular British series about a modern-day detective who gets hit by a car and ends up back in 1973 has been stymied by stops and starts for almost two years.

Veteran television producer David E. Kelley shot the pilot for ABC in Los Angeles last summer, but network executives thought it didn't hew closely enough to the original BBC show. After Kelley left the project in the spring, ABC put "Life on Mars" in the hands of Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec and Scott Rosenberg, creators of the short-lived drama "October Road." They're now remaking the series in New York with a totally new cast, save O'Mara, the only actor kept from the first pilot.

The newest version of "Life on Mars" debuts Oct. 9 after "Grey's Anatomy," an enviable time slot that speaks to ABC's high hopes for the show, despite its circuitous path to the air.

Nemec admitted that the producers felt "some trepidation" taking over for Kelley, the purveyor of such hits as "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice." They opted not to watch his pilot in order to stay focused on the stylish spirit that distinguished the British series.

"We really wanted to pay a lot of tribute to what they did, because they made an incredible and beautiful show," Nemec said.

The newest adaptation seeks to capitalize on the cultural references conjured up by 1970s-era New York, a time of “Serpico”:43772 and “The French Connection.” Scaffolding sheaths the newly built Twin Towers. Green-and-black police cars careen around the crime-ridden city. The smoky police precinct is populated by blunt-spoken detectives with thick sideburns and wide ties, barking into rotary phones.

For all of its period detail, the series has its roots in a crime procedural. On a recent August afternoon, the cast filmed a scene in which Tyler -- still dazed by his environs -- tries to convince a skeptical Lt. Gene Hunt (Harvey Keitel) and Det. Ray Carling (Michael Imperioli) that he had figured out how their latest murder victim was killed.