Original piece from M - The Sunday Age
Remakes are always a tricky proposition especially when all you do with the remake is set it in America. Especially when the original is so peculiar: a detective thrown back in time, where his 21st century policing skills clash head-on with their 1970s counterparts; underpinned by his struggle to return to his own time; further underpinned by the question--is he really in the 1970s, or just completely bonkers yeah, sure, but still definitely better than the drivel that passes for quality programming these days--especially seeing as it works? Surprisingly, this US version is terrific funnily enough because the original was just that. There's a cracking cast, including Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperiolo oh blah--Simm! <3. The New York setting works brilliantly, every bit as dirty and claustrophobic as the Manchester of the original tcheh, but with a slightly different soundtrack and milieu you'd hope so. Unfortunately for existing fans, the series depends too heavily on mystery and surprise to really work the second time round so watching an exact (albeit American) replica is a bit tough on the intellect, but if you haven't seen the original, you'll love V2 why don't we just stop here and say: watch the original.
Thanks, lunatoic, you've got me riled up about this, too. And really, I'm never an advocator for watch the original!! better than the remake FTW and all that. I mean, I liked the US remake of the Office! Admittedly moreso when they moved themselves away from the UK script. There's great script and then there's the lazy version where you just take the aforementioned great script and transplant it in a new and foreign country and wow just watch the little bugger go! go! go!
Look, I'm willing to give it a go--just don't let me hear you harp on about how great the plot is or I'll give you something new to harp about.