SFUniverse readers, did you take a gander at Life on Mars or Eleventh Hour? Has anybody looked at the British versions of these shows? I wonder how long a show like Mars can sustain its coma-based plotline. That seems like one you can only squeeze a couple of seasons out of. And in fact, the British version ran only two seasons.

In contrast, there should be no reason a show like Eleventh Hour can’t go on as long as there are new mysteries for Dr. Jacob Hood to solve. That is, of course, assuming people watched it tonight. We’ll have those numbers soon. CBS has to figure they can’t go wrong with two hours of Jerry Bruckheimer TV.

Bruckheimer’s CSI franchise is one of the reasons that CBS is on top of the TV heap so I suspect his show will be given every opportunity to succeed.

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Our TV executives obsession with mining British TV reaches critical mass tonight as two high-profile redos from across the pond launch. As Cynthia reported, CBS’ Eleventh Hour kicks off tonight at 10 p.m. ET. Though they air on completely different nights, many TV pundits have pitted Fringe vs. Eleventh Hour in TV previews.

The shows do seem to be going for a similar “X-Files-ish” vibe but we’ll know more tonight. For sheer star power, it would be hard to beat ABC’s much discussed Life on Mars debut tonight at  – 10 p.m ET. Uh-oh, it’s on now! Among its stars are The Bad Lieutenant himself, Harvey Keitel and The Sopranos’ Michael Imperioli. The unusual premise sees a police detective hit by a car, then waking up in 1973 as a result of his coma.

And of course, we have Thursday night regulars Supernatural and Smallville in the mix also. It’s not a bad time to be a sci-fi fan, not a bad time at all.

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A second high-profile SF show is pulling its planned pilot episode to please network brass. Following on the heels of Fox’s pilot redux for Dollhouse, TV Squad reports that Jerry Bruckheimer’s Eleventh Hour will switch out its pilot episode for another.

If you’ve watched any CBS show in the past two months, you have probably seen the promo for the episode about human cloning. That one will air later in the year and Eleventh Hour will begin instead with a show about a food syndrome causing paralysis. Eleventh Hour is a remake of a British show that starred Star Trek:TNG’s Patrick Stewart. It’s not the only show to mine British TV as ABC will bring us Life on Mars.

While Dollhouse’s pilot problems have worried the legions of Whedon faithful due to their Firefly experiences, this isn’t seen as a big deal for Eleventh Hour. Since Bruckheimer is the mind behind the hit CSI franchise (and Eleventh Hour gets the posh time slot behind CSI) this show will get every chance to prove itself. Look for Eleventh Hour October 9 and look to SFUniverse for Eleventh Hour coverage.

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Abrams doesn’t generally miss but I’m going to be surprised if all these shows succeed. SF is the king of risky genres. I was looking at some statistics today too, namely the list of the Top 100 TV Broadcasts of All Time, ratings wise. There’s not a single SF show on there and the only fantasy-themed one is a broadcast of Cinderella.

Keep in mind there are multiple showings of The Beverly Hillbillies on this chart. Even well done sci-fi has a hard time finding a sizable audience as evidenced by Jericho getting canceled and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles being on the bubble for a while.

I hope Horizon’s predictions are spot on. But I’m just saying I’ll believe this TV revolution when I see it.

Photos: Michael Lavine/FOX

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