Grittiest New Cop Drama Life on Mars ABC, Thursdays, 10 p.m.

Stars: Jason O'Mara (Men in Trees), Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Gretchen Mol

The premise: After being hit by a car, present-day detective Sam Tyler (O'Mara) wakes up in 1973, greeting a world plagued by a gas crisis, a failing war and an unpopular president — basically 2008 with butterfly collars. Working alongside grizzled NYPD vets Gene Hunt (Keitel) and Ray Carling (Imperioli), Tyler faces a series of moral dilemmas: Should he stop all future murderers? Should he adopt his fellow squad men's Gitmo-worthy interrogation methods? And, more important, how soon can he jump into bed with his foxy co-worker (Mol)?

They say: "It's a satisfying cop story — there's a body or a robbery every episode — but there's also this mythological element that borders on the surreal," says executive producer Josh Appelbaum (Alias). "It's Sidney Lumet and David Lynch mixed into one."

We say: Judging by its A-list cast, Life on Mars sounds like the cop-show cure for our Wire withdrawal.