Why would anyone want to remake something like the UK edition of "Life on Mars". Hopefully only to pay tribute to such a great creative endeavour and to translate it to an audience that might not understand bobbies, Cortinas and other idioms of UK life in the 1970's.
Maybe a visual translation was needed for a larger ( ie world) audience that can relate to American culture of the past more than it can relate to UK culture of the past. Time is a distancing factor. Add to that the cultural distancing and perhaps the majority of people would not "get it" or worse relegate it to something quirky and/or cute.
Of course the American production it is not as good as the original. But thankfully not everything has been lost in the translation.
Maybe a visual translation was needed for a larger ( ie world) audience that can relate to American culture of the past more than it can relate to UK culture of the past. Time is a distancing factor. Add to that the cultural distancing and perhaps the majority of people would not "get it" or worse relegate it to something quirky and/or cute.
Of course the American production it is not as good as the original. But thankfully not everything has been lost in the translation.