I'd like to know what you ...
Prison Break
Question: I'd like to know what you think about
Prison Break. I really enjoyed this new show, but I wasn't as thrilled as I was when I discovered
Lost or
Desperate Housewives. I think it's because I can't stop comparing the show to
Oz even if there is a different (and original) concept. That's also why I wonder how the show could survive past one season with this plot. Do you think
Prison Break could run for several seasons?
Answer: That question has haunted the series from the moment it was announced. If the show's numbers hold up, which will become more of a challenge as the new season officially kicks in next week, I would assume the first season will build toward the escape, and if there is a second season, that will follow the escapees on the lam (think
Prison Break, Season 2: The Fugitives). Where it goes beyond that is anyone's guess. But I'm a fan of this sort of serialized thriller, so I'm willing to go along for a while, although the more I watch, the more I feel the prison setting is working against it. But then, I was never a fan of
Oz. Not just because of the extreme violence, but because, like
Prison Break, the stories were often just plain ludicrous. In my initial
review of the show, I was enthusiastic about Fox giving us another page-turner of sorts to fill the
24 time period until January, but I'll also admit it doesn't blow me away like
24 did — or, to your point, like the breakthrough hits of last season. What I like about
Prison Break:
Wentworth Miller and the machinations of his escape plan, as represented in his body tattoo. What I'm not crazy about: many of the subplots and the general preposterousness of the premise. I'm surprised it took me this long to hear from a naysayer like David, whose e-mail follows:
"Well, after a hideous summer TV schedule (or maybe it was good not watching TV at all, except for Gilmore Girls reruns) I watched Prison Break. I must say it was a huge disappointment. I am perfectly willing to suspend disbelief (I love Lost, for example), but this show is ridiculous. It's obvious, and the end is all too clear. The characters are dull, and the very artificial problems placed in their paths are resolved in absurd ways. For instance, in last week's show (the last I will watch), a one-minute meeting caused the lawyer's fiancé to break off the wedding. Problem. Solved. Lincoln's son, who is built up as a problem kid who hates his father, suddenly gives in during a five-minute meeting. The cell mate wants out. Poof! He's gone. A week ago there's a race riot. Everyone is sent to their cells. Problem solved! If a character is evil, he's automatically stupid (e.g., the prison guard's handling of the bolt manufacturer's name). And of course every prison that has death-row inmates has a young female doctor who sees patients alone. How soon before she risks her career to help him? I just hope some of the other new shows this fall are better."
Final thought: Some of the new shows are better, and quite a few are promising, but none (at least among the drama pilots) bursts out of the gate the way Lost or Desperate Housewives did a year ago. I'm staying hopeful, but I'm not the least surprised to read responses like this to Prison Break.
