Prison Break

(It took me an hour to get this picture on the site. I wanna shiv someone. Of course, I'd have to make a shiv first. Nevermind.)

The new TV season starts tonight! Well, at least Fox’s jump on the new TV season; most of the new shows will be returning from mid-September to the beginning of October. Tonight, things get started with Prison Break and Vanished. Here are my thoughts: I remember when Prison Break premiered last fall. My big question was, what are you going to do when they break out? It seemed like the creators weren’t thinking long term. There was no way this could be a five-year series. Then midway through the first season, Michael Scofield’s (Wentworth Miller) brilliantly convoluted plan crumbles around him. At that point I was hoping they would keep Scofield in prison for his full sentence while he tries to find different ways of escaping with a group of inmates who now hate him. But the creators of the show wanted them to escape on the season finale and that’s where we are now. The manhunt starts tonight.

So I have some concerns this season. The creators have stated that the Prison Break was only meant to run for two seasons. What if the show is a hit and the Fox network throws a bunch of money at them? Are they going to keep adding seasons and just fly by the seat of their pants? The writers have carefully laid out these two seasons with many twists and turns. (Apparently the Scofield’s full body tattoo comes into play this season as well.) When you start adding seasons, things get a little tricky, especially if you want to keep all your actors.. Look at what happened to 24 in season 2 and 3. The other thing that worries me is that there is so much space to run around now. I’m a big fan of claustrophobic stories. I often like to use Die Hard as an example. Die Hard 1 take place in one building making it nicely restrictive and challenging. Die Hard 2 takes place in a less restrictive airport. Die Hard 3 takes place in the not-at-all restrictive New York City, and even though it’s an entertaining film, it does not have the same impact as the original. In fact, Die Hard became the standard of action films in tight locations. Speed was Die Hard on a Bus! Under Seige was Die Hard on a Boat! Passenger 57 was Die Hard on a Plane! Prison Break was Die Hard in a Prison! Now they’re loose and we’ll have to see what happens.

If you haven’t seen Prison Break before, tonight is probably not the episode for you. I would suggest picking up the first season on DVD and watching that first, then play catch up. I’m surprised at how much I like Prison Break. It always manages to keep me on the edge of my seat, much like the recent seasons of 24. The one thing you have to get past early on is how improbable the whole scenario is. You have to suspend your disbelief. It needs to be suspended like a trapeze artist. I mean there is no way: two brothers would be put in the same jail, that a death row inmate would be put on work detail, that an inmate just writes his own medical needs, and that a full body tattoo that would normally take four years to make only takes him a month. But you have to look past all that. Most people are willing to look past the unrealistic 24. Have you ever seen Jack Bauer eat or go to the bathroom? I don’t care how much adrenaline that guy’s on, he would pass out. That’s why it’s important to remember that it’s just a story.

The other show premiering tonight is Vanished (I already talked about it in my last post). I’ll give it a shot because there’s nothing else on. Who knows, maybe it’ll grab the same momentum as Prison Break did last year. Maybe Fox will cancel it if not enough people watch it’s first episode. Either way, I’m happy the TV season is starting up again, albeit slowly. Let the addiction resume.