SEE, I DON'T JUST WATCH REALITY TV AND J.J. ABRAMS SHOWS! I haven't been terribly jazzed by the promos for most of the fall tv season, but people seemed sufficiently hyped up about Prison Break that I thought I'd give it a shot. My conclusion, following the two-hour season premiere: pretty darned riveting.
The central conceit of the show: a fine upstanding citizen, Michael Scofield, pleads no contest to bank robbery to get himself thrown into prison for a few years. Why? His brother -- who, for reasons thus far unexplained other than to prevent the requirement of an entirely unreasonable suspension of disbelief, has a different last name than Scofield -- is on death row in the very same prison for a crime he claims he didn't commit. Scofield, who has the blueprints of the prison in a location near and dear to his heart, is determined to break his brother out.
The good: A nice combination of 24's single story concept and single-episode plotlines. Some good CSI-ish explanatory camera stuff. Lots of great character work by the various residents of Fox River Penitentiary. A pretty nifty puzzle component that's doled out a bit at a time instead of in one big climactic bang a la Shawshank Redemption. An easy-on-the-eyes leading man who reminds Mr. Cosmopolitan of Steve McQueen.
The suboptimal: Not a lot to mention so far, but certainly the subplot involving the bitter son of the soon-to-be-executed brother.
I suspect that more than a few of you have the premiere sitting on your TiVos awaiting your decision as to whether or not to watch -- go for it.
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