Thread: Fox HD East: Prison Break: End of the Tunnel [Season Finale] : Nov 28th, 2005 9pm ET

Title says it all. Let the fun start.

A determined man risks everything to save his innocent older brother from execution in "Prison Break," a compelling Fox drama series premiering with a special two-hour episode on Monday, Aug. 29.
The first scripted series of the 2005-06 season gets under way as Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller, "Joan of Arcadia") contemplates a bleak family situation. His older brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell, "John Doe"), is on death row, scheduled to be executed in a few months for a startling assassination Michael is convinced he didn't commit.

With time and options both running out, the desperate Michael holds up a bank in order to get himself incarcerated alongside his brother in Fox River State Penitentiary.


"'Prison Break' is a thriller, but it's really a family drama," Miller says. "It's really the story of: How far would one go to save a loved one? And in Michael's case, it's to the wall. Each episode will be his resolve and ruthlessness and brilliance running smack into the brick wall that is chance and fate and human nature and all those things you cannot predict or prepare for."
Actually, for most of the first hour -- which is all Fox made available to TV critics for preview -- things go pretty smoothly for Michael, almost to a point that strains credibility, as he coolly stands up to and even baits some very dangerous thugs behind bars. He's in for a rude awakening, however, Miller adds.

"You didn't see the second hour, but I can tell you, things go wrong very quickly," the 33-year-old actor says. "There's a great deal of coolness and assertiveness on Michael's part in the first half, but the second half definitely will be a struggle for him, getting punched and shoved and getting flipped over a balcony. Someone also may come after him with some very sharp instruments.

"I wanted to make sure that while it's clear Michael is somewhat smarter than your average bear, he isn't a superhero. Michael has worked out a certain persona that he hopes will help him navigate these very dangerous waters, but he doesn't have Jackie Chan martial arts moves. He very much is in very real danger."

On the other hand, series creator Paul Scheuring adds, "Prison Break" won't be nearly as relentlessly bleak and violent as HBO's controversial prison drama "Oz" was. Eventually, Michael, Lincoln and some other inmates will actually break out of the prison. Until then, the tone will lighten up from time to time.

"Everyone asks about that, because 'Oz' is kind of the last serial TV prison show," says Scheuring, who is also head writer and an executive producer on "Prison Break." "I think people either really liked ['Oz'] in kind of a dark way or they have a very caustic reaction to it.

"This story is about hope. It's about the caper. It's about the mystery. It's all that stuff. So this is not about the depravities of mankind."

"But it's also got a lot of humor," adds executive producer Brett Ratner, who directed the pilot. "My attraction to it was that not only was it smart and compelling, but it also had moments of humanity and humor. These characters are very colorful, and most of the best drama happens when there also is humor. So I think it's really smart that you're going to be able to laugh and maybe be scared for these characters, maybe even cry at some point."

Scheuring won't reveal when the prison break actually will occur, but he says that big event certainly won't signal the end of the series by any means.

"There is a larger canvas here, and it is longer than a season," he says. "It's not going to be something like '24,' where we're perpetually reinventing a new obstacle to overcome each season. Season Two will just be the escalation of Season One.

"The model is going to be very much like 'The Great Escape,' in which we spend 'x' amount of time within the actual walls and, thereafter, we're going to break quite a number of people out and scatter them into the winds: They're going to go to the four corners of the country in planes, trains and automobiles. Each of them has an individual kind of end to their story line -- one for hope, one for love, one for exoneration, and one for truth."

Meanwhile, Miller is focused on bringing to life Michael's scary new world behind bars.

"Michael is not going to breeze through this experience," he says. "It's going to transform him in ways both unexpected and expected."


Source

let's hope the show will be as good as the previews look. i will be watching.

Nothing else new on, so might as well check it out..

Who is going to do the Network thread? I started once more attaching the text file...

This is the only premiere so no need for a network thread tonight IMO.

But I will post them when it gets going more

oK...

Prison Break looks to have the best PQ for a scripted Fox show I've seen

First half moving slow but getting interested...