I liked this premiere, but I wonder about it's staying power. I mean is this going to suffer the Gilligan's Island effect? (When are they going to get off the island / When are they going to break out of the prison) I can almost see it now... Sweeps week comes and its tauted as "THE EPISODE YOU CANT MISS -- BECAUSE THE PRISON BREAK IS HERE!!!!" and they break out, only to be rounded up by possibly Jack Bauer sometime at the end of the show.

Speaking of Jack Bauer.. I have to say, I'm actually more interested in this than the new season of 24.

This show was cheap. It was beyond predictable and very unoriginal. The prisoner just happens to have a talent which will help the warden out (SHAWSHANK everyone). An old man with a little pet- wasn't that in like every prison movie. A funny nice cellmate instead of a maniac... come on. Not to mention the cast looks weird together. Michael looks only 3 years older than what is supposed to be his nephew. And they have to bring in that bad stepfather family sh*t, and the boy is doing drugs... who isn't getting arrested on this show?
FYI- no comparisons should be made between 24 and this pile of gar-bage. And on another note- why weren't you watching The CLOSER?

I ahve to admit, this show was very impressive. And I hate Brett Ratner. Once the storylines wander outside the prison walls though its gets stale. BUt there ware so many great moments and the story is so well crafted it hooked me in.

This dude must really love his brother doncha think? THe onyl quibbles I have is it looks as if they are going to spend endless amounts of time on setup to the payoff. I mean were two hours in and the farthest he got is a getting a screw. ANd what was the need to have him tattoo the screws # and maker on his body? I mean, just a small reminder to get the screw from the back of the bleacher. Thats all you need. DO you really need an elaborate tattoo on your arm to remember that? and why did he need the circumference tattoed on his arm? The goddamned screwhole for the toilet wa right there in his cell!

Also, we need more hardcore gay sex.

so i definitely loved prison break. at times, i think it gotta a little confusing for me, but that was only when he was explaining stuff. as a lover of 24, i think i'm also more interested in this show than i am in 24. besides, michael is beautiful! i must know what happens after his toe is cut off

Wait a second sg-dub..."does not contain (yet) any of those ridiculous plot twists or impossibilities like 24" What about Scofield being able to pick which prison he goes to? How could the prison possibly not know that he and Lincoln are brothers? Don't they do background checks? And Scofield had even visited Lincoln before his bank-robbing scheme landed him in prison. And speaking of impossibilities, so he designed the tattoo so it would have the blueprints hidden in it, and then the tattoo chick did a PERFECT job on it so he could still decipher it? Seems totally plausible, actually. I could go on, but seriously, I liked the show, you just have to suspend a little (or a lot of) disbelief.

M. Hunter -

of course you are correct, but I can somehow forgive Prison Break. I figure he could have robbed the bank in a district that he'd be fairly certain to get sent to a particular prison. As for the brother thing, even if they knew, would it have mattered? Brothers are in prison together all the time.

And don't get me wrong - I love 24, but it makes my head explode at times. When you actually take a step back and think about what happens to those people in 24 hours, it's beyond stupid. I'm just saying PB was a tad more plausible - if equally hokey.

Yeah, I didn't even think about how brothers are in prison together all the time. My bad.

Why do I have the feeling that the Garlic Woman IS the vice president?

Actually shes the psychaistrsit from ALias.

I think the unfolding of Michael's plan would be far more enjoyable if he AND Lincoln never wore shirts!!

Yeah, okay, it's kind of hokey, but I am really excited about this show. To me it's much more interesting than the same old tired medical/cop/legal crap they keep foisting on us.

sg-dub ---

not a bad recap HOWEVER...the mobster'sname is Abruzzi, not Andruzzi.

And Micheal didn't go to the infirmary cause his tattoo was infected....it was for his insulin.

I think the show is going to good. I'm hooked, and Wentworth Miller (Micheal) is a hottie

> Wow. I really should not read TVgasm at work. That paragraph made me bust out laughing and caused everyone in my office to stare.

> Wow. I really should not read TVgasm at work. That paragraph made me bust out laughing and caused everyone in my office to stare.

They have plenty of episodes to use because after the prison break thye still have to prove Lincolns innocense and expose the government conspiracy while on the run from the law.

Also sg-dub I watched the show with closed captioning and the spelled the "shoe" "SHU , as in Special Housing Unit which is the nice prison name for solitary

Question: Why is Lincoln's face as wide as his neck?

Question: Why is Lincoln's neck so short?

Point of Order: This is the funniest recap I have ever read.

Ex: " Hey, if Harold and Kumar taught me anything, it's that when a man wants his square burger, a man's gonna get his square burger - ain't no little armed robbery gonna stop him."

and

"Unfortunately for him, these weren't just any old set of bleachers, these were the "Creepy sex offender child rapist stereotypical gay prisoner bleachers." I HATE when that happens... you go out for a day at the ballpark to catch the local minor league ballclub and before you know it, some wild eyed pedophile is all up in your face telling you to toss his salad."

Confession: I was too freaked by the toe threat to watch. Didn't know that he actually gave up a toe. Although, that gives me some relief on that whole thinking M gets raped in this whole plot.

Oh, Dennisa Rodman. Now I get it. lol. Funny shit. Good recap.

Good show but I had to wonder if this guy is old enough to have helped redesigned the sewer system of a 100 year old prison. A lot of suspension of belief going on in this show. Still good though.

Excellent recap, sg-dub! I haven't had the opportunity to read your other recaps, so I am definitely impressed.

Loved this show. It will be a good one, I hope!

M. Hunter (#5),

In Canada, we actually do get to put in our two cents when it comes deciding on a prison. It doesn't necessarily means you get what you choose, but we do try to keep the inmates as close to family as possible.

So that part of Prison Break is actually factual.

I also meant to include in the above that I'm sure the prison system in the US is similar to what we have up here.

Thanks for the recap -- was looking forward to it all through the show!

a) Wentworth Miller's voice is soooooo great. Smooth like buttah...

b) What's not to love about a show that ends an episode with something that makes you go, "Damn!" and then hop around on one foot?

Good stuff!

Shelley - Uh, no. The US is not interested in keeping felons close to family. The trend is actually to make things as hard on you as possible in order to dissuade you from re-upping.

You could be sent states away from home under the right combination of charges, statutes and programs.

I couldn't suspend disbelief enough to enjoy this show. How does a pedophile have so much power in the prison? They're usually the bottom of the food chain, not the top. If his brother is one month from execution (which is ridiculously quick unless the VP was killed years ago), why would he still be on work detail (accepting that death row prisoners would ever be on general work detail)? Aaaargh! And why was the dialog so very stilted?

The other thing that stands out -- they used very light makeup on several characters. You could play connect the dots for hours on Stacey Keach's face. Perhaps Scofield could draw the plans for the Taj Mahal in reverse on the warden's face and hand him a mirror to help him with his anniversary project.

Lady J,

Maybe that's why the US has so many criminals and such a high re-offend rate.

Treat someone like an animal, and that's how they'll act.

But I guess this is a debate for another website! (smile)

He's hot!!

sg-dub, great recap, as usual. I've read your recaps for I Want to be a Hilton, Surreal Life, and The Cut - just because you crack me up, I don't even watch the shows themselves.

As for this show (I haven't seen it yet) but I've got a question: how are they handling this pedophile character? From the recap it sounds like the white supremacist group is made up of pedophiles and gays, is that right? I would hate to think that's the case because it makes it seem like they are one and the same, and that's just plain disgraceful. Plus, as another poster said, aren't pedophiles the lowest of the low in prinsons? They're lucky not to be killed, far less having any power in the big house.

If that was a pound of weed, then I'm Pat Robertson.

I liked this show. First hour was good, but the second was when it really kicked into high gear. Looking forward to see how everything pans out. I heard in some of the press that there will be multiple breakouts, which the show seems to be setting up. So maybe season one is about getting Abruzzi out of jail and season two is getting the guy with the kitten out.

Also, I've grown to be quite distracted by Robin Tunney's odd right cheek indent.

Favorite part of the premiere though was when Robin's fiance comforted her after the big case and said, "You did the best you could do." Uh, except that whole trial thing.