I was one of the ones who sent letter bombs to FOX when they announced they would be pushing the second half of Prison Break’s first season until March. The reality is, Prison Break may be popular but it doesn’t pull in numbers like Desperate Housewives, Lost or Grey’s Anatomy, even falling a bit short of new hits like Commander-in-Chief. Audiences have notoriously short attention spans and there is no guarantee that Prison Break’s return won’t be lost in the flurry of explosive season ends for those aforementioned guys (we all know Lost in particular plays a hardcore game of Unmissable Cliffhangers during the Spring).
It wasn’t until the holidays that I realized exactly why Prison Break needed a Springtime push. The show debuted in the late summer, which is a slot usually reserved for limited-run first seasons, mini-series and reality TV seasons. If the said show is a gargantuan hit, it returns come season two in a regular primetime zone (September or January) with a full slate of 20-24 episodes to last us faithful viewers until May.
You don’t have to be a structural engineer to know Prison Break, arguably the most serial show on TV next to 24 (sorry Lost, you have a little too much character drama flashbacks to win the title), was conceived of as a 13-episode story arc. Do you really think writers intended to have that cornball wrench of a freshly sealed escape vent thrown in the escapees’ plans in the eleventh hour, all along? Either the crew was going to escape, or alternatively, the corrupt Captain Bellick would catch them in the grand act and the team would face a smorgasbord of season two punishment (and potential relocation to an ultimate Alcatraz).
Fox, the network champ of bad predictions, horrible marketing and premature cancellations didn’t anticipate their macho jail drama would catch on so fast. Understandably, with a mixed bag lineup of lukewarm animation, popular reality and sitcom flops, Fox saw Prison Break as an instant opportunity to join ABC’s club of respectable, scripted blockbusters. Only problem: they had but the first half of a season worked out for viewers. They needed some time to work out a satisfying ending for their new TV hit. Throw in a hackneyed obstacle to ensure a level-four cliffhanger alert and they can guarantee viewers will return. Or so the producers hope.
Now I just want to remind readers to watch Prison Break when it returns in the spring. I’m pretty confident Fox will advertise the hell out of what could be their perfect companion piece to 24, but we shouldn’t risk another Firefly here. I cried and cried again when I realized there is little hope the wacky crew of Serenity, without a doubt the best sci-fi ensemble in the history of the genre, will ever explore the skies again. I don’t know if I could sleep at night to know I won’t again get to look into Michael Scofield’s baby blues and pretend I’m misusing him like only T-Bag could. Err, wrong article.
When we get closer to the actual debut, I will return for some speculations about the rest of the series.
However, when Prison Break does return in March, it better have been worth the wait.
