RIP 'Prison Break'

I don't know if I agree with that. Season 2 was tremendous because they had broken out of prison and were trying to stay out. It was a logical next step for the show to take.

As for S3 and S4, though, well, as I've said those were just attempts to drag things out.

 

I used to count this show among my addictions, on a "Can't Miss" level with Lost and Battlestar Galactica.

First season was awesome, second was very, very good. Last year was entertaining at times, but by the end I just lost interest. Didn't watch a single minute this year; it just got too wild.

I'll echo TSP in saying there might be (SHOULD be) one of these threads for Heroes soon.

 

Didn't ever watch it - it was one of those shows I know I should have watched from the beginning, then found it preposterous to try to watch midway through its run - but I have to say that a show named "Prison Break" should have probably not left the prison until, say, season 5.

There had to be a plethora of storylines taking place within the walls before the guy sprung everyone. Then the last three seasons, you keep following them on the run.

 

Honestly, I don't know how they could have dragged it out past Season One. If you watched the whole thing, they put a lot of stuff in that one little season. Maybe if they had just had 16 episodes in season one and 16 in season two they could have done it, but 24 episodes in one year is a lot to fill, especially when you're limited by the premise you've concocted.

 

On the other hand, you couldn't call a show "Prison Break" and then not have a prison break for years. Viewers would never have hung around for that.

 

Perhaps. But maybe if they got real into it?

I mean, at least on Lost, they delayed the folks leaving the island for four years. There was a lot of suspense and build-up to see what would happen.

 

True, but having your characters on a deserted island is a little different than having them locked in the pokey. On the island, you can explore all different types of angles related to survival, exploration, hunting, fishing, sport, romance, etc.

In prison, your options narrow a bit as your characters have regimented schedules and have to be in their cells for certain periods of time and have limited access to things that could be used to liven the show up.

 

"ANOTHER episode about mess hall? That's it, I'm done with 'Prison Break.'"

 

Yeah, now that I think about it, perhaps you're right. Unless they made it somewhat like "Shawshank," where the characters branched out a little bit into non-prisoner roles.

Minus the boiler rooms.

 

The thing is, if this show was made in let's say two years, they could have followed the formula of Lost. Lost is good because so many characters have been fleshed out that you care about more than just Jack and Sawyer.

In PB, especially in later seasons, the characters were fleshed out only as much as they needed to be. Sure, you'd get a little arc about Sucre and his little lover, but nothing like Lost where you're hit with a ton of back story about the character of (for example) Sawyer. If PB had fleshed out more characters than the six or seven they did, they could have really given the series legs.

There are ways to keep the guys locked up yet still keep the show entertaining. But 24 episodes is a lot to ask for in a series like this.

 

But if they'd called the show "Escape From Mystery Island," the leash would have been a lot shorter. The premise of "Lost" didn't have them getting rescued at all. Kind of like "Gilligan's Island".

BYH thought "Lost" was going to be like "Gilligan's Island," but was thrown for a loop when he discovered that it required actual thought.

 

It probably should have stopped after season one or season two.

Doesn't mean I have to stop ... drooling over Wentworth Miller, that is.