Alcatraz (FOX) - News/Discussion/Speculation/Predictions SPOILERS S1

[Madwelshboy]

Fox picks up Abrams 'Alcatraz' pilot

A new project from JJ Abrams has received a pilot commitment from the Fox network.

Deadline reports that the final script for the pilot was written by former Lost producer Elizabeth Sarnoff. Kyle XY story editors Steven Lilien and Bryan Wyndbrandt also contributed to earlier drafts. Abrams, Sarnoff and Bryan Burk will produce the project, described as "a show about mysteries, secrets and the most infamous prison of all time: Alcatraz".

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/new...raz-pilot.html


Jorge Garcia cast in JJ Abrams's 'Alcatraz'

Jorge Garcia has landed a role in upcoming JJ Abrams series Alcatraz, it has been revealed.

Garcia, who previously worked with Abrams when he played Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes on Lost , has been cast as Dr Diego Soto, the world's foremost expert on the infamous prison off the coast of San Francisco.

Alcatraz follows a group of guards and prisoners who go missing from the island jail when it is still operational and suddenly appear in the present day. According to Deadline, FBI agents are soon hired to hunt them down and unravel the mystery.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/new...-alcatraz.html


Sarah Jones joins 'Alcatraz' cast

Sarah Jones has been cast as the lead in Alcatraz, the new Fox pilot from producer J.J. Abrams.

TV Guide reports that Jones will play Rebecca Madsen, a police officer who is "smart" but "slightly obsessive".

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/new...traz-cast.html


Coyne, Harner join Abrams's 'Alcatraz'

Jonny Coyne and Jason Butler Harner have joined the cast of upcoming J.J. Abrams Fox pilot Alcatraz.

Deadline reports that Coyne will play the lead role of prison warden Edwin James. The actor recently played a recurring role on Abrams's short-lived NBC spy drama Undercovers and has also appeared in episodes of Merlin and Hotel Babylon.

Harner, who has recently made guest appearances on The Good Wife and CSI, will play the supporting role of E.B. Tiller, another prison warden who "enjoys and abuses his power".

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/new...-alcatraz.html


Sam Neill for 'Alcatraz' pilot

Sam Neill has agreed to star in Alcatraz, the latest television pilot from J.J. Abrams.

The Jurassic Park actor will join the likes of Lost's Jorge Garcia, Sarah Jones and Jonny Coyne, according to Deadline.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/new...raz-pilot.html


Robert Forester and Parminder Nagra join cast

Two more actors cast in "Alcatraz", Robert Forester and Parminder Nagra.

“E.R” alum Nagra is playing lab technician, Lucy; and old-school coolio Robert Forster (“Alligator”, “Jackie Brown”, “Mulholland Drive”) is playing Ray Archer, a retired detective who is now owner/bartender of a cop hangout bar."

http://www.spoilertv.com/2010/12/alc...#ixzz19cd8b92k

[J-Whitt Remastered]

Sounds interesting. I may check it out whenever it pops up.

[Sp!der]

Ill watch anything that Abrams made so this is a must see for me as well... especial when Hugo Actor is gonna be in it. Although I have not seen UNDERCOVERS yet, because it was canceled after the first season.

[JackO'Neill]

I liked the two hour Premiere

[iheartshep]

I missed it! I thought it was on tonight.

IHS

[jelgate]

I missed it! I thought it was on tonight.

IHS

Hulu has both parts if you are US resident but next week you will have to wait 8 days after the original airdate to view it online

[Lilli]

Still early to tell about the series but last nights premier caught my interest and held it. btw great to see "Hurley", "Carson Beckett" and "Kavanaugh"

[Mandysg1]

It was an interesting start, and may turn out to be a very good show. It reminds of Brimstone, the worst souls escaping from Hell and the main character having to chase them down. This show also has a supernatural twist to it, we just have to wait and see what kind.

[Kliggins]

I'm interested enough to be planning to watch next week's episode.

[lookupwardsnshare]

Liked it...lets see where it goes...will be watchin next week

Didn't see that sniper scene where Lucy(? think that was her name) got shot coming...well done!

[Coremae]

it was well written, well acted, and well executed, but I felt like something was missing. In some ways, it's a lot like Once Upon A Time, unless Rob's on, and with this show.... To be honest, Journeyman was infinitely better, and the Mars thing with the cop in the past was more intriguing. No, I take that back, Once Upon A Time is more interesting, and Alcatraz is more like Terra Nova, and I can't remember the last episode of Terra Nova I watched.

[VampyreWraith]

I watched the first 2 episodes last night and really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to watching it again next week.

[Rocket_Scientist]

I really enjoyed the premier. It shows great promise, though it could also turn into a big mess that's hard to follow. We'll see in the upcoming weeks, I suppose. As a Lostie, I certainly had fun with the tie-ins to Lost. For example, there were many references to "The Island," meaning Alcatraz, but still reminiscent of The Island. Also, a record played at one point. Of course Diego Soto reminds me of Hurley and there's that whole multiple timeline thing. Another thing I noticed: The boat visible at the very beginning, just off the coast of Alcatraz, is named Kelvin, which is also the name of the starship (USS Kelvin) at the beginning of J. J. Abrams' Star Trek movie. Finally, I really enjoyed seeing Paul McGillion in the first episode. It surprised me and made me laugh a little.

[Gen. Chris]

I didn't know it was on last night...I might watch it online to see if I like it.

[kitkat3ny]

I loved this show. It was interesting and able to keep my attention, which is more than I can say for most shows since SGU has been cancelled. Don't get me wrong now, this show still can't even come close to replacing my beloved Stargate franchise.

[Morbo]

Show was good enough to hold my attention. I'll disagree and say that I don't think it was very well written - lots of cheesy predictable bland dialogue.

Let's face it, the show is basically Fringe, minus the uber-sci-fi.
Female lead.
Creepy male superior that is shady.
Quirky sidekick.
Mystery.

Except the female lead and character on Fringe is way better than on Alcatraz. I'm delighted to see Jorge Garcia though. And I have a special place in my heart for Dr. Alan Grant.

I guess we just need to realize that JJ is creating the same thing over and over again.
He's behind Fringe, OUaT, and this. Though I do think OUaT is vastly different, and we do love that show.

I'll watch this show, but I won't cry if it goes away. But then again, anything is better than Terra Nova.

[Ian-S]

I echo everything good that has been written previously, especially the bit about Fringe and female lead, nothing like a bit of eyecandy to keep the viewer interested.

[Krisz]

This surprised me a bit as I really wasn't expecting it to be something that I would want to watch.

It really caught my attention and I'm intrigued enough to want to find out why all those prisoners are coming back in the present, why they were taken in the first place, and why Sam Neil is 'collecting' them and putting them back in his own version of Alcatraz.

When I was in San Francisco a few years back I stood on the dock from where the tour boat went to Alcatraz looking at 'The Rock' and just felt a really cold creepy feeling about the place. My daughter felt the same and we couldn't get ourselves to go on the sightseeing tour. I suppose this is why I'm intrigued by this show, there's just something about that place I couldn't put my finger on.

It was a nice surprise to see Paul McGillion. He may now become an expected sight in every J.J Abrams production after Abrams gave him that little spot on the Trek movie!

[LtColCarter]

So, what does everyone thing of Alcatraz? I enjoyed the twists in the beginning...but what I'm wondering is

Spoiler:

what happened to the prisoners in 1963? Why did they all disappear? Also, what is making them come back now? From what I saw, it seems someone is giving them missions to accomplish...at least from what I saw with the first dude that came back.

[Amann]

Damn, tonight's episode sucked hard. I thought that Jack Sylvane (the first prisoner to come back) was going to get a bit more development considering they were showing more of him. I am very interested in where his character goes, if he winds up eventually helping the good guys or escapes. He is the least evil of the prisoner immates shown so far. An unlucky grocery store robber that knocked off one with a post office and got sent to Alcatraz, and then kills a guy that tried to rape him in the shower. Self defense. Although he does kill the deputy Warden out of revenge (but from what we've seen, he was a real dick that probably deserved to get shot from his framing immates and completely denying prisoners any chance for privileges simply because he doesn't like the guy. It's one thing to dislike criminals for what they are, but another thing entirely to start framing them for stuff. It is unprofessional and guys like him have no business being in law enforcement or running a prison.) Then Jack shoost two cops "on his mission". Which we have no idea what it is about yet, and why he needed that key. Perhaps compulsed to do so, or promised something that is worth killing for, since we have absolutely no idea what is behind all of it. Since Jack's character before the present day was not a guy that killed effortlessly. Makes me wonder wtf happened to him.

But this is the absolute least of this episode's problems.

1) The whole diner scene. Now, Diego Soto said in the last episode that he wasn't cut out for this kind of work, that he wasn't very much a field agent. Ok, I can buy that. But now he runs off without telling anyone about the lead or suspicion he has that the child killer is going to a diner to get some cherry pie. Instead of informing everyone about the whole idea after giving a rant to Neill's character about saving the child's life, he runs off like the action hero and goes chasing the lead on his own. Now, he is in a diner, where by luck, he encounters the child killer with the kid. Instead of getting up and walking past the killer's table casually before smashing a fist in the side of the guy's head or grabbing him and pinning hum underneath your big bulk (Soto is at least 200-300 pounds heavier than this guy and would have little trouble overpowering him), he sits there and as they are leaving, slides a plate off the table in front of them to delay them, and tries to delay them more by asking if they had change for a dollar or what they are doing. The whole scene was contrived and painful to watch. It certainly makes me hate the character all the more for his stupidity.

2) The scene immediately after, where they have the child killer at gunpoint, was almost as bad if not worse. Cue Rebecca Madsen, a trained cop, who pulls up and whips out her gun and points at the killer. The killer grabs the kid and has the gun to the kid's head. Ok, hostage situation. Very well. So what does she do after he says he is gonna kill the kid? She throws away her gun and handcuffs herself and Soto together. Instead of saying something like "You can't go anywhere.", which is what most cops would do. They would try to negotiate or at least risk the shot, because if they let the killer go, the kid would be killed anyway unless they happen to find him again. So the killer gets away. Instead of unlocking the cuffs, she shoots the cuffs and then points the gun at the fleeing car that is now much further away than she was before. So she is willing to at least aim or shoot at a moving car that is much further away and possibly hit passerby or the kid but not shoot the killer in the face at 10 feet away? God, she can be stupid for a cop. And then she has the gall to say to Soto for his running off that "it wasn't his fault" The hell it was! If he just stopped the killer right in the diner, he wouldn't have had a gun out, and the kid would be saved.

We are led to believe these characters are somewhat smart and intelligent, but so far all I am seeing is their idiocy. The only saving grace of the episode and the show itself was Sam Neill (his character is badass), and the premise of what the hell happened on Alcatraz. I will watch one more episode, but if they screw up like they did tonight, no more watching for me.

3) How did Neill's character know where the killer was going to be? He wasn't in the room with Ditz and Bozo when they were looking for the bomb shelters where the killer used to work at. No explanation to how he got there. At least show a 10 second scene after Ditz and Bozo left the computer room, and have Neill come in and glance at the screen before he follows them or Something. OR SIMPLY HAVE HIM STANDING IN THE ROOM WITH THEM!

4) This has more to do with Soto than anything else. Bozo insists he is not a field agent (and he isn't), yet he is running around with a cop catching guys instead of being like Abby from NCIS and being what he is, a consultant. And he does that action hero thing that would likely have gotten him killed or chewed out by any competent cop.