Alcatraz [Fox - Spoilers]

JP Liz V1

http://insidetv.ew.com/2010/11/21/jorge-garcia-jj-abrams-alcatraz/

Jorge Garcia is set to return to a different island in J.J. Abrams’ new series Alcatraz. Garcia’s rep confirms with EW that the Lost star will topline the Fox pilot centered on the historic San Francisco slammer. Garcia is on board to play an Alcatraz expert in the pilot, which will follow a group of prisoners and guards who appear in the present day. And, once again, prepare for another head-scratcher — Abrams’ series, written by Lost executive producer Elizabeth Sarnoff, will (quite predictably) be a mystery.

JP Liz V1

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Jones-Abrams-Alcatraz-1026234.aspx

Sons of Anarchy's Sarah Jones has been cast as the lead in J.J. Abrams Fox pilot Alcatraz, Deadline reports.

missingtime

A lot of information about Alcatraz on the link below including cast - Sam Neil and Hurley!

http://io9.com/5739027/could-jj-abrams-new-show-be-more-bizarre-than-lost-heres-everything-we-know-so-far?skyline=true&s=i

Richard Dower

Other websites say it's been given a 10 episode pickup by Fox, DS says 12: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/news/a308235/alcatraz-pilot-picked-up-to-series.html

youngblood

Wonder will he actually have a complete storyline this time or will he just make it up as he goes??

"Making it up as he goes along" worked well for 5 seasons/years of lost......but somehow suspect people arent gonna buy into as easily second time round

Richard Dower

They made it up as they went along from season 2 onwards of Lost, don't be sucked in!

JP Liz V1

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/05/10/fox-bones-spin-off-the-finder/

Series picked up by Fox

Dman001

Sound very interesting, but dunno about Jorge Garcia in a serious role?

Dymo

JJ Abrams writes a lot of crap too, Lost season 6 was poor but the show could be worth a shot.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Very excited about Alcatraz!

don ramo

Dymo wrote: »

JJ Abrams writes a lot of crap too, Lost season 6 was poor but the show could be worth a shot.

abrams wasnt involved in lost at that stage (or much at all past the first 4 episodes), that was cuse and lindeloffs show, not abrams, he gets way to much credit for that show, he helped set a ball rolling, hes way more invovled with fringe, and his last series undercovers crashed and burned epically, so it should be interesting to see what happens here,

i hope this is a good show, i liked jeorge garcia in lost so im looking forward to seeing him here,

Conor108

Roll up, Roll up....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_jAlFqvASU

Dman001

Looks good, but can't help get a bit of a The 4400 vibe from it. Wasn't hugely impressed with The 4400, but with Abrams on board it should be good.

The Black Oil

Looks interesting.
'From JJ Abrams' seems to mean sod all, he'll probably have little to do with it.

expectationlost

looks terrible, endles mysteries with no answers - abrams

ps i hate sam neil

Dman001

I don't think it's fair to put all the blame on Abrams for Lost. As someone else said, he didn't have much input into Lost after the first half of the first Season and was Lindelof and Cuse had most of the input. Abrams has had a number of successful Shows apart from Lost like Fringe and Alias.

Mr E

"Lost" and JJ Abrams conversation split from this thread into a new one.
This thread is for Alcatraz only, please.

mewso

Looks like a prisoner an episode or something? 300+ so plenty to chose from. So at the end of each episode the prisoner they have caught up with sputters some more tantalising info. before committing suicide by cop? Hope not.

Richard Dower

According to this: http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/10/alcatraz-premiere-set-for-16th-jan-2012.html

Premiere set for Monday January 16th, i assume taking Terra Nova's timeslot @ 8pm.

Richard Dower

Source: Deadline --> Fox’s midseason drama Alcatraz has put filming new episodes on hold to do reshoots on some of the 7 completed episodes. The series will stay in production, doing additional principal photography on previous episodes before proceeding with filming the remaining 6 episodes of the series’ 13-episode order. The J.J. Abrams-produced Alcatraz is an ambitious time-travel drama, and since the show is not on a tight delivery schedule, the producers opted to slow down and make improvements on some of the finished episodes. The reshoots are expected to last 1-2 weeks.

angelll

So just saw the ad for this on watch,looks great. It's on in usa on the 16th jan,anyone know when the uk one is starting or will this just be a download one again Wikipedia says jan on watch but on another site i saw march??

JP Liz V1

Starts tonight

scarlet_mandy

What channel?

IRL_Sinister

Being shown tonight in Canada too. Anyone know where you can watch this online? It's being shown on CityTV in Toronto but I'm not too sure if they do live streaming.

Feel free to PM.

Goldstein

Fox + Abrams + "time travel drama" :rolleyes:

I'm calling this one before I even see the first ep.

youngblood

Goldstein wrote: »

Fox + Abrams + "time travel drama" :rolleyes:

I'm calling this one before I even see the first ep.

What are the chances of him pullin the same " they-were-all-dead" card again??

don ramo

youngblood wrote: »

What are the chances of him pullin the same " they-were-all-dead" card again??

well hed have to do once in order to do it again,

Colmo52

youngblood wrote: »

What are the chances of him pullin the same " they-were-all-dead" card again??

:rolleyes:

Psssssssst: They weren't dead all along And Abrams didn't have much input after S2

kearneybobs

Goldstein wrote: »

Fox + Abrams + "time travel drama" :rolleyes:

I'm calling this one before I even see the first ep.

It had nothing to do with Fox. It was an ABC show. :rolleyes:

Richard Dower

I won't be watching but i'm very interested to see how it does in the ratings....imo it'll be a middling show....not a flop but not a hit.

Richard Dower

youngblood wrote: »

What are the chances of him pullin the same " they-were-all-dead" card again??

High....it's Abhram's default story.

kearneybobs

Sounds like we are in for something pretty good. Supposed to be an excellent pilot

Here's a review. Only read the first lines myself.
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2012/01/alcatraz-series-premiere-review-welcome-to-the-rock/

Cant wait to watch it.

heebusjeebus

An entirely different take on the pilot:

http://badassdigest.com/2012/01/17/tv-talk-alcatraz-101-102-pilot-ernest-cobb/

I'll just watch the pilot and see what I make of it. Lost interest in Terra Nova after the terrible pilot though.

Goldstein

kearneybobs wrote: »

It had nothing to do with Fox. It was an ABC show. :rolleyes:

I didn't mention Lost.

I was implying that since Fox make mainly poor quality cerebrally defunct television shows for the American masses and as Abrams does the same with movies, I ventured that the chances that these two ingredients acting together could produce anything of quality encompassing "time travel" is unlikely.

Hence: :rolleyes:

kearneybobs

Goldstein wrote: »

I didn't mention Lost.

I was implying that since Fox make mainly poor quality cerebrally defunct television shows for the American masses and as Abrams does the same with movies, I ventured that the chances that these two ingredients acting together could produce anything of quality encompassing "time travel" is unlikely.

Hence: :rolleyes:

It wasn't very clear but fair enough . I assumed you were talking about lost since you mentioned JJ and time travel. Kinda got mixed up in the following replies too. My bad.

FloatingVoter

Just watched the first two. Not bad. I'll be back for ep.3 next week.

heebusjeebus

heebusjeebus wrote: »

An entirely different take on the pilot:

http://badassdigest.com/2012/01/17/tv-talk-alcatraz-101-102-pilot-ernest-cobb/

I'll just watch the pilot and see what I make of it. Lost interest in Terra Nova after the terrible pilot though.

Wouldn't put too much faith in any of that mans reviews, he's notorious for giving certain films glowing reviews within the confines of a certain magazine and then slating them on his own site.

That said Alcatraz does look terrible and from everything I've read or seen it seems that it's going to be the same plot each week with a tiny hint to the overall story arc tacked on in the dieing minutes.

CMpunked

Just finished watching the two eps and must say, im intrigued.
I unashamedly loved lost, even with all its faults and merits.

But Alcatraz has a much different feel. its a cop drama, no doubt but every now and again has the ability to rely on "Oh yeah, that guy is really your fathers brother who you all thought was dead but is now back and still the same age".
The twist at the end of ep. 2 secured my intention to watch next week.

kearneybobs

CMpunked wrote: »

Just finished watching the two eps and must say, im intrigued.
I unashamedly loved lost, even with all its faults and merits.

But Alcatraz has a much different feel. its a cop drama, no doubt but every now and again has the ability to rely on "Oh yeah, that guy is really your fathers brother who you all thought was dead but is now back and still the same age".
The twist at the end of ep. 2 secured my intention to watch next week.

My sentiments, exactly. Loved the twist at the end. Makes you wonder

what she knoes about it all and why she back.

.

Maybe it was a little too much information in those two episodes. I cant help but wonder how they can maintain that level of info, intrigue, mystery while not becoming too procedural. Some of the info they did suply might have been better served further down the line like how

her grandad was a prisoner and not a guard.

Very interested to see how this goes, and there are enough seeds planted to keep me interested.

Gerty

I think i will give the show another few weeks but i don't think it will earn my ability to suspend disbelief.

I actually completely agreee with this - especially the quoted paragraph. It feels very procedural to me.
http://badassdigest.com/2012/01/17/t...t-ernest-cobb/

It seems impossible to me that this show will improve. Even with an overhaul of the entire writing staff (and it seems that it really needs one, stat), the basic premise is fundamentally fatally flawed. Alcatraz promises to be variations on the same thing every single week, like House if lupus was not only the cause of every illness but also the result of a massive conspiracy. Every single week a new killer from Alcatraz will show up in the modern day, Hurley will have some information about his crimes (except in those episodes where the drama comes from Hurley NOT having the information and doubting himself/his role on the team), the killer will kill some people, they'll stop him at the last moment and Sam Neill will put him in the space prison he has hidden in The X-Files' Vancouver forest. Every five or so weeks we'll probably have some major revelation about Sam Neill's hidden agenda, and every now and again a killer will take TWO EPISODES to get caught. And Clea Duvall's Haircut's grandad will show up again, probably at the season finale.

And just because

Jorge Garcia addresses the issue in a jesting manner that everyone is acting extremely nonchalantly about the reappearance of people who haven't aged in decades, does not make it ok. Especially the reveal about her Grandfather basically killing her partner. That brought about no real reaction.

expectationlost

its all a bit too much ridiculous, look at lost they didn't actually throw that much unbelievably stuff in the first episode, don't think fringe did deither

CMpunked

expectationlost wrote: »

its all a bit too much ridiculous, look at lost they didn't actually throw that much unbelievably stuff in the first episode

I dunno bout you, but i never had to run from a black smoke monster. :pac:

VinLieger

Really didnt take to it, horribly disappointing from Abrams.
Theres one HUGE plothole from the first episode that they completely ignore, where the guy reappears in his issolation cell, so if everyone reappears where they were originally why dont they just seal the island and put cameras everywhere so they can catch them when they come back?

Gerty

VinLieger wrote: »

Really didnt take to it, horribly disappointing from Abrams.
Theres one HUGE plothole from the first episode that they completely ignore, where the guy reappears in his issolation cell, so if everyone reappears where they were originally why dont they just seal the island and put cameras everywhere so they can catch them when they come back?

In fairness, how would they know that yet? And was there any proof Cobbs showed up there either?

VinLieger

Gerty wrote: »

In fairness, how would they know that yet? And was there any proof Cobbs showed up there either?

Well theyve obviously been preparing for it for a while, what with the batcave and alcatraz mark 2, surely the first idea would be "Hmm maybe since they disappeared from here they might reappear here? so lets put some cameras up at least to keep an eye out."

Gerty

VinLieger wrote: »

Well theyve obviously been preparing for it for a while, what with the batcave and alcatraz mark 2, surely the first idea would be "Hmm maybe since they disappeared from here they might reappear here? so lets put some cameras up at least to keep an eye out."

That is fair enough and i'm not defending the show. But i'm almost positive they don't know where they're showing up. Jack could have been the first to show up there and they could have monitoring the island for 50 years without anyone showing up.

We don't know how many of the prisoners have already returned and for how long it has been going on, at least 3 months since that was when when grandad as spotted.

DeWitt

Not that impressed by it, and I know it's a bit early to be nitpicking, but I hope to God they don't stick to this procedural (prisoner of the week) storyline.

I'm interested to see what route they actually take. It's very Fringe meets 4400 at the moment.

VinLieger

Gerty wrote: »

That is fair enough and i'm not defending the show. But i'm almost positive they don't know where they're showing up. Jack could have been the first to show up there and they could have monitoring the island for 50 years without anyone showing up.

We don't know how many of the prisoners have already returned and for how long it has been going on, at least 3 months since that was when when grandad as spotted.

There could be a completely logical explanation for it but at the moment its a massive plothole till they explain it.
Things like this just annoy me, im a bit ocd when it comes to tv, i will spot if someone witches hands during a phone convo and stuff like

The Black Oil

I watched the first episode. There are the usual issues you might expect in a pilot - slightly awkward backstory for the lead, overkill with the mystery rumblings of the Lost-ish soundtrack, rapid deaths, etc. Can generally let those slide. Hurley had a some decent lines and he has a few PhDs. I'm a bit baffled as to how they'll stretch it for a full series. Overall, decent and efficient, but nothing remarkable. Probably not something I'll stick with.

Oafley Jones

Just watched the pilot and thought it was dreadful stuff. The entire episode was convenient plot point after another with some dreary exposition thrown in. I know establishing a premise and set of characters is difficult in the confines of 40 minutes but they really should have had a better script that this.

It felt completely artificial, the characters actions were a result of a need to further the plot rather than stemming from any natural discovery e.g. two lines of dialogue, plot point is revealed ->next location, instant discovery of important clue at location leading -> next actor in the assembly line to instantly offer up next location or exposition. No wonder she's such a young detective, with her luck she was probably solving cases within half an hour.

These aren't characters either e.g. our introduction to Rebecca shows her loosing her partner, a fairly traumatic event we can all agree

yet when she comes across two gunned down cops - one killed! - at the Flynn murder it doesn't even seem to register at all. She has a little cheeky smile for Hurley, a line of dialogue and they're off again as the next plot point needs to be hit.

Seriously WTF.

This just adds to my theory that Abrams is incapable of judging the quality of a script.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

I really like it - its good fun, with an interesting enough plotline to keep me coming back every week. I'm not looking for something as complex and epic as Game of Thrones (as an example)... Game of Thrones fills that category nicely...
Since Lost ended people have been looking forward to the "next Lost" - if you go into every new show with these expectations, I'm afraid to say you'll be sorely disappointed. Obviously with Abrams involved, Alcatraz has more pressure to live up to high expectations.
I can see this turning out to be more along the lines of Dollhouse - adventure of the week with minor progression on the overall story arc, but then as the season progresses, the overall story arc becomes the primary focus.
I hope Alcatraz can muster up a following, because I think it could be great (I may eat my words in a few weeks, but for now this will fit in nicely to my schedule)...