The media have been abuzz with Prison Break bits — Q&As with slightly annoyed producers explaining why Sarah Wayne Callies was written off the show; a lovely, if aggressive rebuttal from Ms. Callies herself, and spoilers, spoilers, spoilers. Even the New York Times chimed in with a piece comparing PB and House. The long and the short of it? House’s ratings survived its (cough… nonexistent) cast shakeup because it’s essentially a hospital procedural: The (ahem) character changes didn’t irk fans as long as they still got their promised dose of medical mystery. Prison Break — a serialized program to the core — screwed with devotees hoping for a big payoff to Season 1 and 2’s Sara/Michael drama. If you just went "Well, duh," then I’m with you.
(BTW, this all totally ignores my theory that old ladies just like to go to bed with visions of Hugh Laurie in their head. They don’t care about Cameron or whomever. Go check your mom or grandma’s TiVo. You’ll see what I mean.)
Anyway, the most important PB news in my book, the most shocking, and, quite frankly, the most annoying is Fox’s announcement that, to make room in its schedule for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (hello… 2003), the network will stop airing original episodes of PB after a fall-finale cliffhanger on December 17th. The season will then resume four months later on April 14th. Remember the good old days when your favorite network shows aired straight through the season, save a few reruns here and there? Now they’re like Halley’s comet. I tell you now, that had better be one hell of a cliffhanger. I want Michael poised to push Susan B. off a building, while R.J. is swimming to the U.S., and Lincoln is preparing to make sweet love to Sofia with Whistler about to walk in, guns a-blazing. I want T-Bag, Lechero, and the "nun" on the run in the middle of the Panamanian jungle. (Which dude will she pick? Will she embrace T’s rubber hand?) Fox can do what they wish to Sucre. He’s a total muppet. After all that whining about staying out of trouble, he goes and jeopardizes Michael’s plan for $5,000? I want the promise of a new character played by a big actor. He/she should have an Oscar or an Emmy and have never appeared on a Law & Order. Or they can just be from Twin Peaks. Or The Long Riders. And I mean you, James Keach, real-life brother of Stacy Keach, a.k.a. Warden Pope. Let’s get you both in Panama, or Scottsdale (where it seems the action is headed, need the writers hint that one more time?).
But why, you ask, do I talk of hypothetical new guys when last night’s epi introduced a real one?
addCredit(“Prison Break: Bill Matlock”)
No reason. The fresh inmate is pretty cool. Some sort of EasternEuropean spy-for-hire I think, but the possibilities are endless. Hecould be sent in by the Company to hurry Mike’s operation along. Hecould be commissioned by another group to cause a rift between Michaeland Whistler. In that case, I would say that calling Whistler’s wholeidentity into question did the trick. (What do you guys think of thename he gave Whistler? Was it MacFadyen? Is it English? Scottish?) Orhe could just be some normal guy who moves like a cat and just happenedto recognize Whistler. From the Ambassador’s entourage. In Nice. In1997. Either way, Whisty is going be accused of killing anotherprisoner in the next episode, and I’d bet my first born it’s this dude.Which is a shame because I like his look: Part Russian ballet dancer,part snake from Disney’s Robin Hood, and totally hard-boiled.
Now to the escape. I get why they must do it during the day. (Doesanyone else think the murdered rat foreshadows a rat in Mike’s crew?).I almost get the weaknesses they found in the first security guards (myquestion: why wouldn’t the one who has to turn away from the sun get anumbrella, or sunscreen, or sunglasses). But I’m not sure I understandthe crutch Mahone discovered in the final guard. A caffeine addiction?What are they going to do, hide the coffeemaker? Steal all the papermugs? Do they think he’s going to get all cracked out or something? Orwill not having his Cup o’ Joe just mess with his routine? Explain.
While you’re at it, decode the timeframe Susan B. scribbled out onher pad as she chatted with Lincoln. Tell me what you think is inLinc’s cooler — I thought it was going to be Sara’s rotting face, butunless I missed something that wouldn’t make much sense. And share allyour other hopes and dreams for November 5th’s two-hour epi…
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Was the new inmate the same actor that Kristen Bell questioned on the dock in Heroes? They looked the same to me.
Heather-
Ithought the same exact thing. I think he is the same guy.
It’s not just old ladies that like to go to bed with visions of Hugh Laurie in their heads – I’m only 24 and it’s the best way to end a Tuesday for me too.
I believe it’s “whoever”, not “whomever”. I’m 25 and I think Hugh Laurie is sexy.
If the gaurd is drinking all that coffee maybe he has to take a leak at a certain time everyday? They could slip something into his drink of they had access but we know they don’t and doubt Linc could get to it either so not sure what they will use to their advantage with this guard?
Im 20 and *I* think Hugh Laurie is pretty dern sexy too.
I’ve lost almost total interest in Prison Break. I’ve been a loyal loyal fan since episode 1 and since Sara is dead – part of my optimism for the series is dead now too.
Plus, I doubt it will survive the hiatus.
House survived the cast shift because House is the main character, people tune in to see him berate and insult his employees. So new blood for him to play with is promising.
Does anyone else recongnize Susan as Taylor Vaughn from She’s All That – lol – I love teen high school dramas!
I think they are going to spike the guards coffee. Too bad Sara is gone…………SHE WAS HOT!
Call me an ol’ romantic, but I now have given up, coz i 2 wanted a Sara/Michael hook-up when it finaly wraps up, but that ain’t goin’ happen, so I will ‘break’ from this series
To Sara: Aubry is right, it’s “whomever.” Sorry!
I don’t know why you’re complaining about the Prison Break scheduling, Aubry. Seriously, y’all can’t even give it a real TV Watch.
My guess is that Mahone or Bellick will get a bullet. If you ask me, Bellick is the one who deserves it because he’s such an icky loser. Besides, Mahone is pretty sharp – all insanity aside.
This show should have been cancelled after season 2.
Guessing the writers don’t decide where the pop watches go on the website. But it is a weird programming strategy for Fox. Guess they are going to ride PB until they have something decent in development.
to heather: yes, it was the same guy. he gets around more than nathan petrelli and he doesnt even have the ability to fly.
This show is just do dang frustrating but I cant leace it alone. I figured they would pull this hiatus thing.
isn’t the coffee cup the guard has the same kind of coffee cup mahone has? drugs in coffee cups?
First of all, NOOOOO!!! Another long hiatus, just like PB did in the first season? Gimme a break. Now Fox is just testinig PB’s fanbase to mind numbing extremes. Doesn’t Fox have any better ideas to finish running the latest episodes besides that? They should’ve followed a season 2 schedule if that were the case.
Second of all, LOL Heather. That exact thought crossed my mind watching PB and Heroes yesterday.
I’m just saying….a mini-TV Watch means that this show is not likely at the top of someone’s list of priorities. Clearly, EW isn’t alone in feeling that way. Fox also has no qualms about kicking one of its own to the curb, and allowing those that are less worth it to linger. Read: On the Lot.
The way they introduced the new guy was lame – seriously hated it. Plus, he got his clothes ripped off of him but had pants (and better looking pants than Bellick’s) within minutes. Can’t imagine what’s in Linc’s cooler, but I loved the way he drooled over Sofia when she laid down on the beach. And the show is not giving enough time to him. I need to hear more of his sharp and witty retorts. Best Michael part…when he said to Whistler, “Tell me why.” Like Whistler has an inside track to the way Michael thinks and talks. Sure, we’d all like to know why Whistler has to be free within 7 days, but in true PB form, we won’t find out until nobody wants to know anymore. I still don’t care that Sara’s gone and I absolutely don’t understand what thrill people expected to get from a Sara/Michael hook-up. Ugh, I’m feeling sick again. Finally, Sucre’s character needs a mental makeover. Can one person be suckered into criminal activities time after time? Is that realistic?
I’m thinking Michael gets Sucre/Lincoln to drop something into that coffee, kinda like Dumb and Dumber…
oh, and it’s LJ not RJ…will be swimming to the US
i’m a 19 yr old female and i think hugh laurie is one of the sexiest actors i’ve ever seen….those eyes…and that accent (english or american)!!
Ha Ha. I hope this show gets cancelled soon. I was one of the viewers who invested two years in Michael/Sara and quit watching because she is gone. This headline caught my eye and I had to comment — give these misogynistic producers and their show the ax already.
I’m with Lilli on the Sara/Michael relationship, nor claim the show is misogyny gone awry. I didn’t care enough about Michael’s fixation with Sara after the first season to really go crazy with her Se7en-ish death. I admit it’s a bad way to kill off a character but I got over it after the commercial break. I was surprised to hear some PB fans label the show as misogynistic. What? I don’t deny a bunch of central female characters got killed in the show (if not having mixed morals), but guess what? A lot of main characters of both genders go deep into many shades of gray and very few of their journeys ended well (C-Note and his family is an exception). Even more surprising are some of them blaming the PB producers more than Fox. Uh, hello? Although I still like this show, PB got extended first and foremost because of them. If they didn’t force them to keep going, I doubt Sara would’ve died in such a cliche (though horrific) manner.
i’m just disapointed that after two years all we got was one michael/sara kiss… and not even a ‘i wanna rip your clothes off’ kiss… more like a ‘i think i like you’ kiss. maybe they’ll let lincoln have sex this year at least! he’s pretty w/o a shirt!
I’ve watched every episode of the show up until last night. So long Prision Break, I’m done!
hey i had to watch this episode this morning because of the wildfires in sd county…still worth the wait. i thought it was pretty good but the coffee cup thing was confusing
hey i had to watch this episode this morning because of the wildfires in sd county…still worth the wait. i thought it was pretty good but the coffee cup thing was confusing
I find it hard to care about this show as much as I used to. The only way the cliffhanger works is if ALL of the inmates bust out of the prison at the same time.
hey i had to watch this episode this morning because of the wildfires in sd county…still worth the wait. i thought it was pretty good but the coffee cup thing was confusing