Did Anyone Else Watch ALCATRAZ?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/22/12 at 8:37pm

I watched the two hour premiere last night more out of curiosity than anything else and while it's obvious they want it to be the next LOST (like every single other new shoe it seems), I was actually surprised that I was drawn in as I was. I don't know how long it will be before the "catch a new prisoner every week" thing gets old but I'll keep watching for a while.

Curious if anyone else saw it.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 1/22/12 at 8:44pm

I watched the first hour of the 2 hour premiere and got bored

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/22/12 at 8:52pm

Yeah I was getting a tad bored at parts too but something about it just made me watch. The ending of the second episode ensured that I'd tune in again, though.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/22/12 at 10:05pm

Someone at my brunch this morning said they watched it last night and they liked it.

[iflip4musicals]

Posted: 1/23/12 at 12:39am

I watched it, and agree that the one prisoner per week thing will get old pretty fast, but I was pretty intrigued for most of the premiere. I'll continue watching though, I'll give almost any show a more than fair chance.

[digitsABC]

Posted: 1/23/12 at 10:59am

I watched the two-hour premiere, and while the concept sounds fantastic on paper, I was fairly disappointed. I'm not feeling the two lead characters at all, the acting is often weak and I got quite annoyed by the recurring character "horrendous dialogue". Plot-wise, it does seem to be turning into a prisoner-of-the-week show. In fact, it feels a bit like a mix of "Person of Interest" and the mystery of "Lost".

I must say the plot point of Sam Neill's character (the most interesting character) seemingly rebuilding his own private Alcatraz was really intriguing.

To give it a fair chance, I think I'll be tuning in for at least a few weeks. All the good shows are on hiatus anyways.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/24/12 at 2:16am

I always react a bit overly negatively at how much these shows use JJ Abrams' name. Of course he's associated now in people's minds with Lost (even though--and he's always been up front with this--while his production company Bad Robot did produce it and he was an exec producer, creatively he helped tweak the original concept, did the amazing pilot and then according to him had no real involvement whatsoever--I think at some points I wish he had). This isn't new--think of all of the TV work (and movies...) that Spielberg's name is most mentioned for even though often he has very little involvement, but his name sells.

(I think people may forget some of Abrams/Bad Robots' biggest failures, like the romantic dramedy series 6 Degrees or What About Brian--neither of which he was too directly involved in either--or last year's misfire Undercovers which he was more involved with and I liked the cast and hoped for a return to early Alias spy hijinks, but quickly lost interest in, as did most I guess).

Of course some of his shows under his name that he hasn't been directly involved in have developed a following besides Lost--Fringe has a rabid cult base (I admit I feel slightly guilty as I enjoyed the show, but lost touch with it sometime in Season 2 and have found it hard to catch up with sense)...

I also think there's a problem with the attempt to do a "case of the week" procedural show and balance that with a more serialized "mythology" heavy show. When Fringe was created they claimed it would be that kind of show--with X Files like cases each eweek and a lose mythology, but by about the mid season point it bvecame completely mythology obsessed--which I find far more interesting (frankly, the main tv shows I watch are serialized and I have no interest for most procedurals), but became hopelessly convulated for any new viewer and, as I proved with my lapsed viewing, has largely leaked viewers with the confusion, as good as fans say it is.

So it seems near impossible to combine both types of shows (I know most procedurals have VERY loose serialization--but not to the same degree), even though I get why networks want to attract both types of audiences (Joss Whedon and Tim Minear had a similar problem with Dollhouse). I very quickly lost interest in Person of Interest (a show Abrams has had more creative involvement in than Alcatraz) when to me it did seem to be more of a case of the week show (maybe I gave up on it too quickly, though I can't say I miss it or the promos on tv make me want to get back into it). And though I could only cath the first part of the Alcatraz pilot, I get the sense it will have the same problem.

Maybe audiences really will only take to extremely heavily serialized shows on cable--where they usually are guranteed at least one full season without cancelation, and the seasons are much shorter and tend to be tighter (this goes for any recent hit like Downton Abby to American Horror Story although it is fair to mention that neither get the kind of numbers that network tv wants--another plus for cable who can rely more on subscribers, cache audiences and heavy DVD sales).

ANYWAY long ramble, but my impression from the comments here and all the reviews I've read is my impression is right (which seem to think Alcatraz is good but not more and it remains to be seen where it goes).