Hype Begin! Abrams and Alcatraz and Effin' Hurley

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1

So, Fox has another interesting Abrams show in pilot that’s getting a lot of buzz. Series name is Alcatraz, and it’s apparently a story about a bunch of guards and prisoners who mysteriously vanished from the prison back when it wasn’t a deserted tourist attraction reappearing there in the present day. Thus far they’ve cast Sarah Jones as the female lead (she wasn’t terrible on the one episode of Lone Star I got to see her on), and Jorge Garcia (Hurley) has signed in a supporting role as some kind of smart hippie Alcatraz expert.

I’m a little excited already.

2

Does this kind of thing give them any leverage to keep Fringe on the air?

Edit: I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this question, but I’m also pretty sure I don’t much like it!

3

Probably not. If Fringe is doing poorly enough on Friday by the end of the year to merit cancellation, it’s not really in Abrams interests to have his name tattooed all over a failing show. I’m not sure why he would want to risk huge potential success for the sake of a show that’s tailing off. If he wasn’t going to go to the mat for a show that was getting better (in quality terms - pretty sure it was still bleeding viewers) on a weaker network (Undercovers on NBC), fighting Fox to the death over Fringe would be a weird decision. It doesn’t help that Fringe has also largely been the Transformers guys’ baby. It would make some promotional sense not to drop one show with the name on it that you’re going to use (among others) to try and promote your new show for the next season’s lineup, though, and Fringe doesn’t have to do all that well to be considered “good” on Friday. I mean, Dollhouse came back for a second season.

For what it’s worth, looking at the numbers as they are right now, I think Fringe could make a convincing argument for a final season with a slightly reduced budget (which would be helped along by spending less time in the Red universe and demoting the extra actors they’ve got over there to guest status when they need them). Alternately, I think they could wrap it up this year in a way that would leave me pretty satisfied.

4

Dude.

5

It should be noted that Fringe will be moving to Fox’s Friday night death slot this January. Fox is notorious for doing this when they want to kill a show (compare how many other networks that have put shows in this slot and killed them to the magnitude of killed shows on Fox’s list). Firefly, Wonderfalls, John Doe, Prison Break, Malcolm in the Middle, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, just to name a few, all occupied that slot either from the beginning or were swapped into in later seasons. All of them were canned.

6

To be fair Fox doesn’t have to move a show to kill it, they can just cancel it. Friday is where they move a show with crap ratings that a small rabid minority likes so they can burn off the episodes they’ve paid for already. Fox sucks but they don’t put these shows on for the good of humanity, they do it to make money. A couple of those shows you listed were great, a couple had run their course, and the rest were mediocre.

7

From an EW.com article:

As for Fox’s other big newsmaking move – shifting Fringe to Fridays - Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said he hopes fans don’t think he’s putting the show out to pasture. ”We are not killing the show. Over the last week, over 45 percent of the audience time-shifted the show. That’s almost half of the dedicated audience watching it on their DVRs. It’s been such a loyal fanbase. I will be really disheartened if the viewer base decides to not watch because it shifted one night. I hope they go with it, and if not they have the option of picking it up on their DVRs. If it does anywhere near what it did on Thursdays, we can glue that show to the schedule because it can be a big win for us.”

Well when close to half of Fringe’s audience time shifts and as a network you can just place your Idol juggernaut in a Thursday slot, it’s time to pack your bags and move.

I’ve watched every Fringe episode (on Hulu) and will continue to do so as long as the show runs, but since I time shift…am I part of the problem or part of the solution? I can never tell with these goof ball TV execs.

Also I’ll give any Abrams joint a few tries, he at least tries to create unique dramas. I’m tired of all the CSI police procedurals clones and crappy reality talent shows.

-Tim

8

The Thursday move for Idol is driven primarily by a desire to get a big ratings share out of that night because it’s one of the most lucrative advertising spots. Movies in particular love to buy spots on Thursday night to bring attention to the films they have opening the next day. Idol over Bones makes sense from that angle - those are the two biggest ratings contributors they could put on the night, and that’s a night you want to do well on.

I’m most legitimately hyped about Alcatraz because they’re making absolutely no secret about the paranormal angle, but they’re retaining enough of a contemporary setting to still appeal to all those people who think that Supernatural is “too weird.” It could be a hit in the model of Lost if it’s done right. Also, Hurley.

9

When TV execs talk about time shifting, it’s always a backhanded comment. They like that you watch, and they’ll use you as part of the “viewers” numbers for press, but they know (as do the people they sell ads to) that the majority of time shifters don’t watch ads. If 45% of the viewers time shift a show with 3 million total viewers, they essentially have to sell ads as if 1.65 million people are watching with the selling bonus that more than that “might” watch.

10

Problem.

People really seem to be in denial about how little the ad dollars gained on something like Hulu are worth compared to really real TV ad revenue. If Fox wanted to do a webseries, they’d hire Felicia Day, the Duncan Bros and the Autotune the News guys to do Overshift 2000 and it would cost a one digit percent what Fringe costs.

Really, it’s people who watch things exclusively on Hulu or DVR or bittorrent, and I am one of them, who create the absolute need for product placement. We’re not watching the ads, so the entire show needs to become one.

11

This title sucks, but I’ll give it another chance before I doom it to death.

So the promos are out and they’ve run. Specifically, a nice long trailer ran during the last American Horror Story. They’re leaning REALLY hard on the Lost notion (“Different Island…Different Rules”), but the show itself looks to have the right amount of procedural element included for it to be an actual television show. If I had to guess, I’d say that Alcatraz criminals are going to commit crimes on a somewhat regular basis and this team will try to track them down, plus some amount of spooky serial crap (no idea how much).

Interesting thing - it’s running from January to March. All in one go. With some two hour episodes to help it. I don’t know what to think about that. When it finishes, the Keifer Sutherland vehicle will be taking its place on Monday.

12

Alcatraz looks interesting and has enough decent people attached to it (Abrams included) that I’m more than willing to give it a shot.

With Fringe, they’ll show the rest of Season 4 without a doubt. It’s paid for and in the can, and has enough loyal viewers to make running the remaining episodes, especially on Friday night, a profitable proposition. Making a Season 5 seems doubtful given the low ratings and shift to Friday. On the other hand making a Season 5 would possible qualify Fringe for syndication if Fox has any interest in that. Given that channels like SyFy and BBCA might be interested in picking up syndication of a show like Fringe it could be something that keeps hope alive for one final season.

13

Still hurts.

14

When I see Hurley, I think Elizabeth Hurley.

15

I guess one plus is that Garcia didn’t call anyone “dude” in the first two episodes.

16

Didn’t want to start a whole new thread for the show since it’ll likely be cancelled soon anyway…

So I watched the 2-hour premiere last night, which was really just two episodes cobbled together. It has potential, but so far I’m feeling more “meh” than anything.

The simple premise is that, in 1962, 300+ inmates and guards (essentially everyone in residence) simply disappeard off Alcatraz. Now, 50 years later some of the inmates have begun showing back up, without having aged a day, and are seemingly picking up where they left off, settling old grudges while also performing specific tasks at the instruction of an as yet undetermined group or entity. A small government task force has been charged with tracking down and recovering these inmates as they reappear and unravelling the mystery behind where they went and who is behind it all.

Sounds awesome right? Tons of potential here to play up the creepy angle of how the inmates disappeared and who might be behind it, as well as why they would reppear after so much time and to what purpose. Unfortunately the show seems to concentrate more on being a procedural crime drama based around Alcatraz. Each episode highlights an inmate who has returned. Rather than being a fish out of water, these guys seem to be at least somewhat versed in what to expect, and have been supplied with cash and equipment with which to carry out their assignments. The task force essentially identifies which inmate is on the loose, does a profile of them, and tracks them down based on a combination of regular detective work and historical data on the inmate and Alcatraz provided by Jorge Garcia’s character who is a professor of history with a specialization on Alcatraz.

Even as a procedural the show feels hollow. Giant leaps of logic are made on little to no evidence, and suspension of disbelief is heavily relied upon in situations like a sniper being loose in the city and no other law enforcement agencies seem to be asserting themselves, instead leaving it to the Alcatraz Group to solve the crime and save lives (which they fail to do at least once). Finally, it all ties together in a super secret remote site prison complex that has been created to house these inmates that have returned from the past. In this complex we’re led to believe that the inmates will be interrogated and the mystery unravelled as to what exactly happened to them and who is behind the whole thing. Of course, in true television fashion, the prison seems to be in some remote section of forest in Oregon, yet it only takes Sam Neil’s character like 20 minutes to get there from Alcatraz/San Francisco.

All that said, there were some interesting twists to the show, and the characters are generally likeable (at least Garcia and the detective are, Sam Neil is yet to be determined on that front). I’m curious as to how it plays out, though I seriously doubt we’ll get much insight into that anytime soon since it’s an Abrams show. They do need to tighten up the believability though. With 300 inmates to return, and each one so far killing an average of 5 people, San Francisco is rapidly going to become the murder capital of the world at the rate they are progressing.

17

I did enjoy how he would often refer to Alcatraz as “the island”. I lol’d the first time he said it.

18

The premise is fun but I agree about the suspension of disbelief. I was laughing at the little things like when she walked right to the shell casing. (Oh, here it is!)

It felt like a platonic version of Castle but without the charisma. (Though, come to think of it, Castle is technically platonic as well.)

19

I give this about 6-8 episodes before it is canceled. I watched the first episode and the start of the second (finding the shell was easy) and why would a sniper shooting instantly have to be a Alcatraz prisoner?

The show has no where to go.

20

The show drew 10 million viewers and a 3.3 in the demo. If it can hold that it will get renewed. That’s a big if though. The budget can’t be as high as Terra Nova’s was so I would imagine it will get priority over that turkey of a show. We’ll see how far it falls in week 2.