Prison Break & Vanished

Egads!  I guess the new television season is already underway with last night's Prison Break and Vanished premieres on Fox. 

I don't know if I was just in a cranky mood... or just not ready for "new" television... but both shows left me a tad underwhelmed.

First off... it's Prison Break... or perhaps just Break as Fox River Penitentiary is a thing of the past.  But as was what was starting to happen towards the end of last season, there was not a whole lot that was "fresh" about the premiere.  We know the guys aren't going to be captured at gun point in someone's backyard... so that's not an exactly an "on the edge of your seat" moment... and we already know that Michael Scofield was probably the best Boy Scout ever... having planned for every imaginable (and unimaginable!) scenario that might crop up.  So it all just seems a bit of a broken record.  There was the one shocker at the end... but even that end result didn't really bother me (good riddance!)... all that kept me intrigued was the multi-dimensional Dr. Sara... somehow they have to figure out how to get her and Mikey back together... crackling chemistry.

Next, was the series premiere of Vanished.  I will admit the only reason I gave this a try was to Queer As Folk's Gale Harold back on my television screen... especially since this was the first summer in a while that we didn't have the boys of Liberty Avenue to keep us busy.   

But I digreess, though I guess it's not a great sign when halfway through the episode I wondered... when is he going to having sex with some guys?!   Yes, while there were crackles of him, Harold's character Graham Kelton is not quite the charismatic Brian Kinney.

So beyond that!   This show pretty much threw the proverbial kitchen sink at us... a lot going on!  It seems like a combo of 24... with its thriller-esque continuing storyline... and the mysteries and unanswered questions of Lost.  Unfortunately, it is not half as engaging as either of those shows.  Maybe it'll start straightening itself out in the next few episodes, but I have my doubts.  I think I know what it wants to be, I am not sure it can get there.  I guess the first step in the right direction would be caring about the characters or what happens next.

In the overnight ratings, both shows did well. Prison Break won its time period, with Vanished slipping to second (behind CBS sitcom repeats) but retaining the large majority of its lead-in.   But we'll see what happens, when the competition increases as other networks roll-out their new programming... heck I am even wondering that myself... our TiVo is going to be getting a good work-out in a few weeks time... so we'll see if these shows are able to stick around... or will "vanished" be an all too ominous descriptor.

tags:  prison break, vanished

Comments

[CARRIE BURT]

I.M REALLY ENJOYING THE SHOWA BOTH OF THEM VANISHED AND PRISION BREAK IS MY FAVORITE