Prison Break

This article is about a television series. For the act of escaping prison, see prison escape.

Prison Break
File:PrisonBreak intro.jpg Intertitle for Prison Break Season 2
Created by	Paul Scheuring
Starring	Dominic Purcell Wentworth Miller Amaury Nolasco Wade Williams Paul Adelstein Robert Knepper Rockmond Dunbar Sarah Wayne Callies William Fichtner
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	44 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	43 minutes
Original release
Network	FOX
Release	August 29 2005 – Present

Prison Break is an American television series that premiered on the Fox Network on August 29, 2005. The story revolves around a man who was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and his brother's elaborate plan to help him escape his death sentence. Created by Paul Scheuring, the show is produced by Adelstein-Parouse Productions in association with Original Television and 20th Century Fox Television. The current executive producers are Paul Scheuring, Matt Olmstead, Dawn Parouse, Marty Adelstein, Neal Moritz and Brett Ratner. Its theme music is composed by Ramin Djawadi, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2006.

Currently, two seasons of the show have been aired. Due to its immense popularity in its key demographics, the show was renewed by Fox for a third season, even though it was originally conceived to have only two seasons. The uniqueness of Prison Break is attributed to its serialized story structure, a similar format used by Lost and 24, and its setting as very few television series were primarily set and filmed in a prison. Its success and recognition as a prison drama revived interest in the genre.

Production

Conception

Prison Break began as a concept (a man deliberately getting himself sent to prison in order to help someone else escape) suggested to Paul Scheuring by producer Dawn Parouse, who wanted to produce an action-oriented series. Although Scheuring thought it was a good idea, he was initially stumped as to why someone would embark on such a mission or how he could develop it into a viable television show. He came up with the story of the wrongfully accused brother and began working on the plot outline and devising the characters. In 2003, he pitched the idea to the Fox Broadcasting Company but was turned down as Fox felt nervous about the long-term possibilities of such a series. He subsequently showed the concept to other channels but was also turned down as it was thought to be more suited for a film project than a television series. Prison Break was later considered as a possible 14-part miniseries, which drew the interest of Steven Spielberg before his departure due to his involvement with War of the Worlds. Thus, the miniseries never materialized. Following the huge popularity of serialized prime time television series such as Lost and 24, the Fox Network had a change of heart and backed the production in 2004. The pilot episode was filmed a year after Scheuring wrote the script and five months later, the show was picked up as a series.

Casting

The series premiere had eight major speaking roles with star billing. The casting process for the role of Michael Scofield, one of the series' protagonists, began several weeks before production. In an interview, Paul Scheuring recalled that most of the actors who tested for the role "would come in playing mysterious, but it was so cheesy and false." A week before the start of production, Wentworth Miller, auditioned for the role and impressed Scheuring with his performance; he was cast the following day.

Dominic Purcell was cast three days before the start of production and consequently, he was the last actor to join the original cast. Purcell auditioned for the role of Lincoln Burrows, a death-row inmate and the brother of Michael Scofield, while he had a recurring role as Tommy Ravetto on North Shore. Since working on John Doe, Purcell has had a great relationship with Fox. Hence, he was sent the pilot script of Prison Break. At first, Scheuring thought Purcell was "too much of a pretty boy" after he went to the audition with his hair styled and a tan. However, Purcell won the role and arrived on the set on the first day of filming with a shaved head, which amazed Scheuring with the physical likeness of the series' two leading actors.

Upon receiving the pilot script, Amaury Nolasco's first thought was that it was "one of those failed pilots that the network didn't really want" since most of the series pilots would have started production by that time. Admitting that he doesn't like to read, Nolasco was amazed that the script was a "huge page-turner". Prior to his last audition for the role of Fernando Sucre, Nolasco recalled his nervousness, which grew when Paul Scheuring told him that he was their favourite choice. Subsequently, he was cast in the role.

After reading the pilot script, Wade Williams initially did not want to portray the role of Brad Bellick because the character was "horrible and despicable". His reluctance stemmed from being the father of a four-year-old daughter. However, his manager persuaded him to audition for the role and Williams landed the role of Bellick.

Sarah Wayne Callies was the first actress the producers saw at the audition for the role of Sara Tancredi and was also the first to become a principal cast member. After her final audition at the 20th Century Fox lot, Callies came back outside to find that she had left her keys in the ignition inside her locked car. While she waited for the AAA to arrive, she received a call from her agent that she had been cast.

The remaining original cast included Robin Tunney, Marshall Allman and Peter Stormare, who were cast as Veronica Donovan, L. J. Burrows and John Abruzzi respectively.

Music

The theme music of Prison Break and the incidental music of each episode are composed by Ramin Djawadi. In France, rapper Faf Larage's song, Pas Le Temps is used by television network M6 to replace the show's original music in the title sequence, which generated publicity and helped to localize the show. Similarly, Prison Break Anthem, performed by Kaye Styles, was written especially to be used in the title sequence in Belgium.

Broadcast history

The first season of Prison Break premiered on the Fox Network in the United States on August 29 2005 at 9:00 pm ET and went on hiatus on November 28 2005. After the show resumed on March 20 2006, it was moved to an earlier timeslot to 8:00 pm ET, followed by 24. Season 1 reached its completion on May 15 2006. The second season was aired from August 21 2006 to April 2 2007 while retaining its Monday 8:00 pm ET timeslot. Canada has the same schedule as the United States via Global TV's simulcast.

Prison Break has also premiered in other countries around the world including non-English speaking countries.

Storylines and settings

Plot summary

Main article: List of Prison Break episodes

File:Prison Break brothers.jpg

Promotional photo of Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows.

The first season consists of 22 episodes. Lincoln Burrows is accused of the murder of Terrence Steadman, who is the brother of the female Vice President of the United States. With strong evidence supporting the charges of first degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm against him, Lincoln is sentenced to death and is sent to the Fox River State Penitentiary to await his execution. Lincoln's brother, Michael Scofield, is convinced of Lincoln's innocence and hatches an escape plan. After installing himself at Fox River, time works against Michael as he must overcome various obstacles and make the right connections among the inmates and prison staff to be successful in breaking out his brother. The protagonists are aided by Veronica Donovan, who begins to investigate the conspiracy that put Lincoln in jail. However, they are hindered by covert agents, who belong to an organization known as The Company.

The second season of Prison Break consists of 22 episodes and directly follows from the first season finale. It begins eight hours after the prison escape from Fox River State Penitentiary, focusing mainly on the escapees. New characters are introduced, including federal agent Alexander Mahone, who is assigned to track down and capture the eight escapees. Series creator Paul Scheuring describes the second season as "The Fugitive times eight" and likens it to the "second half of The Great Escape". The fugitives journey to locations across America with the authorities close behind them as they each pursue their individual goals. The secondary plot involving the conspiracy develops as The Company continues their plan to locate and eliminate Lincoln Burrows and others who get in their way. Much of the storyline concerning the conspiracy concludes by the season finale.

Series creator Paul Scheuring has commented that the third season will consist of most of the original cast with new additions and that the overall theme will be "redemption". The plot will continue from the second season finale, where most of the main characters have ended up in Panama. Although the conspiracy storyline has not finished, the third season's plot will be "as different in tone as Season 2 was from Season 1".

Filming location

The majority of the first season of Prison Break was filmed on location at Joliet Prison, Illinois. After it was closed down in 2002, Joliet Prison became the set of Prison Break in 2005, and was immortalized as Fox River State Penitentiary on screen. Scenes set in Lincoln's cell, the infirmary and the prison yard were all shot on location at the prison. Lincoln's cell is the same one that John Wayne Gacy was incarcerated in. Most of the production crew refused to enter the cell, thinking that it was haunted. The cells that housed the general prison population were specially built with three tiers whereas the actual cells located in Joliet Prison only had two tiers and were smaller. Exterior scenes were filmed in areas around Chicago, Woodstock, and Joliet in Illinois. Other locations included O'Hare International Airport in Chicago and Toronto, Ontario in Canada. Prison Break spent $2 million per episode in the state of Illinois, which cost them a total of $24 million in the 2005 year.

Renewed for a second season, Prison Break resumed filming on June 15 2006 in Dallas, Texas due to the close proximity of rural and urban settings. Locations within a 30-minute radius of Dallas were chosen which included Little Elm, Decatur and Mineral Wells. Many of these locations were used to represent various American towns. For the final three episodes of the second season, filming took place in Pensacola, Florida to represent Panama. Each episode takes eight days to film and approximately $1.4 million goes to the local economy per episode. The show is expected to spend in excess of $50 million in Dallas.

Characters

Main article: List of Prison Break characters

Main characters

File:Pb cast season1.jpg

Season 1 promotional photograph of the Prison Break cast.

Lincoln Burrows (played by Dominic Purcell) is a high school dropout who was a convicted felon before being accused of the murder of the Vice President of the United States's brother and charged with first-degree murder. His brother, Michael Scofield (played by Wentworth Miller), was a successful structural engineer before devoting full-time to his brother's case and creating an elaborate escape plan to save his brother's life. Michael and Lincoln are the only characters to have appeared in every episode to date. After Michael is incarcerated at Fox River State Penitentiary, Veronica Donovan (played by Robin Tunney), the brothers' childhood friend, decides to review Lincoln's case. L. J. Burrows (played by Marshall Allman) is the teenage son of Lincoln Burrows and is greatly affected by his father's death sentence.

Inside the prison, Michael begins recruiting other prisoners into his escape plan: Fernando Sucre (played by Amaury Nolasco) and John Abruzzi (played by Peter Stormare). Sucre is Michael's cell-mate and provides comic relief to the show. He is in love with his girlfriend and is eager to complete his prison sentence so that he can marry her. Sucre develops a friendship with Michael and Lincoln over the course of the series. Abruzzi is a prominent figure inside the prison due to his role as the leader of a Chicago mafia. He agrees to provide an escape plane for Michael in exchange for the location of the eyewitness to his crimes, Otto Fibonacci.

Michael meets Brad Bellick (played by Wade Williams), who is introduced as the captain of Fox River's correctional officers, and is immediately disliked by him, which causes trouble for him throughout the series. Theodore Bagwell (played by Robert Knepper), commonly referred to as "T-Bag", is mainly seen as a villain in the series for including himself as a member of Michael's escape team after discovering his plan. Likewise, Benjamin Miles Franklin (played by Rockmond Dunbar), nicknamed "C-Note", also forces Michael to include him in the escape. As well as other prisoners, Michael meets the prison doctor, Sara Tancredi (played by Sarah Wayne Callies), who becomes concerned for his wellbeing. As their relationship develops over the course of the series, her role is also increased in the storyline. Outside the prison, Paul Kellerman (played by Paul Adelstein), works against Veronica Donovan as he helps the Vice President to make sure that the execution of Lincoln Burrows goes smoothly.

The second season introduces a new major character, FBI Special Agent Alexander Mahone (played by William Fichtner), who is assigned to locate the fugitives. Mahone is intellectually matched with Michael and his background unfolds as the series progresses.

Other

Major recurring characters from the first season include Fox River's Warden Henry Pope (played by Stacy Keach) and lawyer Nick Savrinn (played by Frank Grillo). Charles Westmoreland (played by Muse Watson) is a veteran of the prison having served 32 years and has a daughter, who is dying of cancer. Michael believes he is D. B. Cooper and has hidden $1 million outside the prison, which forms a subplot of the second season. Two other Fox River prisoners who join in Michael's escape are David "Tweener" Apolskis (played by Lane Garrison) and Charles "Haywire" Patoshik (played by Silas Weir Mitchell). Additionally, some of the walk-on characters who played prisoners actually served time at the Joliet Prison.

The character of Terrence Steadman was played by two actors, first by John Billingsley in the first season, then by Jeff Perry in the second season as Billingsley was cast as a regular on the ABC series The Nine. Steadman has few appearances in the series, nevertheless, the character is at the center of the conspiracy which caused Lincoln Burrows to be charged with his murder. Caroline Reynolds (played by Patricia Wettig) is the sister of Terrence Steadman, who has ambitions to become the President of the United States, which she later achieves.

A major recurring character in the second season was introduced in the form of William Kim (played by Reggie Lee), who has orders from the Company to oversee the actions of Mahone and Kellerman.

Response

Reception in the USA

The following seasonal rankings are based on average total viewers per episode as recorded by Nielsen Media Research. The recording period begins in late September (the start of the U.S. network television season) and ends in late May.

Season	Broadcast period	Timeslot	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
1	2005–2006	Monday 9:00pm ET (8:00 pm ET midseason)	#55	9.2
2	2006–2007	Monday 8:00 pm ET	#51	9.3

Fox backed Prison Break with a large advertising campaign. The show debuted on August 29, 2005, to an estimated audience of 10.5 million viewers. Fox has not seen such success for summertime Monday numbers since Melrose Place and Ally McBeal aired in September of 1998. The two-hour premiere was credited as two episodes by the network. The premiere was the seventh most watched show in America that week according to Nielsen Research, ranking first in both the 18–49 and 18–34 demographics. The strong debut performance was also matched by various positive reviews. According to The New York Times, Prison Break was "more intriguing than most of the new network series, and it certainly is one of the most original", complimenting on its ability to create a "suspenseful thriller" and its "authentic look". Entertainment Weekly has dubbed it as one of the best new shows of 2005. On the other hand, The Washington Post criticized the show for its "somber pretentiousness" and "uniformly overwrought" performances. The show regularly attracted an average audience of 10 million viewers each week and led the debuts of television in the 2005 American fall season. Prison Break was originally planned for a 13-episode run, but was extended to include an extra nine episodes due to its popularity.

The premiere of the second season of Prison Break obtained an average of 9.4 million viewers, down from 10.5 million for the series premiere in August 2005. The decline was steeper among young-adult viewers with a decrease of 20 percent in the 18–49 demographic compared to its series premiere, but its household rating grew from 3.6% to 3.9% during the last half hour. A critic from USA Today commented on the "harebrained absurdities that have swamped this show", and blamed the writers for being "incredibly lazy" for the continuous use of the tattoo as an "all-purpose plot fix". Contrastingly, Detroit Free Press commended the second season premiere on matching the standard set by the first season, which delivered a "rocking good entertainment" due to its "motley crew of cellblock characters" and the "taut, ingenious storytelling of series creator Paul T. Scheuring and his staff." The second season obtained its largest audience on the original airdate of the episode, "Chicago" with an average of 10.1 million viewers. On the other hand, the season finale on its original airdate received one of the lowest audiences in the series' history, obtaining an average of 8.01 million viewers with 5% household rating and 8% household share; a decrease of 2.23 million viewers from the first season finale.

Reception outside the USA

As the only new television series to be positioned in the top 20 television shows of 2005/2006 in Canada, Prison Break achieved an average of 876,000 in the key demographic of 18–49 and 1.4 million viewers nationally for its first season. During its second season, the show has consistently retained the highest number of viewers in its timeslot in Canada.

Following a huge advertising campaign on Australian television network, Seven, which hyped the success the show found in North America, Prison Break premiered on February 1, 2006 to an average audience of 1.94 million as well as making its peak at 2.09 million viewers. The hype of the show was later complemented with encore screenings in the second week, before being set into a concrete time of 8:30 pm on Wednesday nights. The first season attracted an overall average of 1.353 million viewers. The second season, promoted by the network as Prison Break - On the Run, premiered on January 31, 2007 at a new time of 9:30 pm, with 1.226 million viewers (47% share). The popularity of the show was also evident in New Zealand, where Prison Break won the People's Choice Award for Favourite New Television Drama.

In Europe, the series premiered in France on August 31, 2006 with an average of 5.5 million viewers (25.8% share). Prior to its second season premiere in France, Prison Break was heavily advertised by its local television network, M6 and Fox, which was aided by the appearances of Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell and Paul Scheuring at MIPCOM in Cannes. The second season premiered on November 8, 2006 to 7.5 million viewers (29.0% share), making it one of the most watched programs for the 2006 year in France. In Poland, the series premiered on January 28, 2007 to 7 million viewers (38% share) making it the highest rated episode of any foreign series in Polsat history. It was also the highest rated show of the week in the 16–49 demographic (46% share).

The first season's broadcast in Hong Kong on TVB Pearl during September 5, 2006 and January 21, 2007 was a success, receiving the largest audience Hong Kong has ever had for a foreign drama and broke the record previously set by The X-Files. The series premiere obtained an average of 260,000 viewers while the first season finale obtained an average of 470,000 viewers (7.3%) and peaked at 590,000 (9.1%). Due to its overwhelming response in Hong Kong, TVB Pearl purchased the copyright of Season 2 and started to air it from March 6, 2007. The second season premiere received an average of 270,000 viewers while peaking at 310,000. TVB Pearl expects the second season's ratings to exceed the ratings of Season 1. On the other hand, Prison Break is not imported by China but the series is available for free downloads, online TV, as well as on the black market on bootleg DVDs among many other American TV shows.

Ratings

Due to its storyline and setting, Prison Break's target audience is the 18–34 age group. The show contains adult content including violence, coarse language, sexual and drug references. Concerns have been raised by the Parents Television Council in the United States about the timeslot in which Prison Break is broadcast (8:00 pm ET) since the show features some scenes which contain graphic content. The series is given a TV-14 rating in both the United States and Canada.

A similar rating is also used in other countries. Prison Break is rated M in Australia, A+18 in Chile, PG in Hong Kong, PG13V in South Africa, 15 in the United Kingdom and 12 in The Netherlands. In France, the broadcasting watchdog, Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA), also complained that the violence in some episodes exceeded the amount allowed for its rating, which is "not for under 10s". Under France's regulations, any higher ratings would move the show away from its current primetime timeslot to a later timeslot. However, their decision to change the rating will only affect the first season, which has already been broadcast, and not the second season.

Awards

Following a successful airing of the series' first thirteen episodes, Prison Break was nominated for its first award, the 2005 People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama. The other nominees in the same category were Commander in Chief and Criminal Minds. Prison Break won the award in January 2006 and it is the only award the show has won to date. Also in January 2006, the show had two nominations at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards, which were Best Drama Television Series and Best Actor in a Drama Television Series for Wentworth Miller's performance. The show's lead actor, Wentworth Miller, received another nomination for his performance in the first season at the 2005 Saturn Awards for Best Actor on Television. Likewise, the series was nominated for 2005 Saturn Award for Best Network Television Series. At the 2006 Television Critics Association Awards, the show was nominated for Best New Drama Series. Nominations for technical awards include the 2006 Eddie Award for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television (Mark Helfrich for the pilot episode) and the 2006 Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music (Ramin Djawadi). In December 2006, Robert Knepper was nominated for the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Controversy

On October 24, 2006, it was reported by the Associated Press that Donald and Robert Hughes filed a lawsuit against Fox Broadcasting Company and the show's executive producer and creator, Paul Scheuring, for copyright infringement, seeking unspecified damages and other costs. They claimed that in 2001, they had sent Fox their manuscript which was based on their own experiences of a prison break at a juvenile facility. In the 1960s, Donald Hughes planned and successfully executed a prison escape for his brother, Robert Hughes, who was wrongfully incarcerated.

Distribution

DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases

Currently, only the first season has been released on DVD with the second season DVD box-set pending for release.

DVD cover	Season	Episodes	Discs	DVD release date
				Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
File:Pb dvd season1 us.jpg	1	22	6	USA: 8 August 2006	UK: 18 September 2006	AUS: 13 September 2006
	This release of the complete first season has a total running time of 966 minutes. It includes 10 audio commentaries by cast and crew members, 5 deleted/alternate scenes, 4 featurettes, 6 TV spots and 2 promotional trailers. The release of the Season 1 DVD was accompanied by various promotional bonus DVDs. At Target, the purchase of the DVD box set included a DVD which contained the "Behind the Walls" special episode, while the bonus DVD given by Best Buy contained the 26 Prison Break: Proof of Innocence mobisodes.
File:Pb dvd season2 us.jpg	2	22	6	USA: 4 September 2007[1].</ref>	Complete-Season-2/Product.html Prison Break - Another delay for Season 2 - Artwork added]". Tvshowsondvd.com. May 18, 2007. Retrieved on May 20, 2007.</ref>
	The complete second season has a total running time of 966 minutes, presented in anamorphic widescreen and English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Available subtitles include English, French and Spanish. Bonus features include 11 audio commentaries by cast and crew members, 2 featurettes (Reinvention of a Series and Turning Dallas Into America), a music clip (Prison Break Theme - Ferry Corsten Breakout Mix) and a DVD easter egg.

At the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment announced that the complete first season of Prison Break will also be released on the Blu-ray Disc format in early 2007.

Online distribution

In addition to the television broadcast of the show, episodes of Prison Break has also been released in on the internet. Towards the end of the first season, episodes of Prison Break were made available for purchase online at the iTunes Music Store, which began on May 9, 2006.

After the premiere of the second season of Prison Break, Fox began allowing online streaming of the current episode for free via more than 50 websites including AOL, Google and Yahoo!, as well as its own extensive network. However, this was restricted to the United States only. The first three episodes of season 2 were broadcast commercial free, available for a week after their television broadcast date. Online streaming of episodes was postponed after the third episode. However, due to the show's three-week broadcast hiatus prompted by Fox's broadcast of the Major League Baseball playoff games in October, a strategy was developed by News Corporation (the parent company of Fox Broadcasting Company and MySpace) in an attempt to maintain their viewers' interest in the show. Starting from October, Fox began to stream past episodes of the second season on the social networking site MySpace and websites of the network's owned and operated stations (the stations are part of the Fox Television Stations Group). Although commercials are to be aired throughout the broadcast, the episodes are free of charge.

Other media

Derivative work of the show has been produced in the form of short videos for mobile phones. There has also been several official tie-ins in print and on the internet.

A spinoff series, Prison Break: Proof of Innocence, was produced exclusively for mobile phones and was broadcast first to Sprint customers in April, 2006 via on SprintTV's Fox station. The first episode of Prison Break: Proof of Innocence became available on the internet for viewing on May 8, 2006. This was an exclusive deal made between Toyota Motor and News Corporation's Fox network, allowing Toyota to sponsor exclusive content of the show and to obtain advertising exclusivity.

In printed media, the show's tie-in products include an official magazine and a book written in an in-universe perspective. The official magazine, published by Titan Publishing, was launched on 21 November 2006. Each issue contains interviews with selected cast and crew members with other feature stories. The tie-in novel, Prison Break: The Classified FBI Files (ISBN 1-4165-3845-3), contains details of the show's characters pertaining to the second season's storyline. Written by Paul Ruditis, the book is published by Simon & Schuster and was released on May 8, 2007.

External links

Network sites

• Prison Break - Channel Seven (Australia)
• Prison Break - Global (Canada)
• Prison Break - Channel 6 (Ireland)
• Prison Break - Five (United Kingdom)
• Zakon Brace - RTL Televizija (Croatia)

Other sites

• Prison Break DVD - Official DVD website
• Prison Break on MySpace TV - Watch recent episodes for free
• Television Without Pity - Detailed episode summaries
• BuddyTV - News and show summaries