Capn Design Archives: Same Guys, Different Show

Same Guys, Different Show

November 30, 2006

Several months ago, I became hooked on Prison Break. It's not the deepest show, but it's pretty frickin' clever. Unfortunately, what was once intended to be a ten part mini-series is now in the middle of its second season and seems to be flying by the seat of its pants.

To bring everyone up to speed, the show is about a man wrongfully accused of murder and his brother who gets himself incarcerated just so he can break them both out. The first season drags this out over 20+ episodes and it works just fine. Now they're on the run and you can't help but wonder where it's going. There will most certainly be another 12 episodes and probably a third season, but what else is going to happen. The show is called Prison Break and, well, they are out of prison.

Instead of stretching a plot close to, and possibly past, it's breaking point, Fox should end the show this season. Obviously, they won't do it so long as the show is profitable, which is why I propose this (yes, I'm finally getting to the point): they should start a new show next season with the same major actors. Truth is, I'm over this plotline but I would happily watch these guys work together as part of an international peace-keeping supergroup (or something).

Unlike television, the movie industry seems to have this concept down. In film, ongoing storylines go against the nature of the medium and are therefore rare and often degrade over time (hello Star Wars). So, when there is a success, the crew will often work together again (e.g. Christopher Guest and crew, Steven Soderbergh and the Cloon) or they'll take the same framework and replace the cast (e.g. the Bond films, anything produced by Jerry Bruckheimer).

Television should really give this a shot. When The Wire finally comes to a close, I don't want to see those guys split up. I'm sure David Simon could find a new use for them. That being said, I'd be happy if they just moved the location to Philadelphia and called it The Tap.

Comments (2 comments so far)

Comment #1:

Fear not because the show has already been working on what you were proposing. In an article dated Oct 26th, Digital Spy reports:

An insider for the show revealed to DS: "Paul's definitely writing a third season and not all the characters will make it to the next instalment."

The producer has vowed that the ongoing storyline will be resolved by the end of the current run, casting doubt as to how a third season would be feasible.

The source went on to explain: "Paul has said that another stint would focus on just one or two of the surviving characters, so expect more gruesome deaths in the coming episodes of the second season."

Posted by Stacy on November 30, 2006 at 2:06AM

Comment #2:

I'm surprised you didn't point out Lost. I've heard your argument a few times recently, but usually it was Lost-inspired.

You know, they don't do this crap in England. The Office in the UK was only 2 seasons, at 6 episodes each, and then one hour-long Christmas special finale. They felt the story was over, and so it was done. This is common over there. A single season is only 6 episodes, because they don't have 5 different teams writing all of them, just the original creators.

Think of all the shows that may not have jumped the shark if the original writers stayed on the entire run.

Posted by Gil on November 30, 2006 at 11:50AM

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