Alcatraz

(-) The series started well, but with a very quick and not convincing empathy between Sarah Jones (Rebecca Madsen) and Jorge García (Diego Soto); besides the acting of this two lacks of something that i not quite understand. The music may not make much sense, sometimes adding to much music can be uncomfortable even when we know it is part of the process.

(+) There is a good performance by Jeffrey Pierce (Jack Sylvane) and an acceptable of our Jurassic friend San Neil (Emerson Hauser). The prison looks great, it was about time we get a series of this particular place, although i don't think we're going to see Al Capone.

P: Hurley goes from island to island.

Interesting that so many people are comparing this unfavorably to "Lost". I actually hated "Lost"… well, past the third or fourth episode, anyway, when it started collapsing under its own weight and stopped making any kind of sense at all. "Alcatraz", I liked… I already knew it had been canceled and wouldn't have an ending when I started streaming episodes, like with "Carnivale", but it was good enough that I knew I really wanted to see as much of it as was ever going to exist. Generally the supernatural and/or JJ Abrams isn't my cup of tea, but I thought this show was extremely well done. The cast is top-notch and the premise really grips the viewer. I'm sorry they never got a chance to wrap it up.

I can't understand why all this hate, this is a great show. Abrahams (as i think it is spelled) gives exactly what he promises, a show with an interesting plot to follow, some good characters and a mysterious conspiracy for which the more you learn the most you want to stick with it until the end I loved lost, I loved its style and that is exactly why i will continue to watch this series, hoping not to stop before it is supposed to. Watch it, give it some time, lost wasn't all that great from the start. I am sure that after 2 or 3 episodes you will be captivated. J.J did it again and i am sure that this sci-fi genius has many aces up to his sleeve. All of you who don't believe, think of lost and fringe, and if you haven't checked them yet, don't waste any time. Stop hating,start watching and i am sure you will be pleased

This is the second Lost-type show to spin up this year and it's not the best. It borrows heavily from cop/buddy movies ("He killed my partner! I want revenge!"), Prison Break, Quantum Leap, and typical present day Vancouver syfy/horror serials for the pre-teen bunch. The characters, especially the escaped criminals, are more like comic book caricatures than real people. It uses the same techniques as Lost and Once Upon a Time to slowly reveal its mysteries. Unfortunately it doesn't have any profound or compelling theme motivating the story, like redemption or the nature of good and evil in people. The acting in the regular cast is good, partially because most of the actors (Neil and Garcia) have already played characters exactly like the ones they're doing here. The main problem with the show is that, like in Prison Break, each new tidbit of the big mystery they reveal makes it seem just that much more cheesy and far-fetched, instead of inspiring or enlightening. It's just not special.

...not that that's a bad thing.

Besides the fact that Sam Neill really should give up on any hope of mounting a believable American accent, the premise of the show is intriguing enough -- before Alcatraz ended operation as a prison, all of the inmates and staff vanished, kind of like a Philadelphia experiment on an island gone even more than wrong.

The execution (ha! funny pun, not), at least in the pilot, perhaps didn't do as much justice to the plot as I would have liked, but at the end of the pilot I was left wanting more, despite Sam Neill's dodgy accent. The rest of the acting was competent, and the entire program seemed a bit reminiscent of previous time-travel sci-fi shows such as 7 Days. It has good pacing and you're unlikely to be bored by it.

It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.