I have to let go of Lost, I know this. I keep getting amped up for the next awesome sci-fi show and I am let down time and time again.
Alcatraz is OK. I don't have time to watch just "ok" TV. I gave up on Alcatraz 17 minutes into the show.
Right from the start the show bothered me. The setting is the 60's, two guards land on the island for some kind of prisoner transport. The old wise guard says "hey sonny boy get your gun out this is bad, no one is here to greet us..." (more or less) and the banter continues about how strange this is and finally when they finish their walk through the prison and see that the whole dang place is empty (GASP!) then they finally decide to radio this factoid in. HMMM, in real life I think the second a police procedure breaks protocol they radio it in and go to high alert.
Flash to present day. One of my favorite gags in the biz is used...a young kid wanders into restricted Alcatraz areas (parents checked out and clueless, zero security in place to stop a child?) and finds a hobo man sleeping. Kid screams and everybody clamors to the kid to see what is going on. Come to find out that this hobo man is really an old fashioned criminal time traveled from the 60's! Cool.
We then get introduced to the emotionally damaged female lead detective. She follows some clues to Hugo Reyes, er, some new cool person in this show who owns a comic book store. Hugo Reyes wrote a book or something about Alcatraz and detective lady thinks he can help.
Their conversation is painful, predictable, and not funny. At this point I sigh, glance at my dinner fork and think about poking myself to feel something. Instead I turn off the tube and read.
I deserve something better, so do you! I would pass on Alcatraz.
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