“Alcatraz”: Cool Or Just Too Cool?
Jesus, not another island of the lost. That was my thought throughout much of “Alcatraz,” the Fox show premiering tonight. Like those other “what? huh?” shows “Alias,” “Fringe,” and of course “Lost,” “Alcatraz” comes to us courtesy of J.J. Abrams. In the two-hour kick-off, we’re taken back to 1963, when the notorious federal prison on Alcatraz Island was closed and all its prisoners were transferred. Except, as we’re instantly alerted, “that’s not what happened.” Instead, 302 men vanished and were never heard of again. Until now, of course, or there wouldn’t be a show. The structure tries to have it both ways: There’s the self-contained procedural, as main characters Rebecca and Doc (played by Sarah Jones and Jorge Garcia, pictured) try to recapture a weekly Alcatraz convict. And there’s the continuing plot, as they try to figure out what’s really going on and what Hauser and his assistant Lucy (ER’s Parminder Nagra) are really up to. It’s all a little bit what the French call de trop, though I’ll probably tune in for another episode or two before nodding off.
