Prison Break

Un article de Vev.

Modèle:Otheruses4 Modèle:Infobox television

Prison Break is an American serial drama television series that premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company 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, Kevin Hooks, Marty Adelstein, Dawn Parouse, Neal Moritz and Brett Ratner.<ref name=showinfo>Fox Broadcasting Company, Prison Break show info, Prison Break official site. Retrieved on September 13, 2007.</ref> Its theme music is composed by Ramin Djawadi, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2006.<ref>Emmy nominations in all categories Associated Press. July 6, 2006. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.</ref>

The show is currently in its third season. The uniqueness of Prison Break is attributed to its serialized story structure, a similar format used by Lost and 24, and to its setting, as very few television series were primarily set and filmed in a prison.<ref>"Inside Prison Break: Chain male" Sydney Morning Herald. February 1 2006. Retrieved on October 10 2006.</ref> Its success and recognition as a prison drama revived interest in the genre.

Production

Conception

The original concept of Prison Break—a man deliberately getting himself sent to prison in order to help someone else escape—was 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.<ref name=paley>Goldman, E., "Paley Fest: Prison Break", IGN. March 13 2007. Retrieved on March 23 2007.</ref> 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.<ref name=EWeekly>"Breaking Out Is Hard To Do" Entertainment Weekly. August 26 2005. Retrieved on December 5 2005.</ref> The pilot episode was filmed a year after Scheuring wrote the script and five months later, the show was picked up as a series.<ref name=worldscreen1>Daswani, M., Paul Scheuring, WorldScreen.com, April 2006. Retrieved on May 19 2007.</ref>

Casting

The 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."<ref name=smh1>Australian Associated Press, Prison Break success shocks creator, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 27 2006. Retrieved on May 19 2007.</ref> 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.<ref name=tvguidedvd>Prison Break DVD News, Season 2 Preview!. TV Guide. August 8 2006. Retrieved on September 17 2006.</ref>

Dominic Purcell was cast three days before the start of production and consequently, he was the last actor to join the original cast.<ref name=tvguidedvd/> 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 an amiable relationship with Fox. Hence, he was sent the pilot script of Prison Break.<ref name=paley/> 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.<ref name=smh1/>

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.<ref name=tvaddict>Prison Break Scoop Direct from the 2007 Paley Festival, TheTVAddict.com, March 10 2007. Retrieved on May 19 2007.</ref>

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. He has received many plaudits for his on screen performances.

Sarah Wayne Callies was the first actress the producers saw at the audition for the role of Sara Tancredi<ref name=tvguidedvd /> and was also the first to become a principal cast member.<ref name=dvdcommentary>Prison Break Season 1 DVD commentary - Riots, Drills and the Devil (Part 1)</ref> 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.<ref name=tvaddict/>

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

Filming locations

The majority of the first season of 'Prison Break' was filmed on location in Chicago.<ref name=chicagotribune>Ryan, M, "Joliet prison is a 'Break'-out star", The Chicago Tribune. August 24, 2005. Retrieved on December 5, 2005.</ref> 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.<ref name=ign-set-visit>Set Visit: Prison Break IGN. March 17, 2006. Retrieved on September 14, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name=chicagotribune /> 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.<ref name=ign-set-visit/> 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 2005.<ref name=chicagotribune />

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.<ref>Associated Press, "New 'Prison Break' to be filmed in Dallas" MSN. May 15, 2006. Retrieved on May 17, 2006.</ref> Locations within a 30-minute radius of Dallas were chosen which included Little Elm, Decatur and Mineral Wells.<ref>"A major production" Mineral Wells Index. September 14, 2006. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.</ref> Many of these locations were used to represent various American towns.<ref>"Getting out was the easy part: Season 2 of 'Prison Break'" Chicago Tribune. August 18, 2006. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.</ref> The show is expected to spend in excess of $50 million in Dallas.<ref name=dcvb>Dallas Welcomes Hit Television Series. Dallas Film Commission. May 15, 2006. Retrieved on January 17, 2007.</ref> For the final three episodes of the second season, filming took place in Pensacola, Florida to represent Panama.<ref>Moon, T., "'Prison Break' hits beach", Pensacola News Journal. Retrieved on April 2, 2007.</ref> Each episode takes eight days to film and approximately $1.4 million goes to the local economy per episode.<ref>Sayres, S, "Incentives Would Draw More Film, TV Productions", FOX 4 News. February 12, 2007. Retrieved on February 15, 2007.</ref>

The third season continues to be shot in Texas and has a budget of $3 million per episode.<ref>Weatherford, Angela, "A little bit of Hollywood", Athens Review, December 13, 2007. Retrieved on December 14, 2007.</ref>

Music

The theme music of Prison Break and the incidental music of each episode are composed by Ramin Djawadi. The score for the first two seasons is featured in the Prison Break: Original Television Soundtrack, which was released on August 28, 2007.<ref>Prison Break (Original Television Soundtrack), Amazon.com. Retrieved on December 13, 2007.</ref> Djawadi and Ferry Corsten produced a remix of the theme music entitled "Prison Break Theme (Ferry Corsten Breakout Mix)" as a single, which was released by Fox Music in 2006.

In France, rapper Faf Larage's song "Pas Le Temps" is used by television network M6 to replace the show's original theme music in the title sequence, which generated publicity and helped to localize the show.<ref>"Helping TV Hits Translate Overseas" Time October 17 2006. Retrieved on November 12 2006.</ref> Similarly, "Ich Glaub an Dich (Prison Break Anthem)" (performed by Azad and Adel Tawil) and "Prison Break Anthem" (performed by Kaye Styles) are used in the title sequence in Germany and Belgium respectively.

Plot and episodes

Main article: List of Prison Break episodes

Season 1 consists of 22 episodes. Lincoln Burrows is accused of the murder of Terrence Steadman, who is the brother of the 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 their lifelong friend 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.

Season 2 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".<ref name=dcvb /> 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 political conspiracy develops as The Company continues their plan to locate and eliminate Lincoln Burrows and others who get in their way. Though on the surface much of the storyline concerning the conspiracy concludes by the season finale, there are indications that both the role of The Company and that of Michael Scofield are far more complicated and interrelated than it appears.

Season 3 continues from the second season finale, where most of the main characters ended up in Panama. While Lincoln is exonerated from his alleged crimes, Michael is imprisoned at Sona Federal Prison facing a homicide charge with agent Mahone, T-Bag and Captain Bellick. They are coerced by The Company into helping fellow convict James Whistler escape in exchange for the release of Sara and LJ. 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".<ref name=showinfo/> Series creator Paul Scheuring has commented that the overall theme of it will be "redemption".<ref name=paley/>

Characters

Main article: List of Prison Break characters

Prison Break maintains an ensemble cast of ten or more actors for each season along with many recurring guest stars. The first season's regularly appearing characters include characters that were based in Chicago or at Fox River State Penitentiary. The second season contains most of the first season's cast with the inclusion of a new major character, an FBI agent whose job is to track down the eight escaped prisoners from Fox River. The third season, which is set in Panama, introduces four new characters; two of whom are prisoners at Penitenciaría Federal de Sona (Sona Federal Penitentiary). Most of the changes in the cast have been due to character deaths. Series creator, Paul Scheuring, explains that killing off major characters "makes the audience that much more fearful for our protagonists" and that "it actually does help us in terms of reducing story lines".<ref>Wyatt, Edward, "In 'Prison Break,' an Actor's Job Is Never Safe", The New York Times, August 20, 2006. Retrieved on September 13, 2007.</ref>

Principal characters

The series' protagonists are Lincoln Burrows (played by Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield (played by Wentworth Miller). Lincoln is a high school dropout and a convicted felon, who is wrongfully accused of and charged with the murder of the Vice President of the United States's brother Terrance Stedman. Michael is Lincoln's brother and worked as a structural engineer before devoting full-time to his brother's case. In order to save his brother's life, Michael creates an elaborate plan to help his brother escape from prison. Over the course of the series, Michael and Lincoln are shown to be protective of each other. They are the only characters to have appeared in every episode to date.

Veronica Donovan (played by Robin Tunney) is Michael and Lincoln's childhood friend and decides to review Lincoln's case at Michael's insistence. She becomes Lincoln's lawyer and appears as a major character in the first season.

L. J. Burrows (played by Marshall Allman) is the teenage son of Lincoln Burrows and is greatly affected by his father's death sentence. He is forced into hiding after he becomes the target of the people who want Lincoln dead.

The two most prominently featured prisoners who Michael meets at Fox River State Penitentiary are Fernando Sucre (played by Amaury Nolasco) and Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell (played by Robert Knepper). Sucre is Michael's cell-mate and provides comic relief to the show. His character's story focuses mainly on his wish to reunite with his girlfriend. Sucre develops a friendship with Michael and Lincoln, and becomes their ally. On the other hand, T-Bag is mainly seen as a villain in the series, due to his murderous ways and for blackmailing Michael to be included in the escape.

After he was incarcerated, John Abruzzi (played by Peter Stormare) became a prominent figure at Fox River State Penitentiary 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. He appears regularly in the first half of the first season and makes selected appearances towards the end of the first season and the beginning of the second season. Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin (played by Rockmond Dunbar) is introduced as a Fox River prisoner, who becomes suspicious of Michael. He later forces Michael to include him in the escape. Along with T-Bag, C-Note is seen as Michael's opponent in the first season, although he is a more sympathetic and likable character than T-Bag.

As well as other prisoners, Michael meets the captain of Fox River's correctional officers, Brad Bellick (played by Wade Williams) and the prison doctor, Sara Tancredi (played by Sarah Wayne Callies). Bellick dislikes Michael and causes trouble for him throughout the series. Sara is Michael's love interest. As their relationship develops over the course of the series, her role is also increased in the storyline.

Although Paul Kellerman (played by Paul Adelstein) was introduced as a Secret Service agent working for the Vice President to make sure that the execution of Lincoln Burrows goes smoothly, his character has alternated between a villain and an ally to Michael and Lincoln.

Season 2 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.This led to the exit of Robin Tunney's character Veronica Donovan and Peter Stormare's character John Abruzzi at the beginning of the season. Sara Tancredi rises to become an extremely major character in Season 2. At the end of the season, Paul Adelstein's character exited, his disappearance rumoured to be killed off.

After the exit of three main characters, Season 3 sees the addition of four major characters. Lechero (played by Robert Wisdom) is a prisoner at Sona and a Panamanian drug kingpin, James Whistler (played by Chris Vance) is incarcerated in Sona for the murder of the Mayor's son, Gretchen "Susan B. Anthony" (played by Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) is an operative for the company who is in charge of ensuring the escape of James Whistler and Sofia Lugo (played by Danay Garcia), who is Whistler's girlfriend. Sarah Wayne Callies' character Sara Tancredi was killed off in the season's fourth episode. Wentworth Miller later commented on Callies' departure as a "loss" to the series.<ref>"Clair exclusive behind-the-scenes report", November 17, 2007. Retrieved on November 30, 2007. Modèle:Fr icon</ref>

Recurring characters

Major recurring characters from the first season include Fox River's Warden Henry Pope (played by Stacy Keach), lawyer Nick Savrinn (played by Frank Grillo) and Charles Westmoreland (played by Muse Watson), a veteran of the prison having served 32 years. Michael believes he is D. B. Cooper and has hidden $5 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.<ref name=dvdcommentary /> One major recurring character, Bill Kim, was introduced in the second season as an operative of the Company who is ordered to oversee the actions of Mahone and Kellerman.

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. Steadman's sister, Caroline Reynolds (played by Patricia Wettig), was introduced as the Vice President of the United States in the first season and later becomes the President of the United States.

Nika Volek (played by Holly Valance) appears in the first two seasons as the wife of Michael Scofield.

Broadcast information

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. The first 17 minutes of the season three premiere was made available online for streaming by Fox on August 24, 2007 and was subsequently posted on various television media websites.<ref>Woodson, Alex, "Fox 'Break,' 'K-Ville' get Web peeks", The Hollywood Reporter, August 24, 2007. Retrieved on September 13, 2007.</ref> The third season premiered on September 17, 2007 and airs in its previous Monday 8:00 pm ET timeslot on Fox. Due to the Writers Guild of America strike, the show went on hiatus on November 12, 2007 and is scheduled to return on January 14, 2008.<ref> Levin , Gary

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Response

Ratings and critical reception

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.

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 1998. The two-hour premiere was credited as two episodes by the network.<ref>"'Prison' Breaks Strong for FOX" Zap2it.com. August 30, 2005. Retrieved on February 17, 2006.</ref> The premiere was the seventh most watched show in America that week according to Nielsen Research,<ref>The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research IMDb. Archive. Retrieved on February 17, 2006.</ref> ranking first in both the 18–49 and 18–34 demographics.<ref>"Everyone's watching Post-Katrina coverage". Variety. September 7, 2005. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.</ref> 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".<ref>"Jailhouse Heroes Are Hard to Find". The New York Times. August 29, 2005. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.</ref> Entertainment Weekly has dubbed it as one of the best new shows of 2005.<ref>"Get Caught Up On 'Prison Break'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.</ref> On the other hand, The Washington Post criticized the show for its "somber pretentiousness" and "uniformly overwrought" performances.<ref>"'Prison Break': Sharpen Up Those Spoons". The Washington Post. August 29 2005. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref>"Prison Break's big debut" The Age. February 2, 2006. Retrieved on February 17, 2006.</ref> Prison Break was originally planned for a 13-episode run, but was extended to include an extra nine episodes due to its popularity.<ref name=EWeekly />

The premiere of the second season of Prison Break obtained an average of 15.4 million viewers, down from 25.5 million for the series premiere in August 2005.<ref>"Premieres, finales falter" USA Today. August 29, 2006. Retrieved on August 31, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref>"Fox to Stream Prison Break, Vanished" Mediaweek.com. August 22, 2006. Retrieved on August 31, 2006.</ref> 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".<ref>"What to watch Monday". USA Today. August 27, 2006. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.</ref> 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."<ref>Fox tonight: Great return, so-so debut. Detroit Free Press. August 21, 2006. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.</ref> The second season obtained its largest audience on the original airdate of the episode, "Chicago" with an average of 10.1 million viewers.<ref name=futon>NBC, "NBC ratings results for the week of February 5–February 11", The Futon Critic. February 13, 2007. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.</ref> On the other hand, the season finale on its original airdate received one of the lowest audiences in the series' history with 8.01 million viewers.<ref>Broadcast TV Ratings for Monday, April 2, 2007, Entertainmentnow.wordpress.com. April 3, 2007. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.</ref> The premiere of the third season obtained an average of 7.51 million viewers, one of the lowest audiences in the series' history.<ref>"Weekly Program Rankings (Week of 9/17)," ABC Medianet, September 25, 2007. Retrieved on November 1, 2007.</ref>

Classification

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.<ref>"Worst TV Show of the Week". Parents Television Council. September 5, 2006. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.</ref> 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 and New Zealand, A+18 in Chile, PG in Hong Kong, 18PL in Malaysia, 12 in The Netherlands, PG13V in South Africa, 15 in the United Kingdom, and a PS rating in the Republic of Ireland. In France, the broadcasting watchdog, Conseil Supérieur 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.<ref>"'Prison' too violent?" Variety. November 21, 2006. Retrieved on November 21, 2006.</ref> To keep the original timeslot, French broadcasters M6 used censorship on the most violent scenes for season 2 and also produced a disclaimer before airing each episode in primetime.

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.

Alleged copyright infringement

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.<ref>"Fox Accused of Stealing Prison Break E!. October 24, 2006. Retrieved on October 26, 2006.</ref><ref>"Suit Alleges `Prison Break' Idea Stolen" San Francisco Chronicle. October 24, 2006. Retrieved on October 26, 2006.</ref>

Spin-off

In the midst of the show's third season, Fox ordered a script of a possible spin-off of the show, which is tentatively titled Prison Break: Cherry Hill. It is being written by Prison Break's executive producer Matt Olmstead and co-executive producer Zack Estrin. The series will be set at a women's prison and focuses on a character named Molly, who will be introduced in the third season of Prison Break.<ref>Andreeva, Nellie, "Fox eyes break for women's 'Prison'", The Hollywood Reporter, October 24, 2007. Retrieved on November 13, 2007.</ref>

Distribution

Television

Prison Break has been aired in other countries around the world including non-English speaking countries. Canada has the same schedule as the United States via Global TV's simulcast. Prison Break was the only new television series to be positioned in the top 20 television shows of 2005/2006 in Canada, achieving an average of 876,000 in the key demographic of 18–49 and 1.4 million viewers nationally for its first season.<ref>Global Television Ratings CNW Telbec. September 18, 2006. Retrieved on October 1, 2006.</ref> During its second season, the show has consistently retained the highest number of viewers in its timeslot in Canada.

Oceania

With the success in North America, Prison Break premiered on Australian television network Seven on February 1, 2006 to an average audience of 1.94 million, as well as making its peak at 2.09 million viewers.<ref>"Prison nabs viewers" News.com.au. February 2, 2006. Retrieved on February 17, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref>Seven dominates television in 2006 Seven Network. December 4, 2006. Retrieved on December 6, 2006.</ref> The popularity of the first season of the show was also evident in New Zealand, where Prison Break won the People's Choice Award for Favourite New Television Drama.<ref>Prison Break, TV3. Retrieved on May 22, 2007.</ref>

The second season, promoted by Australia's Seven 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).<ref>"Heroes and Prison Break Deliver for Seven" World Screen February 2, 2007. Retrieved on February 3, 2007.</ref> With ratings dropping consistently throughout the second season, Seven decided to air the Season 3 episodes as close as a day after their U.S. airdates in an effort to win back viewers before their release on DVDs or the internet.<ref>Dunn, E., "Cult shows air sooner to curb downloads", The Sydney Morning Herald, June 27, 2007. Retrieved on July 11, 2007.</ref> Despite Seven's attempts to draw in extra viewers, the premiere received only 899,000 viewers, ranking as the eighteenth most watched show of the night,<ref>Seven - Daily Ratings Report Seven Network. September 27, 2007. Retrieved on September 30, 2007.</ref> and Wednesday nights soon became Seven's "Achilles' heel" of the week.<ref>Triumphs: Funny how ratings work SMH Online. October 26, 2007. Retrieved on October 26, 2007.</ref>

Europe

The first season initially premiered in the UK on Channel 4, but due to poor viewer ratings the program rights were sold to Five, who repeated the series from the very start. Prior to the start of the third season, Sky One acquired the rights to broadcast Prison Break, paying £500,000 per episode.<ref>Sweney, Mark, "Sky One snatches Prison Break" The Guardian, June 5, 2007. Retrieved on November 14, 2007.</ref>

The series premiered in France on August 31, 2006 with an average of 5.5 million viewers (25.8% share).<ref>Prison Break, la série phénomène, crée l'événement sur M6 M6 September 1, 2006. Retrieved on November 12, 2006. Modèle:Fr icon</ref> 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.<ref>"VOD Rollout for Prison Break in France" World Screen October 10, 2006. Retrieved on November 12, 2006.</ref> The last episode of the first season and the first episode of the second season aired to 7.5 million viewers (29.0% share) on November 8, 2006, making it one of the most watched programs for the 2006 year in France.<ref>1ère chaîne avec Prison Break M6 November 9, 2006. Retrieved on November 12, 2006. Modèle:Fr icon</ref> The second season premiered on September 13, 2007 to 5.3 million viewers (21.3% share).<ref>Audience Prison break : retour gagnant pour M6 Le Blog TV News September 14, 2007. Retrieved on September 22, 2007. Modèle:Fr icon</ref>. The third season premiered on November 29, 2007.

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).<ref>Prison Break on Polsat, WirtualneMedia. January 30, 2007. Retrieved on February 14, 2007. Modèle:Pl icon</ref>

Although Prison Break was much publicized in Germany, it premiered to a lower-than-expected audience on June 21, 2007 with only 13.5% market share, which was well below television network RTL Television's regularly strong prime-time performance. 1.32 million viewers were recorded among the 14 to 49 years old demographic. After the reduction to one episode per week and a shifting to a later time slot, Prison Break gained a market share of 19.2%.<ref>Meza, E., "'Heroes' heads to Germany", Variety, June 29, 2007. Retrieved on July 3, 2007.</ref>

Asia

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%).<ref>"59萬觀眾睇《逃》結局 創英文台收視紀錄", Yahoo! News. January 23, 2007. Retrieved on March 17, 2007. Modèle:Zh icon</ref> 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.<ref>"《逃2》首播搶走31萬觀眾", Yahoo! News. March 8, 2007. Retrieved on March 17, 2007. Modèle:Zh icon</ref> 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.<ref>"Prison Break popular in China even though it's illegal", BuddyTV. April 3, 2007. Retrieved on April 4, 2007.</ref>

DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases

Main article: Prison Break DVD releases

So far, the DVD sets have been released shortly before the television premiere of the new season in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. In the UK, the seasons have been split into halves with the first half released during that season's initial run.

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At the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment announced that the complete first season of Prison Break was to be released in the Blu-ray Disc format in early 2007.<ref>"CES 2007: 24, Prison Break Hit Blu-ray". IGN. January 8, 2007. Retrieved on January 10, 2007.</ref> The release date was later announced to be November 13, 2007 and Prison Break became the first TV show to be released on Blu-ray Disc by Fox. The Blu-ray Disc box set contains six discs and includes all the DVD box set's special features.<ref>Lambert, David, "Prison Break - Exclusive Info for Season Sets on Blu-ray: Date, Cost, Contents, Specs", TVShowsOnDVD.com, September 5, 2007. Retrieved on September 13, 2007.</ref>

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 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.<ref>"Fox frees Prison Break without ads". C21Media. August 23, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name=msn>Fox Shows on MySpace During MLB Playoffs The Associated Press. October 4, 2006. Retrieved October 6, 2006.</ref>

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 spin-off 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.<ref>Prison Break: The Classified FBI Files, Simon & Schuster. Retrieved March 16, 2007.</ref>

There is also a live attraction called "Prison Break LIVE!" which is an exhilarating, live, interactive scare experience bringing to life the intense atmosphere from the television series. The 'prison' includes a holding cell, followed by a disorientating chain link cage maze, filled with dynamic audio and strobe lighting, intense and scary special effects, plus a cast of very hungry inmates. This show is currently touring worldwide.

References

External links

Modèle:Wikiquote

• Prison Break Official Website
• Prison Break DVD - Official DVD website
• Prison Break on FOX ON DEMAND - Watch recent episodes for free
• Prison Break Parodies
• Official Magazine
• Official site of Prison Break LIVE!
• Prison Break: The Movie

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