Rock On

Tonight was the debut of the new TV series Alcatraz. It has been billed as the latest from J.J. Abrams, though that's really stretching the facts. It's actually the brainchild of some former writers on Lost (including one who has already left Alcatraz over creative differences), and produced by Abrams' production company, Bad Robot.

That's not the only Lost connection here, of course. Actor Jorge Garcia (who played Hurley) is one of the co-stars. Abrams' "resident composer," Michael Giacchino, provided the music for the pilot episode. And yes, if you want to get completely superficial, it's a show about mysterious things happening on an island.

If you're not up on the premise, it's actually quite simple. The fact that Alcatraz prison was closed in 1963 due to budget cutbacks is "revealed" to be a fabrication. Instead, every single person on the island -- inmate and guard -- simply vanished without a trace one night. And now, nearly 50 years later, the missing prisoners are reappearing -- not having aged a day -- and resuming their criminal activities.

In its first two hours, Alcatraz managed to set forth its own identity and clearly lay out the picture of what it's going to be as a show. And it's a pretty damn interesting one, I think. In a nutshell, I'd say this show is going to deliver on the promise and potential that I thought Person of Interest would have this season. Alcatraz is ultimately a procedural crime show. Every week seems set up to be about our heroes catching the criminal of the week. It is an ongoing mystery just how these people have been moved through time, and what the motivation for such an event might be. A tantalizing backdrop, I'd say, but it's clearly not meant to dominate the proceedings.

The cast seems quite good, based on the first two hours. Jorge Garcia is playing a goofy and instantly lovable characters that on some levels is very much like Hurley, though he's also a much more knowledgeable and intellectual character. Veteran actor Sam Neill is the secretive head of the operation to track down the criminals, and has a history with Alcatraz himself. His character seems perhaps too much a cold-blooded cipher at the moment, though I imagine he will be fleshed out into less of a caricature if the show catches on. As for the rest of cast, there aren't any faces I'm familiar with, though they do seem well matched to their roles.

Of course, there's one more "star" of the show -- the prison itself. Having just been to the real Alcatraz myself only months ago, I can say that from what I saw, the prison has been recreated in very impressive detail. Yes, the pilot, with a larger budget, clearly filmed some exterior scenes on the real island itself. But the interiors are definitely on a stage, as Alcatraz is depicted in both the 1960s and in present day. And while the show certainly takes some liberties with what they claim is under the prison, the cell block itself, the mess hall, and other key locations, look just like the real thing. Excellent work.

I takes a lot for me to want to bring another crime procedural into my weekly TV schedule; the channels are littered with them. But I found Alcatraz interesting enough to bring on. I looking forward to next week.