Prison Break

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This article is about a television series. For the act of escaping prison, see prison escape.
Prison Break

Prison Break season 3 intertitle
Format Action
Thriller
Drama
Created by Paul Scheuring
Starring Season 4 cast:
Dominic Purcell
Wentworth Miller
Amaury Nolasco
Wade Williams
Robert Knepper
Chris Vance
Sarah Wayne Callies
Danay Garcia
and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe
with William Fichtner
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Language(s) English
Spanish
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 57 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Marty Adelstein (2005-)
Neal H. Moritz (2005-)
Dawn Parouse (2005-)
Brett Ratner (2005-)
Paul Scheuring (2005-)
Matt Olmstead (2005-)
Kevin Hooks (2006-)
Michael Pavone (2005)
Co-executive producer:
Zack Estrin (2005-)
Nick Santora (2005-)
Michael W. Watkins (2005-)
Producer(s) Garry A. Brown (2005-)
Co-producer:
Ellen Marie Blum (2005-)
Karyn Usher (2005-)
Location(s) Chicago:
Chicago, Illinois
Joliet Prison - Collins Street, Joliet, Illinois

O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois
Woodstock, Illinois
Texas:
Dallas, Texas
Frisco, Texas
Greenville, Texas
Ontario:
Toronto, Ontario
California:
Los Angeles, California
Running time 40/60 minutes (plus commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel FOX
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
720p (HDTV) FOX HD
1080i (HDTV)

SKY HD, Seven HD, TV3 (New Zealand)
Audio format Surround sound
Original run August 29, 2005 – Present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Prison Break is a Golden Globe and Emmy nominated American action/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 Scheuring, Matt Olmstead, Kevin Hooks, Marty Adelstein, Dawn Parouse, Neal Moritz, and Brett Ratner.[1] Its theme music is composed by Ramin Djawadi, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2006.[2]

The show recently concluded its shorter third season, that only consisted of 13 episodes. A fourth season of 22 episodes has been confirmed by FOX as of March 25, 2008. Season 4 has been confirmed to have a 2 hour season premiere on September 1, 2008

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.[3]

Contents

[edit] Production

[edit] Conception

The original concept of Prison Break—a man deliberately getting himself sent to prison in order to help someone else (his brother, in this case) 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.[4] 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.[5] The pilot episode was filmed a year after Scheuring wrote the script and five months later, the show was picked up as a commercial.[6]

[edit] Casting

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."[7] 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.[8]

Dominic Purcell was cast three days before the start of production and consequently, he was the last actor to join the original cast.[8] 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.[4] 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.[7]

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.[9]

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[8] and was also the first to become a principal cast member.[10] 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.[9]

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, respectively.

[edit] Filming locations

The majority of the first season of 'Prison Break' was filmed on location in Chicago.[11] 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.[12] Lincoln's cell is the same one in which John Wayne Gacy was incarcerated. Most of the production crew refused to enter the cell, thinking that it was haunted.[11] 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.[12] 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.[11]

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.[13] Locations within a 30-minute radius of Dallas were chosen which included Little Elm, Decatur and Mineral Wells.[14] Many of these locations were used to represent various American towns.[15] The show is expected to spend in excess of $50 million in Dallas.[16] For the final three episodes of the second season, filming took place in Pensacola, Florida to represent Panama.[17] Each episode takes eight days to film and approximately $1.4 million goes to the local economy per episode.[18]

The third season was shot in Texas and had a budget of $3 million per episode.[19] Several of the exterior scenes with Lincoln and Gretchen negotiating the escape from the Panama jail were shot in the Casco Viejo quarter of Panama City.

The fourth season is being taped in Los Angeles, California. The first episode of the fourth season will be a two-hour special episode.

[edit] 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.[20] 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 Europe, rapper Faf Larage's song "Pas Le Temps" is used by television network M6 in France to replace the show's original theme music in the title sequence, which generated publicity and helped to localize the show.[21] Similarly, "Ich glaub' an Dich (Prison Break Anthem)" (performed by Azad and Adel Tawil) and "Prison Break Anthem" are used in the title sequence in Germany and Belgium respectively.

[edit] Plot and episodes

Main article: List of Prison Break episodes
Promotional photo of Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows.
Promotional photo of Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows.

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. Michael, and his brother Lincoln, along with six other inmates finally escaped in the season finale.

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". 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. In the season finale Michael ends up being sent back to prison in Panama, and Lincoln is exonerated of all his crimes.

Season 3 consists of 13 episodes, and continues from the second season finale, where most of the main characters ended up in Panama. While Lincoln Burrows is exonerated from his alleged crimes, Michael Scofield is imprisoned at Sona Federal Prison facing a homicide charge. Alexander Mahone, Theodore Bagwell, and Brad Bellick have also been incarcerated at Sona for various crimes in Panama. Michael and Lincoln are coerced by The Company into helping fellow convict James Whistler escape in exchange for the release of Sara and LJ. After a few failed attempts, Michael finally manages to break Whistler out of Sona (along with Mahone and friend, Luis Gallego). Though Lechero, Bagwell, and Bellick were in on the escape, they didn't make it out. The season ends with LJ being traded for Whistler, Sucre being thrown in Sona, and Michael wanting to get revenge of Sara's death. Series creator Paul Scheuring has stated the overall theme of it is "redemption".[4] Season 3 was originally scheduled to consist of 22 episodes, however due to the WGA strike this was cut short to 13.

Season 4 has been officially picked up by FOX.[22], which will premier on September 1, 2008 with a two-hour special episode [23] and consist of 22 episodes. Dr. Sara Tancredi, who was thought to be decapitated in season 3, will be making a return as a regular cast member in season 4.[24]

[edit] 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".[25]

Season 1 promotional photograph of the Prison Break cast.
Season 1 promotional photograph of the Prison Break cast.

[edit] Main 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 Terence Steadman, the brother of the Vice President of the United States. 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. T-Bag is a cunning sociopath, consistently underestimated by those around him.

After he is incarcerated, John Abruzzi (played by Peter Stormare) becomes 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. Like T-Bag, he later forces Michael to include him in the escape, although he is more sympathetic and likeable compared to T-Bag.

As well as other prisoners, Michael meets the captain of Fox River's correctional officers, Brad Bellick (played by Wade Williams), who dislikes Michael and causes trouble for him throughout the series.

Dr. Sara Tancredi (played by Sarah Wayne Callies), the prison doctor, takes a liking to Michael, and eventually in the narrative becomes his love interest. Tancredi is the daughter of the Governor of the state of Illinois, who is linked into the plot that brings Lincoln (and Michael) to Fox River, and eventually switches to Michael's side, aiding his escape and ultimately joining them on the run.

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, apparently assassinated.

After the exit of 3 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" Morgan (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) is Whistler's girlfriend. Sarah Wayne Callies' character Sara Tancredi was thought to have been killed in the season's fourth episode, although due to "fan backlash" she will return in the fourth season.[26]

[edit] 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), Special Agent Daniel Hale (played by Danny McCarthy), a secret service operative loyal to the conspiracy 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.[10] 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 after poisioning the former president.

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

In the first 10 episodes from the third season Sammy (played by Laurence Mason) was a recurring character as one of Lechero's lieutenants.

McGrady (played by Carlo Alban), another inmate at Sona, was featured in all thirteen season three episodes.

[edit] 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.[27] The third season premiered on September 17, 2007 and aired until February 18, 2008. Due to the Writers Guild of America strike, the show went on hiatus on November 12, 2007 and returned on January 14, 2008.[28]

On March 24, 2008 it was announced that Prison Break had been renewed for a 4th season consisting of 22 episodes. [29] The two-hour season premiere will air September 1st, 2008.

[edit] Response

[edit] 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.

Season Broadcast period Timeslot Ranking Viewers (in millions)
1 2005–2006 Monday 21:00 ET
(20:00 ET mid-season)		 #55 12.1[30]
2 2006–2007 Monday 20:00 ET #51 10.1[31]
3 2007–2008 Monday 20:00 ET #68 8.1[32]

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.[33] The premiere was the seventh most watched show in America that week according to Nielsen Research,[34] ranking first in both the 18–49 and 18–34 demographics.[35] 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".[36] Entertainment Weekly has dubbed it as one of the best new shows of 2005.[37] On the other hand, The Washington Post criticized the show for its "somber pretentiousness" and "uniformly overwrought" performances.[38] 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.[39] Prison Break was originally planned for a 13-episode run, but was extended to include an extra nine episodes due to its popularity.[5]

The premiere of the second season of Prison Break obtained an average of 9.4 million viewers.[40] 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.[41] 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".[42] 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."[43] The second season obtained its largest audience on the original airdate of the episode, "Chicago" with an average of 10.1 million viewers.[44] 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.[45] The premiere of the third season obtained an average of 7.51 million viewers, one of the lowest audiences in the series' history.[46]

[edit] 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.[47] 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 for the DVD release, 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.[48] 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.

In Greece, the first season of the show was broadcasted with the rating "Necessary Parental Advice", while the second season is broadcasted with the rating "Optional Parental Advice", concerning the official classification of TV programs in Greece for the protection of TV viewers.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.[49][50]

[edit] Distribution

[edit] Television

Prison Break has been aired in countries around the world including non-English speaking countries.

[edit] North America

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.[51] During its second season, the show has consistently retained the highest number of viewers in its timeslot in Canada.

[edit] 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.[52] 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.[53] 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.[54]

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).[55] 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.[56] 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,[57] and Wednesday nights soon became Seven's "Achilles' heel" of the week.[58] Episodes 9 to 13 of the third season will air during the first half of 2008 while repeats are shown on the Australian pay television channel FOX8.

[edit] Europe

The first season initially premiered in the UK on Five. Prior to the start of the third season, Sky One acquired the rights to broadcast Prison Break, paying £500,000 per episode.[59] In the UK, the latest Prison Break Episodes air one week after the world premier. In Ireland Prison Break airs on RTÉ Two a day after it airs in the USA. The series premiered in France on August 31, 2006 with an average of 5.5 million viewers (25.8% share).[60] 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.[61] 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.[62] The second season premiered on September 13, 2007 to 5.3 million viewers (21.3% share).[63]. 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).[64]

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%.[65] In Spain Prison Break airs on FOX and La Sexta.

In Greece Prison Break airs on ANT1 Channel. It premiered on January 2, 2008 with a double episode, with a respectively good market share of 23,8% (769.000 viewers). Prison Break succeeded where other famous TV-series, like Desperate Housewives, did not. The series is being aired daily with about 20% share per episode, which is unusual for foreign shows on Greek television as in the last few years only four other foreign TV series have achieved similar shares, (Friends, Nip/Tuck, Lost and Yabanci Damat). The second day of the air of the series, it reached an impressive share of 26,1% (870.000 viewers) and reached the third place of the most popular programmes of the day and the 14th place of the most popular programmes of the week. The last episode of the first season aired February 5, 2008 to nearly 900.000 viewers.[66]. It's the second foreign series which gained so many viewers in Greece (the first one is Yabanci Damat). The breakout shares of the series opened the route to some other famous TV series, to be aired again. For example, the first airing of Lost in Greece was disappointing, whereas after the great success of Prison Break, it was better promoted and achieved far better shares. The second season of the series, premiered on March 17, 2008 with a market share of 20,1% [67].

Prison Break aired in Slovakia on January 28, 2007.

[edit] 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%).[68] 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.[69] However, the largest of number of viewers watching the second season was only 402,000. 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.[70] Season 1 of Prison Break was telecasted in India on Star World on Tuesday nights in the summer of 2007 and soon became a popular series.

[edit] Africa

Prison Break premiered in South Africa on M-Net on Tuesday 17 January 2006. It premiered on M-Net Series on DStv on Monday 2 October 2006, at 20h00. Season 2 Premiere: Tuesday 6 March 2007, at 20h30 M-Net,Season 3 Premiere: Tuesday 5 February 2008, at 20h30 M-Net. The show is shown on a pay channel & has seen high ratings. All 3 seasons have been a success it's one of the channels much advertised shows. The series began showing on SABC3 on Thursday 08 May 2008. The second season of the show is also currently airing on Kenya Television Network.

[edit] 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.

DVDs Episodes Discs Release dates
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Season One 22 6 August 8, 2006[71] September 18, 2006[72] September 13, 2006[73]
Season Two 22 6 September 4, 2007[74] August 20, 2007[75] September 17, 2007[76]
Season Three 13 4 August 26, 2008 May 19, 2008[77]

At the 2009 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.[78] 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.[79]

For unknown reasons, Season 2 has not been released in Blu-ray format. Season 3 however, will be released on Blu-ray. It is possible to order it from Amazon. A DVD set containing all three seasons was released on May 19th in Region 2.

[edit] 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.[80] 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.[81]

The show can also be watched on Hulu; however, only the five most recently broadcast episodes can be found on that site.

[edit] 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.[82]

There was also a live feature called "Prison Break LIVE!" which was an interactive experience aimed at bringing to life the atmosphere from the television series. The attraction toured the US, Australia, UK, China, Germany and Mexico from 2006 to 2008.[83]

[edit] Spin-off

Hollywood Reporter revealed that Prison Break is to get its attempt at a spin-off, where it is set in a female prison.[84] The spin-off is tentatively titled "Prison Break: Cherry Hill". [85]

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

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Prison Break
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