Prison Break

On Monday I watched the first two back-to-back episodes of Fox's new drama Prison Break. I heard that Fox was trying to loosely use the successful format of 24... but it actually seemed to steal every character from The Shawshank Redemption, but make it "grittier":

The 2 main characters are a mix of Tim Robbins, one is wrongly accused, strong and silent, the other is clever enough to both make the right friends as well as to find a way to escape.

There was the Morgan Freeman guy who could get anything you wanted, who seems like he will be a friend to the Tim Robbins guy.

There was the old guy with the pet (this time a cat instead of a bird).

There were the crazy perverted white guy who wants to beat you into submission (literally.)

And the list goes on....

I supposed the question we must ask is: Is the "street" version of the Shawshank Redeption just as good? The answer is simple: No. However, its still better than most dramas on TV, and even though all the main character does is glare and make "I'm Intense" faces for the whole hour, (similar to the face Andy Petite makes right before he pitches), he's pretty good-looking, so I didn't mind watching. I'll keep watching for the season as long as it doesn't conflict with any of my regular shows.

High Point: The plot is pretty interesting, as long as the bad acting doesn't get in the way.
Low Point: The side plot with the ex-girlfriend also investigating the wrongly accused brother is pretty lame. I think its trying to give the show depth outside the prison scenes - but it doesn't work.