JJ Abrams to make another TV show about an island

[Temis the Vorta]

A real one this time, with fewer smoke monsters and a lot more tourists: Alcatraz!

Doesn't sound sf/f, but it might have light genre elements.

Alcatraz is described as "a show about mysteries, secrets and the most infamous prison of all time: Alcatraz."

Is it going to be a historical drama set when the prison was running, or a contemporary drama about the island as a national monument? If the latter, they'll definitely have to amp up the ghostly balderdash.

It's not a very big island and frankly my dears, it's not even very interesting. The best thing about it is the incredible views since you're right in the middle of the bay. I think they should just bulldoze those crumbling, ugly-ass buildings and turn it into a lovely park but I know they make boatloads of money from tourists so forget about that.

 

[Aragorn]

Is it going to be a historical drama set when the prison was running, or a contemporary drama about the island as a national monument?

Why can't it be both with flashbacks, flash forwards and flash sideways?

 

[Jetfire]

This is full of fail unless it is like The Shawshank Redemption.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It might switch off between something like a gangster drama in the 30s where someone gets murdered by their cellmate, and the present-day when their ghost is running around scaring tourists. Hopefully it won't be as silly in execution as I'm making it sound.

 

[Agent Richard07]

This is full of fail unless it is like The Shawshank Redemption.

Prison Break!

 

[Jetfire]

^
Meh. The first season and some of the second was good.

 

[Aragorn]

This is full of fail unless it is like The Shawshank Redemption.

The Rock has been taken over by terrorists, and the only man who's ever successfully broken out must break back in -- Andy Dufresne!

 

[Starbreaker]

Starring The Rock?

 

[Robert D. Robot]

I had heard that the show was actually going to be J.J.'s reboot of "Gilligan's Island".......

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Titus Welliver would be perfect for this. Watched him on the Kevin Pollack Chat show, he does an amazing Christopher Walken and Al Pacino.

 

[OmahaStar]

The last time JJ came out with a new show, it was also compared (unfavorably) to Lost. There was an airplane, a crash, "mysterious elements" and the like, and was something like 10 million bucks for the pilot episode. That show, Fringe, is now going into its third season. Beyond the superficial elements in the pilot, it has nothing to do with Lost. I somehow don't think he's a one-trick pony.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I like prison dramas, so if that is what this is, I'll most likely give it a chance.

 

[Jetfire]

Unless it is LOST on Alcatraz!!!

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

I agree, Felicity to Lost to Fringe to the upcoming Undercovers to Alcatraz and there was another one in the works but I forget the premise, but all appear to be real different from each other. Abrams got range, I'm sure he'll stick around first season to get things started and hand over the reigns and take off like he usually does.

To say he's this generations Speilberg in terms of range from project to project, would that be a stretch?

 

[PsychoPere]

[...] there was another one in the works but I forget the premise [...]

HBO medical drama Anatomy of Hope, perhaps?

To say he's this generations Speilberg in terms of range from project to project, would that be a stretch?

Abrams certainly is prolific and most of his output is of quality, though I'm not sure I'd agree with that statement (to be honest, I'm not all that big on Spielberg). In any event, some critics have also made this comparison and Abrams certainly remains a name to watch in television and film.

 

[Samurai8472]

Everyone in the show is dead. We've been following ghosts that roam Alcatraz.

I'm calling it.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Titus Welliver would be perfect for this. Watched him on the Kevin Pollack Chat show, he does an amazing Christopher Walken and Al Pacino.

Have you seen those comedy videos he made with Mark Pellegrino? Those guys are both incredibly talented and funny!

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Danny Cannon to direct the pilot

Danny Cannon has come on board to direct Fox's drama pilot Alcatraz. The gig marks Cannon's first collaboration with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot, which is co-producing the pilot with Warner Bros. TV. Cannon, who made his TV directing debut on the pilot for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced CSI, has worked primarily with the WBTV-based Bruckheimer TV. His most notable effort on a non-Bruckheimer-produced project came last spring when he directed and executive produced the CW/WBTV pilot Nikita.

November 12, 2010
http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/several-television-pilots-land-directors
/

Alcatraz," has been picked up to pilot by the network with a production order.

'Alcatraz' Drama Picked Up To Pilot At Fox

 

[Jax]

^ Fox has no room though? I can't even fit the shows they already have + new ones already confirmed to come on there 2011-2012 lineup. Fox picking up a new J.J show would kill Fringe IMO.

 

[PsychoPere]

First piece of casting is out, and it's a familiar face from Lost: Jorge Garcia!

[The show] centers on a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day. It chronicles the efforts of a team of FBI agents to track them down and unravel the mystery behind their disappearance thirty years prior. Garcia will play the hippy geek Dr. Diego Soto, the world's foremost expert on Alcatraz.