QUOTE
Last year it was Fox's Break out hit. This season, will new fans come aboard?
That was the question put to Paul Scheuring, executive producer of Fox's Prison Break. Speaking this week at the TV Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena, California, Scheuring said that he is confident new fans can catch up.
"We purposely constructed the first episode [of season two] in a way that you can catch up with everything," Scheuring told the assembled TV press. "Certainly, the first season informs the second very very much."
Scheuring said returning viewers should expect to see the prison, even though the convicts escaped at the end of season one.
"We will see the prison, there are some dynamics there that are not yet finished," he said. "[But] the prison really starts to fade away."
He added that the ability to film inside famed prison Joliet added to the show's realism in season one, but "the conceit of this series is that it is a very finite concept."
The producer said he didn't want to redo what viewers had already seen in season one. He promised the second season will have even more action and all-new thrills for fans.
"We will not see a rehash of season one where these guys all end up back in the prison in episode three and go, 'Now we've got to think of another way out of here,'" he joked. "Season two is a complete reinventon."
William Fichtner, who recently starred as an alien-possessed sherriff in the cancelled ABC series Invasion, is joining the cast of Prison Break this season as a prison guard. Scheuring says Fichtner's character will straddle light and dark.
"One of the things we try to do...is give all the characters, you know--let them inhabit a grey area," the TV producer said. "It will be the same with Bill's character. His pursuit is noble, but some of the things about him are less than noble."
Scheuring also said Patricia Wettig, who played the vice president in season one, might be back despite her role on a new ABC series Brothers and Sisters.
"She's not out of the picture," he assured. "Let's just put it that way."
Mr. Scheuring also assured fans that the conspiracy storyline from season one will remain a part of the show, but it will take a backseat to more pressing issues.
"We're not going to table [the conspiracy] because we think it's something that we owe," he informed. "But I do think that, in the early part of the season, it's going to be about the immediacy of having to get the hell away from the pursuit."
Prison Break returns to Fox August 21.
That was the question put to Paul Scheuring, executive producer of Fox's Prison Break. Speaking this week at the TV Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena, California, Scheuring said that he is confident new fans can catch up.
"We purposely constructed the first episode [of season two] in a way that you can catch up with everything," Scheuring told the assembled TV press. "Certainly, the first season informs the second very very much."
Scheuring said returning viewers should expect to see the prison, even though the convicts escaped at the end of season one.
"We will see the prison, there are some dynamics there that are not yet finished," he said. "[But] the prison really starts to fade away."
He added that the ability to film inside famed prison Joliet added to the show's realism in season one, but "the conceit of this series is that it is a very finite concept."
The producer said he didn't want to redo what viewers had already seen in season one. He promised the second season will have even more action and all-new thrills for fans.
"We will not see a rehash of season one where these guys all end up back in the prison in episode three and go, 'Now we've got to think of another way out of here,'" he joked. "Season two is a complete reinventon."
William Fichtner, who recently starred as an alien-possessed sherriff in the cancelled ABC series Invasion, is joining the cast of Prison Break this season as a prison guard. Scheuring says Fichtner's character will straddle light and dark.
"One of the things we try to do...is give all the characters, you know--let them inhabit a grey area," the TV producer said. "It will be the same with Bill's character. His pursuit is noble, but some of the things about him are less than noble."
Scheuring also said Patricia Wettig, who played the vice president in season one, might be back despite her role on a new ABC series Brothers and Sisters.
"She's not out of the picture," he assured. "Let's just put it that way."
Mr. Scheuring also assured fans that the conspiracy storyline from season one will remain a part of the show, but it will take a backseat to more pressing issues.
"We're not going to table [the conspiracy] because we think it's something that we owe," he informed. "But I do think that, in the early part of the season, it's going to be about the immediacy of having to get the hell away from the pursuit."
Prison Break returns to Fox August 21.
