Two out of three ain't bad: J.J. Abrams – who swung and missed last fall with short-lived spy romance Undercovers after co-creating sci-fi gems Fringe and Lost – takes another shot at prime time TV with Alcatraz.
The new series, set to debut in a few months as a mid-season replacement on Fox, smashes together prison-break and time-warp genres with a mythology arc that begins in 1963, when 302 very bad men vanished from the infamous island prison in San Francisco Bay. Cut to 2011: Alcatraz escapees start turning up in public looking no older than they did 48 years earlier.
The first Alcatraz teaser clip, embedded above, hints that a "soft black bag" will drive the drama early on. The cliffhanging hook: An awful lot of time-traveling convicts wait in the wings. Warns one crime-fighter, portrayed by Sarah Jones: "They're all coming back."
Sam Neill plays the mysterious government honcho. Jorge Garcia, who played Hurley on Lost, co-stars. See Alcatraz stills of Garcia, Jones and Neill in the gallery above.
Photos: James Dittiger/Fox, except where noted.
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