How Fox Network Can Save And Revive Prison Break

Jody Lynne O'Keefe as Gretchen Morgan/Susan B. Anthony


Pretty solid rumor has it this will be the last season for Prison Break, which is a shame, but understandable, seeing as how it consistently loses viewers with each successive season. It is the fourth rated show now in its night and time slot, Monday at 9:00 p.m. on Fox. It is also easy for me to see why it is losing viewers. I also see how the show could be saved and revamped to become yet the ratings success it was in its first season. Since this show has since its inception remained by favorite network program, I offer this advice to Fox Network and the writers and other staff of Prison Break. It should be obvious, but-wait for it-

THE COMPANY HAS TO GO.

Alright now, seriously folks, think about this. The show was conceived as an action/suspense/mystery series about a genius architect who arranges his own incarceration within the same prison wherein his brother is about to be wrongfully executed for a murder he did not commit. His intentions are, simply, to break his brother out of prison and in the meantime, hopefully, prove his innocence.

The first season ended with the break-out of the two, accompanied by others who either were intentionally invited to be part of the plan through some necessity, or who in some way discovered the plot and demanded to be let in on it.

The second season revealed more of the truth about the mysterious "Company" who framed Lincoln Burrows, and why they did so.

There was a brief return to a prison-a Panamanian hellhole-in season three, where Michael was forced this time to actually do the Company's bidding.

Now, we are in season four, and Michael Scoffied, along with brother Linc, and a team of other series regulars, have banded together to bring down the Company, once and for all.

So do we see now the reason for the gradual and growing lack of interest? The Company has turned into one of those plot devices that exist solely for the purpose of churning out yet another episode, in the minds of many viewers. And, like it or not, they have had enough-more than enough-of the Company.

Look at it from this perspective. Suppose that, at the end of Season One, Scoffied, Burrows, and the rest of the "Fox River Eight" had not broken out of Fox River. What if they had remained stuck in that prison, season after season, many times almost but never quite getting there? Maybe Lincoln might succeed in having his sentence commuted to life imprisonment-a necessity after so long under such a scenario-but nothing else is ever accomplished.

Yeah, it would have gotten old real quick, wouldn't it? Well, so it goes with the Company. They need to finally get the justice they deserve. Then, there can be a new villain or foes, another organization, with different kind of plots involving using Scoffields expertise in understanding the criminal mind. Say for example he is tapped by some government agency to help track a sadistic group of prison escapees who happen to be some kind of domestic terrorist group.

Maybe at one point Scoffield might find himself incarcerated in a prison for the criminally insane. Perhaps he might be sent undercover in a prison to gather information and find himself for some reason drawn into an escape plot run by a vicious psychopath who is his equal or better in intelligence and cunning.

There are many possible scenarios that could keep the series fresh, original, innovative, and exciting. The Company has grown stale. Without a doubt, they will meet their end at the end of this season. It's just a shame that it took so long that the end result will probably be the death of the series.