Gimme a 'Break'

"Prison Break" fans long ago learned to suspend their disbelief when tuning in to watch the weekly exploits of Michael Scofield and friends. The show, like its Monday night partner "24," was never known for its realism, even during the best of times. Despite that, one would be hard pressed to find a more consistently entertaining hour of television during the show's first two seasons.

The popularity of "Prison Break," which made it a hit for Fox, is what has led it to its downfall this year. Michael broke out his brother and a motley crew of tagalongs at the end of the first thrilling season, and season two featured them all on the run. There seemed to be a logical conclusion awaiting the series at the end of episode 44; the manhunt could only last for so long.

Unfortunately, the needs of the network always take first priority over the narrative integrity of its programs, and so Paul T. Scheuring and Co. were given a tall order - extend their originally finite idea indefinitely. Considering that the story is slightly more complex than say "NCIS," things haven't turned out so well in the unnecessary season three.

See, all this time we thought that the Company wanted Michael dead (along with all other escapees, of course). That assumption is based on the fact that Bill Kim and Alex Mahone spent nearly all of season two trying to kill them. Suddenly, it is revealed that the Company actually needs to utilize Michael's freakish prison breaking ability in order to free a seafaring Aussie who is vitally important to them for some absurd reason. The catch? Said Aussie is imprisoned in a nightmarish Panamanian penitentiary where the inmates (literally) run the asylum. Voila! Season three.