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This week in NEW TV: ‘Breakout Kings’ & ‘Breaking In’

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SUNDAY (3/4)

Breakout Kings — A&E — 10PM

A&E’s breakout drama from 2011 is back. From the producers of Prison Break Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora, Breakout Kings is centered around a special task force led by veteran U.S. Marshal Charlie Duchamp (Laz Alonso) and a former one Ray Zancanelli (Domenick Lombardozzi). In season one, the Marshals came up with this ingenious plan: collect convicts and have them help catch other cons. Last year’s season tag, of course, was “it takes a con to catch a con.” The incentive? For each con they help the Marshals capture, their jail sentence gets reduced by one month and they get transferred to a more friendly minimum-security facility. The resourceful cons are ex-gangbanger Shea Daniels (Malcolm Goodwin), bounty hunter with anger issues Erica Reed (Serinda Swan) and the brilliant factist-not-racist Dr. Lloyd Lowery (Jimmi Simpson). Also part of the task force is Julianne Simms (Brooke Nevin), the neurotic analyst who stations herself at their Brooklyn headquarters.

What can you expect to see in season 2? In an interview with TVLine, Serinda Swan spilled some details. “We have this through line of Damien [the season premiere’s elusive target], which is pretty cool. But the main thing we heard from the fans last year was the desire to know more about the characters’ stories, about their lives, to see them interact more. And I think [series creators] Matt [Olmstead] and Nick [Santora] and the whole writing team did a wonderful job listening, because this year they did that. As a result, we got to have more fun, and we get more laughs. For example, there is a lot of humor in the breakouts. You’ll have [a convict] running naked across a field, while all of us are staring at each other like, “What exactly is going on here?”

Then there’s this: the tag for season two (as revealed in the key art pasted above) is “one king will fall.” Now get this: the name of the premiere episode is “An Unjust Death.” Will one of the Kings perish in tonight’s opener, drastically changing the show’s dynamic? Tune in at 10PM on A&E.

TUESDAY (3/6)

Breaking In — FOX — 9:30PM

This right here is proof that TV shows can in fact come back from the dead. After airing just seven episodes last year, FOX cancelled the modestly rated workplace comedy Breaking In. And then it was decided that it would make for a great midseason replacement on FOX’s Tuesday night comedy lineup while Glee is on hiatus. So now it’s back and this is definitely a show you need to put on your (DVR) schedule.

It’s quirky, it’s fun, and best, it’s different. In sum, Christian Slater plays a master of manipulation at Contra Security, a company that gets hired to break into places to test their security systems and make them more secure if they’re found to be weak. In season one, nearly every episode involved Slater and his team (Bret Harrison, Alphonso McAuley, Trevor Moore, and Odette Annable) breaking into people’s homes, companies, whatever and we laughed at all the antics that went on at the office. This season co-creator Adam F. Goldberg promises more laughs because the show will truly shine as a workplace comedy and most of the action will take place at Contra. Other changes this year: Trevor Moore’s master of disguise character is out, Annable sexy Melanie will be mostly absent due to her obligations at House (will her boyfriend Dutch (Michael Rosenbaum) return, we don’t know), and Megan Mullally is in as a series regular. She plays Slater’s boss, and British bombshell Erin Richards will factor into things as her assistant.

Missed out on season one? No worries. You can easily hop into Breaking In tonight and see what you missed out on. This show was resurrected for a reason: it’s good. The season two opener airs Tuesday night at 9:30PM on FOX.

This week in NEW TV: ‘Alcatraz’

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MONDAY

Alcatraz — FOX — 8PM

Another show from mastermind J.J. Abrams is about to premiere on network TV and that show is Alcatraz. Though chunks of the story take place on an island and one of the show’s leads is Jorge Garcia, Alcatraz and the intrigue that oozes from the promotional lead up to tomorrow night’s premiere is far different than what fans know from Lost. First, a quick mention of the plot: The show tells a story where Alcatraz inmates disappear from their cells in 1963 and mysteriously reappear in modern day society. A secret task force led by Sam Neill (of Twin Peaks fame) and Parminder Nagra (ER) manage to round up Sarah Jones who plays a homicide detective and Garcia who’s an Alcatraz expert and together they investigate the reappearances and ultimately try to unravel the mystery behind it all. In a tw0-part interview conducted by FOX, Abrams admits that when Lost was on, people were either invested in the show and watched every week or they likely didn’t watch at all. With Alcatraz he thinks that it plays more like a procedural (think inmate reappearance of the week) and because of this people will have an easier time jumping into the show even if they had missed previous installments. And for avid viewers who get hooked with the pilot, there will certainly be nuggets planted that tie episodes together for a more serialized feel. Having watched the pilot twice at Comic Con, I can say that the two-hour pilot will definitely hook Lost fans and at the same time it should help distance it from Abrams’ ABC hit. In this way Alcatraz will make room for newcomers to the procedural/serial hybrid and to the genre fare outputted under Abrams’ Bad Robot banner.

If you’re looking for a new show with mystery and intrigue and smarts, tune into the Alcatraz premiere Monday night at 8PM on FOX. Next week it falls into its regular 9PM timeslot airing after House. Check out stylized cast photos below and hop after the break to watch the two-part Abrams interview.

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This week in NEW TV: ‘The Firm’ & ‘House of Lies’

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Last year I posted my Midseason TV Preview. This time around I’m breaking that idea in pieces with a new kind of post called This week in NEW TV. Essentially they will serve as expanded versions of my usual TV Reminders. These posts will crop up through January and February as new TV shows premiere this winter. I will recommend new, buzz-worthy shows for you to watch. If you want a broader overview of all the new series airing on the big four networks, check out 2011-12 Upfronts coverage.

::SUNDAY::

The Firm — NBC — 9PM

NBC’s latest drama The Firm is based on the 1991 John Grisham novel of the same name. The show continues the story of attorney Mitchell McDeere and his family 10 years after the events of the book and film. (In 1993 Tom Cruise stared in an adaptation of the legal thriller.) On TV Josh Lucas (The Lincoln Lawyer) plays McDeere and it’s his intention to “homage Tom Cruise’s performance” from the movie rather than mimic it. The modern day McDeere will see that his past (as laid out in the movie) will come to haunt him. A brief summary: As a young associate, McDeere brought down the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which operated as a front for the Chicago mob — and his life was never the same. After a difficult decade, which included a stay in the Federal Witness Protection program, Mitch and his family now emerge from isolation to reclaim their lives and their future — only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere. It’s certainty not necessary for viewers to have seen the movie or read the book before watching the TV series, but those who are fans of the previous works should be anticipating this return to the trials and tribulations of Mitchell McDeere. Though I don’t exactly have the highest of hopes for it, I will be giving this legal drama a try. I do believe that next month’s Smash has a better chance at lifting the Peacock’s spirits out of the gutter. The 2-hour pilot airs tonight at 9PM and The Firm lands in its regular Thursday 10PM slot next week.

House of Lies — Showtime — 10PM

Here is another show premiering that is based on a book: Martin Kihn’s House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time. Shortened for obvious reasons, House of Lies is a dirty sexy black comedy set in the world of corporate management consulting and it follows a team of cut-throat business people who are willing to go extremes to make deals happen. Movie star Don Cheadle transitions to TV in the lead role, and he is surrounded by a cast of incredibly funny people. Veronica Mars’ Kristen Bell returns to TV at long last (her stint on Heroes was OK, I guess) and Ben Schwartz has brought his infectious sense of humor with him from Parks and Recreation. Josh Lawson, Dawn Olivieri (Heroes) and Richard Schiff (The West Wing) are also involved. It’s on Showtime so you know what that means: profanity will fly and nudity will define itself. The premise and cast alone, however, should draw you to at least watch the pilot.

[Images via IGN 1, 2]