Alcatraz: The Complete Series

The jumping-off point for this Fox series is an otherworldly event—namely, the reappearance in present-day San Francisco of convicts and guards who mysteriously vanished from the now-shuttered titular island prison back in 1963. Each week, lovely and feisty police detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) must track down one or another of the returnees, aided by eccentric Alcatraz expert Diego “Doc” Soto (Jorge Garcia). Guiding—and occasionally interfering with—their efforts is sullen, tight-lipped FBI agent Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill), who was a young policeman transferring inmates to Alcatraz some 50 years earlier and seems to know more than he's willing to disclose about what happened. As the manhunts proceed, flashbacks reveal each quarry's history, while hints are also dropped about some sort of conspiracy regarding the original disappearances and reemergence of the vanished men, who have not aged at all. The show's combination of standard-issue police procedural and sci-fi puzzler mirrors the mixture of survival tale and time-shifting weirdness that made Lost a cult phenomenon; but in this case—despite the imprimatur of Lost executive producer J.J. Abrams—the concept proved much less fascinating. Alcatraz quickly faded in the ratings and was cancelled. Compiling all 13 episodes of the 2012 first and only season, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. Optional. (F. Swietek)