On paper, Prison Break sounds like the most ridiculous story ever concocted in television land. An innocent man, Lincoln Burrows, is sent to death row for the murder of the vice president’s brother. Lucky for him his brother, Michael Scofield, is a structural engineer who helped design the prison and who deliberately gets himself locked up in order to break the two of them out from the inside. Unlucky for them, the conspiracy that caused his brother’s imprisonment in the first place has filtered inside the prison walls where numerous inmates try to take the two of them down.
Four seasons in and two Golden Globe nominations later, the series has proven to be gripping entertainment, helped in most part by Dominic Purcell’s as hansom victim Lincoln Burrows and Wentworth Miller as his brother and rescuer Michael Scofield. Amaury Nolasco and Robert Knepper pump up the muscle and charisma and make up the fourth remaining cast members throughout Prison Break’s four-year history. Fox aired The Final Break only last week.
Just in time for the premier of Showtime’s fifth season of Weeds next week, the fourth season is out now on DVD. You have time to stock up on a kitchen full of munchies.
Showtime’s bold comedy about a suburban mother turned marijuana dealer has been consistently honest about marijuana use and suburban life from the start. The award winning series doesn’t like to moralize too much about the use and distribution and the series success is due in small part to the familiarity and normalness of recreational drug use. Golden Globe winner, Mary-Louise Parker, plays Nancy and suburban mom and Justin Kirk (Angels in America) is Nancy’s drifter brother-in-law.
One series to keep an eye out for on DVD this week is The Hunger. This ground-breaking horror series is presented by British directors
Tony and Ridley Scott and was first aired in 1997. The series was inspired by Tony Scott’s cult film of the same name and the phenomenal cast includes Daniel Craig, Colin Ferguson, Margot Kidder, Balthazar Getty, Lena Headey, Jason Fleming, and Timothy Spall. Terence Stamp also hosts the classic series.
Prison Break: Season 4; Weeds: Season 4; and The Hunger: The Complete First Season are out on DVD.
