The first season of ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American serial drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows ( Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield ( Wentworth Miller); Burrows has been senten ...

'', an American serial drama television series, commenced airing in the United States and Canada on August 29, 2005, on Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ( EST) on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

. ''Prison Break'' is produced by Adelstein-Parouse Productions, in association with Rat Entertainment,

Original Film Original Film is an American film and television production company founded by Neal H. Moritz. Notable films the company has produced include the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise. History Original Film was started out in the early 1990s by Neal H ...

and

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

. The season contains 22 episodes, and concluded on May 15, 2006. In addition to the 22 regular episodes, a special, " Behind the Walls", was aired on October 11, 2005. ''Prison Break'' revolves around two brothers:

Lincoln Burrows Lincoln Burrows, played by Dominic Purcell, is a Character (arts), fictional character and one of the two protagonists of the United States, American television series ''Prison Break''. The plot of ''Prison Break'' revolves around Lincoln being ...

, who has been

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for a crime he did not commit and his younger brother

Michael Scofield Michael Scofield, portrayed by Wentworth Miller, is a fictional character and one of the two main protagonists of the American television series ''Prison Break''. The character first appeared in the series pilot, in which he deliberately goes t ...

, a genius who devises an elaborate plan to help him escape prison by purposely getting himself imprisoned. A total of ten actors received star billing in the first season, with numerous supporting roles. Filming took place mostly in and around the Chicago area; Fox River was represented by

Joliet Prison Joliet or Jolliet may refer to: People * Louis Jolliet (1645–1700), French-Canadian explorer of North America * Oscar Joliet (1878–1969), Belgian scholar-priest and Catholic Auxiliary bishop of Ghent Places in the United States * Joliet, Illi ...

, which had closed in 2002. Critical reviews of the first season were generally favorable. The first season was released on DVD in Region One as a six-disc boxed set under the title of ''Prison Break: Season One'' on August 8, 2006.

Cast

Main characters

Dominic Purcell Dominic Haakon Myrtved PurcellO'Connor, B,Break Out". '' Men's Fitness''. December/January 2007 Issue; retrieved 18 December 2006. (born 17 February 1970) is a British-Australian actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Lincoln Burrows in ...

Wentworth Miller Wentworth Earl Miller III (born June 2, 1972) is an American-British actor and screenwriter. He rose to prominence following his starring role as Michael Scofield in the Fox series ''Prison Break'', for which he received a nomination for the ...

Robin Tunney Robin Tunney (born June 19, 1972) is an American actress. Tunney made her film debut in the comedy '' Encino Man'' (1992) and rose to prominence with leading roles in the cult films '' Empire Records'' (1995) and '' The Craft'' (1996). Her perfor ...

Veronica Donovan This is a list of characters in the United States, American television series ''Prison Break''. The characters are listed alphabetically by their last name or by the name which appears in the episode credits. Overview : = Ensemble cast, Main c ...

Peter Stormare Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm (born August 27, 1953), better known as Peter Stormare (), is a Swedish actor who holds both Swedish and American citizenship. He played Gaear Grimsrud in the film '' Fargo'' (1996) and John Abruzzi in the television seri ...

John Abruzzi This is a list of characters in the American television series ''Prison Break''. The characters are listed alphabetically by their last name or by the name which appears in the episode credits. Overview : = Main cast (credited) : = Recurr ...

Amaury Nolasco Amaury Nolasco Garrido (born December 24, 1970) is a Puerto Rican actor and producer, best known for the role of Fernando Sucre on the Fox television series ''Prison Break'', and for his role in ''Transformers''. Early life Nolasco was born ...

Fernando Sucre Fernando Sucre, played by Amaury Nolasco, is a fictional character from the American television series, ''Prison Break''. He is introduced to the series in the pilot episode as the prison cellmate of the series protagonist, Michael Scofield (pla ...

Marshall Allman Marshall Scot Allman (born April 5, 1984) is an American actor. He is known to television audiences for his role as L. J. Burrows on the Fox television series ''Prison Break''. He is also known for playing Tommy Mickens on ''True Blood''. Earl ...

L.J. Burrows This is a list of characters in the American television series ''Prison Break''. The characters are listed alphabetically by their last name or by the name which appears in the episode credits. Overview : = Main cast (credited) : = Recurri ...

Wade Williams Wade Andrew Williams (born December 24, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his various character roles, and for a major supporting role as correctional officer Brad Bellick on the Fox television series ''Prison Break'' and Father Cron ...

as Captain

Brad Bellick Bradley Bellick is a fictional character from the American television series, ''Prison Break''. He is portrayed by Wade Williams. As one of the principal characters of ''Prison Break'', he has been featured in the first four seasons of the series ...

Paul Adelstein Paul Adelstein (born April 29, 1969) is an American actor and writer, known for the role of Agent Paul Kellerman in the Fox television series ''Prison Break'' and his role as pediatrician Cooper Freedman in the ABC medical drama '' Private Prac ...

as Secret Service Agent

Paul Kellerman Paul Kellerman, played by Paul Adelstein, is a fictional character from the American television series, ''Prison Break''. The character was introduced to the series as a Secret Service special agent in the series pilot, but the actor was not li ...

Robert Knepper Robert Lyle Knepper (born July 8, 1959) is an American actor best known for his role as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox drama series ''Prison Break'' (2005–2009, 2017), Samuel Sullivan in the final season of the NBC series '' Heroes'' ( ...

Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell is a fictional character from the American television series ''Prison Break''. Played by Robert Knepper, he is part of the main group of characters in the series and is part of the Fox River Eight. After guest-starring i ...

Rockmond Dunbar Rockmond Dunbar (born January 11, 1973) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Baines on the NBC series '' Earth 2'', Kenny Chadway on Showtime family drama ''Soul Food'', and Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin on the Fox crime drama '' ...

Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin, played by Rockmond Dunbar, is a fictional character from the American television series, ''Prison Break''. The character was introduced as a prisoner in the pilot episode. The actor was promoted from a recur ...

Sarah Wayne Callies Sarah Wayne Callies (born June 1, 1977) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Sara Tancredi in Fox's ''Prison Break'' and as Lori Grimes in AMC's '' The Walking Dead''. She has also starred as Katie Bowman in USA Network's ''Col ...

as Dr. Sara Tancredi

Recurring characters

Episodes

Production

Crew

The season was produced by Adelstein-Parouse Productions, in association with Original Television and

. The executive producers were creator

Paul Scheuring Paul T. Scheuring (born November 20, 1968) is an American screenwriter and director of films and television shows. His work includes the 2003 film ''A Man Apart'' and the creation of the television drama ''Prison Break'', for which he was also cr ...

Marty Adelstein Martin Bruce Adelstein is an American television producer. Before becoming a producer, he was a partner at the Endeavor Talent Agency, where he was one of the founding members. As of 2019, Adelstein is the CEO and founder of Tomorrow Studios, a jo ...

Neal H. Moritz Neal H. Moritz (born June 6, 1959) is an American film producer and founder of Original Film. He has produced over 70 major motion pictures which have grossed a total of over $11 billion worldwide as of 2021. He is best known for the ''Fast & Fu ...

, Dawn Parouse,

Brett Ratner Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and producer. He directed the ''Rush Hour'' film series, '' The Family Man'', '' Red Dragon'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and '' Tower Heist''. He is also a producer of several fil ...

and

Matt Olmstead Matt Olmstead is an American writer and producer for television shows. Biography Early life Olmstead graduated from California State University, Chico in 1988. He is an alumnus of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. He went to Hollywood i ...

. The staff writers were Scheuring, co-executive producers Nick Santora and

Zack Estrin Zack Estrin (1970/1971 – September 23, 2022) was an American television producer and screenwriter. Estrin began his career as a writer and producer on ''Charmed'', ''Dawson's Creek'', and ''Tru Calling'', before serving as a co-executive prod ...

, supervising producer

Karyn Usher Karyn Usher is an American television producer and writer. She has produced twenty-four episodes for the television series ''Prison Break'', and additionally written twelve episodes. She has also written single episodes from the series '' One Tre ...

and Olmstead. The regular director throughout the season was

Bobby Roth Robert Jay Roth (born 1950) is an American television and film director, screenwriter and producer. Life and career Born and raised in Los Angeles, Roth began his tertiary education at the University of California, Berkeley studying philoso ...

; additional directors were

Jace Alexander Jason "Jace" Alexander (born April 7, 1964) is an American former television director, actor, and convicted sex offender from New York City. In 2015, Alexander was arrested for the downloading and file sharing of child pornography, and later pled ...

Matt Earl Beesley Matthew Earl Beesley is an American film director and television director living in Bell Canyon, California; he is the son of Dr. Earl Beesley. From 1984 to 1988, he worked as assistant director on a number of notable films including ''National ...

and Dwight H. Little. Its incidental music was composed by

Ramin Djawadi Ramin Djawadi (, fa, رامین جوادی; born 19 July 1974) is an Iranian and German score composer. He is known for his scores for the 2008 Marvel film ''Iron Man'' and the HBO series '' Game of Thrones'', for which he was nominated for G ...

Filming

Most of the first season of the series was filmed on location in and around Chicago.Ryan, Maureen,
Joliet prison is a 'Break'-out star
, ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are ...

''. August 24, 2005. Retrieved on December 5, 2005. After it was closed down in 2002,

became the set of ''Prison Break'' in 2005, standing in as

Fox River State Penitentiary ''Prison Break'' is an American serial drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller); Burrows has been sentenced t ...

on screen. Scenes set in Lincoln's cell, the infirmary and the prison yard were all shot on location at the prison.Set Visit: Prison Break
''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa dist ...

''. March 17, 2006. Retrieved on September 14, 2006. Lincoln's cell is the same one in which

John Wayne Gacy John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 young men and boys. Gacy regularly performed at children's hospitals and charitable events as " ...

was incarcerated. Most of the production crew refused to enter the cell, thinking that it was haunted. Other sets were built at the prison, including the cell blocks that housed the general prison population; these blocks had three tiers of cells (as opposed to the real cell block's two) and had cells much larger than real cells to allow more space for the actors and cameras. Exterior scenes were filmed in areas around Chicago,

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquar ...

, and Joliet in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockfo ...

. Other locations included

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

in Chicago and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in Canada. ''Prison Break'' spent $2 million per episode in the state of Illinois, which cost them a total of $24 million in 2005.

Release

Critical reception

The season has a 77% "Certified Fresh" rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, with the consensus stating: "''Prison Break'' is confident pulp with a crackerjack premise that spreads thinly enough to smooth over the show's more lunkheaded flourishes."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc D ...

gave the season a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impressions of a select 32 critical reviews—of 65, signifying generally favorable reviews. Based on its strong opening, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' dubbed ''Prison Break'' "more intriguing than most of the new network series, and ... one of the most original" and a "suspenseful thriller", complimenting its "authentic look". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cultu ...

'' called it an "original drama", noting the show's "edge-of-the-seat action". On the other hand, however, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nat ...

'' criticized the show for its "somber pretentiousness" and "uniformly overwrought erformances.

Ratings

The two-hour

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distr ...

garnered approximately 10.5 million viewers, giving Fox its "best summertime Monday numbers since episodes of ''

Melrose Place ''Melrose Place'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex on Melrose Place, in ...

'' and '' Ally McBeal'' aired there in September 1998." The show's first season attracted an average audience of 10 million viewers each week, with "End of the Tunnel" reaching 12 million viewers, and led the debuts of television in the 2005 American fall season. ''Prison Break'' was originally planned for a 13-episode run, but was extended to include an extra nine episodes due to its popularity.

Home media release

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prison Break (Season 1) 2005 American television seasons 2006 American television seasons Prison Break episodes Prison Break