Alcatraz

It’s a crazy idea, but somehow it works. In this Fox TV series, the men incarcerated in the infamous Alcatraz prison were not transferred when the prison was closed back in 1963. Instead they were…well, you’ll have to watch to find out. Wherever they went, they are turning up in present day San Francisco with alarming regularity and causing the modern day police some really big problems (it’s always hard to arrest a criminal that’s supposed to have died decades before the crime was committed). Thank goodness there is a shadowy government organization, lead by a guy with the clumsy moniker of Emerson Hauser (Sam Neil) to try and cover up the crimes and keep the big secret of what happened in 1963 a secret. The premise is too much to support all the twists and turns the stories take, which is probably why the show wasn’t picked up for a second season, but the ride is enjoyable enough while it lasts.