UKTV is serious about its US imports. The company’s Watch channel has announced that JJ Abram’s latest science-fiction themed series, Alcatraz, will premiere on Tuesday March 13th at 9pm.
The series follows Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), a San Francisco Police Department homicide detective, who is assigned to investigate a vicious murder only to discover that her prime suspect is Jack Sylvane, an inmate of the infamous Alcatraz prison who died over 30 years ago. After being blocked by government agent Emerson Hauser (Sam Niell), Madsen resolves herself to closing the case. Detective Madsen then finds herself partnering up with Alcatraz expert, Dr Diego Soto (Lost’s Jorge Garcia) in an attempt to explain how Jack Sylvane is still alive, why he is roaming the streets of San Francisco and why he hasn’t aged a single day since the 1960’s. The only problem is that Jack Sylvane’s return is not an isolated incident and Agent Hauser has been expecting this to happen for nearly fifty years; ever since the prison closed in 1963.
Alcatraz premiered on FOX last month to a respectable 10.05 million viewers and a 3.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic (outperforming Terra Nova‘s premiere on FOX back in September). The series has since seen a slide in ratings, with the latest episode attracting 8.4 million viewers and a 2.8 rating; being beaten in it’s time-slot by a repeat of Two And A Half Men on CBS. UKTV’s deal to acquire Alcatraz for Watch from Warner Bros. International Television Distribution was part of a two show deal. The second show in that deal, Hart of Dixie, is slated to premiere of Really later on in the year.
TVWise’s Acquisitions Scorecard has been updated with this new information.
