Entertainment Weekly today released an updated list of confirmed show renewals and their expert predictions. My thoughts on a few of their reports… (the block quoted text is direct from EW. The text that follows are my thoughts)

Alcatraz: 3.4 rating. Status: Not hopeful: Monday’s finale was the lowest-rated episode for the season.
Fringe: 1.7 rating. Status: We’ve been hearing Fringe was doomed — until this week. There’s renewed hope for a 13-episode “final season” pickup thanks to the modest performance of Alcatraz.

This one is interesting and I pair them together for a couple of reasons. First, they are similar shows from JJ Abrams that blend serial, sci-fi mythology with episodic, procedural elements. Second, because they are similar, but not the massive hits Fox would like its shows to be, I find it unlikely that Fox will renew both of them. My guess is that because Alcatraz is still largely untested having had a very short first season, because it is a new show and therefore automatically cheaper to produce than older shows and because it has a higher rating overall than does Fringe, I think Alcatraz would get the renewal. However, I am not in the know and EW is. Alcatraz has had a luke warm critical reception but Fringe has mostly been critically respected and is a cult show. Simply for reputation sake, Fox would be more motivated to give Fringe a proper final season and to seek out new pilots that might fare better with both viewers and critics than Alcatraz did. Personally, I want to see Alcatraz renewed as I think it has a great premise and is just getting warmed up. But all the prognosticators are saying we have sadly seen the last of it. 

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Strange leaves on Alcatraz Island. 

All photos taken using iPhone and edited using iPad by Becoming Lemonade.

Wandering around Alcatraz Island; looking towards Angel Island, Downtown and the Golden Gate Bridge. 

All photos taken using iPhone and edited using iPad by Becoming Lemonade.

Alcatraz.

Top: Looking through bars into the kitchen and at the knife rack which had painted knives on it to easily identify what knives were in use/missing. 

Second row: Looking out from the prison towards the exercise yard; scars on the floor from a riot that resulted in grenades being used.

Third row: Visiting booth from visitor’s side; visiting rules.

Bottom row: Showers; stairs and piping.

All photos taken using iPhone and edited using iPad by Becoming Lemonade.

Cell rows on Alcatraz.

All photos taken using iPhone and edited using iPad by Becoming Lemonade.

Buildings around Alcatraz island.

All photos taken using iPhone and edited using iPad by Becoming Lemonade.

Alcatraz Island. Inside the entrance way, just past the dock. This portion was built during the military era of the island’s history. The clean, well-layed brick walls were built by professional bricklayers. The wall with the bricks that were half-hazardly laid were built by prisoners during the time the island was a military prison.

All photos taken using iPhone and edited using iPad by Becoming Lemonade.

Flowers on Alcatraz. The island from the boat.

All photos taken using iPhone and edited using iPad by Becoming Lemonade.

We’re mid-way through a busy and buzzy television season so I thought I’d check in with what I am watching and what I am not watching. I do plan to write about some of the mid-season shows but now prefer to watch the first four or so episodes before doing so. You get a better picture of what the series is capable of after a few episodes and thus a more accurate assessment. 

What I am and am not watching in alphabetical order…

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Cells and bars.

Top: The escape route for the famous escape.

Bottom row: a hallway; an isolation cell; mesh in the “window” of the isolation cell (little light got in).

Over the coming weeks, I will be posting a collection of photos I took on Alcatraz island last August, each Monday in honour of the night’s new episode of the great new Fox series. All of these photos have not yet been posted on this blog.  

All photos taken using iPhone and edited using iPad by Becoming Lemonade.

Alcatraz (Photo Set 3)

Alcatraz. (Photo Set 2)

Alcatraz. Cell 13 is a solitary cell. Bad-behaving inmates were held in there, 24 hours a day, sometimes in absolute darkness, for up to 19 days in a row. The darkness part was totally illegal. (Photo Set 1)