J.J. Abram's 'Alcatraz'.


Recommended Posts

793064971.jpg

JJ Abrams and Lost executive producer Elizabeth Sarnoff are heading to another island. I hear Abrams and his Warner Bros. TV-based Bad Robot are about to take out to the networks Alcatraz, a drama spec script written by Sarnoff. Like all things Bad Robot, the project is shrouded in secrecy but it is about the San Francisco Bay island that once housed some of the country's most notorious criminals, including Al Capone. WBTV, which co-produces with Bad Robot, declined comment.

Sarnoff joined ABC's Lost, co-created and executive produced by Abrams, in the second season as a writer-producer and rose through the ranks to executive producer in the sixth and final season of the sci-fi/adventure series. She wrote or co-wrote 19 episodes, including the series penultimate episode. Abrams tends to develop with writers he has worked with before and seems to prefer spec scripts over pitches. Bad Robot's two series on the air, Fox's Fringe and the upcoming NBC spy drama Undercovers, originated as spec scripts Abrams co-penned with Alias alums Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and former Felicity and What About Brian writer-producer Josh Reims, respectively. Speaking of Fringe, a trivia tidbit: a minor character on the show's first season was named Elizabeth Sarnoff. Before Lost, Sarnoff worked on Deadwood and Crossing Jordan.

Source

Edited by Rappy
Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1027976-jj-abrams-alcatraz/
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The network that gave us Prison Break is heading back to prison. Fox has picked up Alcatraz, the J.J. Abrams produced drama about the San Francisco Bay island. The project, which was written on spec and recently taken out to the networks, has received a pilot commitment by Fox which is already in business with Abrams on sci-fi drama Fringe. Alcatraz is described as "a show about mysteries, secrets and the most infamous prison of all time: Alcatraz." Lost executive producer Elizabeth Sarnoff penned the final script, while Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt (Kyle XY) wrote earlier versions. All 3 are credited as writers on the pilot, which Abrams, Lilien and Wynbrandt will co-executive produce. Abrams' Bad Robot Prods is producing with Warner Bros TV. This is the third consecutive year a spec from Bad Robot has landed a major commitment after interest from multiple networks. The first two scripts, Fringe and Undercovers, went to series on Fox and NBC, respectively.

Source: Deadline

Read more: http://www.spoilertv.com/2010/09/fox-picks-up-jj-abrams-alcatraz.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook#ixzz0zhvQGE00

  • 2 months later...

First Casting!

408490620.jpg

EXCLUSIVE: Big news for Lost fans: series co-star Jorge Garcia has joined another J.J. Abrams drama about an island. Garcia is set to play a lead on the Fox pilot Alcatraz, which is executive produced by Lost co-creator/executive producer Abrams.

The project, described to be "about secrets and the most infamous prison of all time," centers on a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day. It chronicles the efforts of a team of FBI agents to track them down and unravel the mystery behind their disappearance thirty years prior. Garcia will play the hippy geek Dr. Diego Soto, the world's foremost expert on Alcatraz.

Actor-comedian Garcia, who landed his first TV series role on the CBS comedy Becker, rose to fame as one of the key cast members on ABC's hit drama Lost. He was the first actor cast in the Lost pilot, just like he is now on Alcatraz. The role of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes on Lost was tailor-made for him. Similarly, he was the first and only actor the producers of Alcatraz approached for the role of Dr. Soto. Garcia, repped by APA and KLWG Entertainment, guest stars on the Thanksgiving episode of CBS' comedy How I Met Your Mother tomorrow night. He will also appear in an episode of ABC's midseason comedy Mr. Sunshine. Garcia is the third Lost cast member eyeing return to primetime this season in a new drama series executive produced by Abrams. Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn star as former special ops agents in the project Odd Jobs, which landed at NBC with a put pilot commitment.

Alcatraz was written on spec by Elizabeth Sarnoff, who penned the final version, and Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, who wrote earlier incarnations. The project, from Abrams' Bad Robot Prods. and Warner Bros. TV, was bought by Fox with a pilot commitment in mid-September, and greenlighted to pilot a week later. Sarnoff serves as showrunner and executive produces with Abrams and Bryan Burk. Lilien and Wynbrandt will co-executive produce and Danny Cannon will direct the pilot, which is slated to begin in January in San Francisco and Vancouver.

  • 2 weeks later...

idk1vC.jpg

EXCLUSIVE: Sarah Jones (Sons of Anarchy) has landed the lead in the J.J. Abrams-produced Fox pilot Alcatraz. The drama project, from Warner Bros. TV and Abrams' Bad Robot, centers on a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day. It chronicles the efforts of a team of FBI agents to track them down and unravel the mystery behind their disappearance thirty years prior. Jones will play Rebecca Madsen, a smart, thoughtful and a little obsessive police officer. She joins Lost alum Jorge Garcia who was the first actor cast in the pilot. Jones is the latest ingenue to headline a series project from Abrams, who is known for breaking new young female talent on his shows. He cast Keri Russell on Felicity, Jennifer Garner on Alias, Evangeline Lilly on Lost, Australian Anna Torv on Fringe, and, most recently, British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw on Undercovers.

F0EEa.jpg

Two more actors have joined the cast of J.J. Abrams? time-warped Alcatraz pilot, according to a a spokesperson for Fox. Jonathan Coyne (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life) will play the infamous prison?s warden and Jason Butler Harner, who appeared in the Fringe pilot, will portray his cruel lieutenant. They join a cast that already includes Lost alum Jorge Garcia and Sarah Jones (Sons of Anarchy).

  • 2 weeks later...

vlcsnap-2010-12-02-00h43m40s47.png

Sam Neill is set to star opposite Sarah Jones in the J.J. Abrams-produced Fox pilot Alcatraz. The drama project, from Warner Bros. TV, Abrams' Bad Robot and executive producer/showrunner Liz Sarnoff, chronicles the efforts of a cop (Jones) and team of FBI agents tracking down a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day. Neill will play Emerson Hauser, the head of a government agency who radiates authority and piercing intelligence. In addition to Jones, WME-repped Neill joins previously cast Lost alum Jorge Garcia and Jonny Coyne, who also play lead roles, and Jason Butler Harner, who is supporting.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/12/sam-neill-to-star-in-j-j-abrams-alcatraz/

fmFM8.jpg

EXCLUSIVE: ER alumna Parminder Nagra is set for a lead role on Fox's pilot Alcatraz. Also in negotiations to join in the J.J. Abrams-produced pilot is veteran Robert Forster. The drama project, from Warner Bros. TV, Abrams' Bad Robot and executive producer/showrunner Liz Sarnoff, chronicles the efforts of a cop (Sarah Jones) and team of FBI agents tracking down a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day.

ODaPm.jpg

Sam Neill was just cast as Emerson Hauser, a head of a government agency. Nagra will play his lab technician, Lucy. Forster, who was nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role in Jackie Brown, will play Ray Archer, a retired detective who is now owner/bartender of a cop hangout bar. Following her breakthrough performance in the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham, Nagra joined NBC's medical drama ER, on which she co-starred for six seasons, until the show's end in April 2009.

  • 1 month later...

691d485e.jpg

Santiago Cabrera has joined the cast of forthcoming Fox drama Alcatraz.

The pilot, from executive producer J.J. Abrams, will follow police officer Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) as she works with a team of FBI agents to track down a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards.

Deadline reports that former Heroes star Carbrera will play Madsen's "sweet-natured" fiance Jimmy in the project.

The actor previously starred as super-powered artist Isaac Mendez on the NBC series from 2006 to 2007 and also plays the recurring role of Lancelot on BBC fantasy drama Merlin.

He will join the previously-cast Sam Neill, Jorge Garcia, Jonny Coyne and Jason Butler Harner in Alcatraz.

Filming on the pilot is expected to commence later this month.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s1/heroes/news/a298873/heroes-star-joins-foxs-alcatraz.html

ABRAMS: We do. We have a few projects. We have a show for Fox called Alcatraz, that starts shooting on the 19th, which I could not be more excited about.

Is Alcatraz actually about Alcatraz?

ABRAMS: Alcatraz does involve Alcatraz.

Will it be shot in the actual prison?

ABRAMS: Some will be, yes. There are sets being built, but there will be some of the pilot shot in San Francisco at Alcatraz.

What is the series about?

ABRAMS: I don't want to give anything away because no one wants to hear that, but I will say that it's a beautifully written and surprisingly emotional script, although not surprising when you know that Liz Sarnoff wrote it. She's amazing. The show is about an incredibly odd and mysterious turn and secret about the prison of Alcatraz, and a modern-day mystery that involves something very odd that happened there 50 years ago.

Who have you cast?

ABRAMS: The cast is unbelievable. It's Sam Neill, Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia from Lost ? who was the first person we cast and is just the greatest with an amazing role ? and Johnny Coyne, who's an amazing English actor. We have a spectacular cast. There are a number of other actors and it is wonderful. I'm really excited about the show.

  • 3 months later...

Alcatraz given full Season pick up!

Fox on Tuesday was also in the mood for some addition as well as subtraction, granting orders to series including the Bones spinoff and J.J. Abrams? Alcatraz.

http://www.tvline.com/2011/05/breaking-fox-cancels-human-target-breaking-in/

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Google reportedly set to lose two key Gemini and DeepMind researchers to Anthropic by Karthik Mudaliar Google is reportedly preparing to lose two more prominent artificial intelligence researchers, with Gemini contributors Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel planning to join rival AI developer Anthropic. According to a report from Bloomberg, both researchers are viewed internally as important contributors to Google’s flagship Gemini model family. Adler worked on Google’s AI coding efforts, while Pritzel was involved in the process used to train AI systems. Neither company has publicly confirmed the moves. The report also does not say when the researchers will formally leave Google or what positions they will hold at Anthropic. Training a large AI model requires decisions covering its architecture, data preparation, distributed computing infrastructure, and post-training methods that shape how the finished system behaves. Researchers with experience operating at the scale of Gemini are consequently difficult to replace quickly. Both Adler and Pritzel have previously contributed to Google DeepMind’s scientific research as well. They are listed among the authors of the company’s work on expanding AlphaFold protein-structure predictions across entire proteomes, alongside AlphaFold researchers including John Jumper. The reported departures arrive shortly after another important change within Google’s Gemini organization. Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer is leaving Google for OpenAI, after returning to the search company in 2024 through its deal with Character.AI. Shazeer is particularly well known as one of the authors of the Transformer paper, whose architecture became the foundation for most modern large language models. Anthropic, meanwhile, has been recruiting recognizable figures from other leading laboratories. OpenAI co-founder and former Tesla AI director Andrej Karpathy joined Anthropic’s pre-training team in May. His move, followed by the reported recruitment of several Google researchers, suggests Anthropic is strengthening the research teams responsible for the core capabilities of future Claude models rather than concentrating solely on product and enterprise sales. The competition is complicated by the companies’ extensive commercial relationships. Anthropic competes directly with Google’s Gemini models, but it also relies on Google as an infrastructure partner. In April, Anthropic announced an expanded agreement with Google and Broadcom covering multiple gigawatts of next-generation Tensor Processing Unit capacity. TPUs are Google-designed accelerators used to train and run large AI models. via Bloomberg
    • This article makes my head hurt. Lots of confusing words
    • Google adds built-in computer control to Gemini 3.5 flash by Karthik Mudaliar Google has added Computer Use as a built-in tool in Gemini 3.5 Flash, giving developers a single model that can reason about a task and operate graphical interfaces across browsers, mobile devices, and desktop environments. The feature is available through the Gemini API and Google’s Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, although it remains a preview feature for now. Computer Use enables an AI agent to examine screenshots and return actions such as mouse clicks, scrolling, and keyboard input. A developer’s application must execute those actions, capture the resulting screen, and send it back to Gemini, creating a continuous loop until the task is completed. Google says the integration can be used for activities including repetitive form filling, application testing, research across multiple websites, and longer enterprise workflows. Gemini 3.5 Flash can work with browser, mobile, and desktop environments, whereas Google’s earlier standalone Computer Use model was primarily positioned around browser interaction. The main change is consolidation. Computer control was previously offered through the separate Gemini 2.5 Computer Use preview model. As Neowin reported when that model was introduced, it was designed to interpret a visual interface and generate actions without requiring a website-specific API. Google later brought Computer Use to preview versions of Gemini 3 Pro and Gemini 3 Flash in January 2026. The latest release now incorporates the tool into the stable Gemini 3.5 Flash model rather than requiring developers to select a specialized model solely for interface automation. Gemini 3.5 Flash itself was announced in May as Google’s latest fast model for coding and multi-step agent workflows. It supports a one-million-token input context window and up to 65,000 output tokens, along with adjustable thinking levels that let developers trade additional reasoning for lower latency and cost. Google also added that Gemini 3.5 Flash received targeted adversarial training for computer-use scenarios. The company is also offering safeguards that can require user confirmation before sensitive or irreversible actions and automatically stop a workflow when suspected prompt injection is detected. Its developer documentation describes configurable protections for areas such as financial transactions and changes to sensitive records. Google isn't the first to bring Computer Use to its platform. Anthropic has made computer control available through Claude, while OpenAI has continued improving computer-use performance in its recent models. Microsoft has also applied the concept to business workflows, including a Computer Use capability for the Researcher agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot.
    • After I installed KB5095093, the volume on my ARM laptop won't go above 20%. It's stuck on the hearing protection level, which is pretty much useless if you want to listen to anything. I rolled back.
    • Amazon Prime Day slashes Samsung's newest Galaxy Watch Ultra by 45 percent by Karthik Mudaliar Samsung’s flagship Android smartwatch has received one of its steepest Prime Day cuts. Amazon has dropped the 2025 Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra in Titanium Blue to $357.24, saving buyers around $292 from its $649.99 list price. That's a 45 percent discount (purchase link below). The 47mm Galaxy Watch Ultra uses a titanium casing and a 1.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 480 x 480 and peak brightness of 3,000 nits. It includes LTE connectivity, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, NFC, and dual-frequency L1+L5 GPS for more accurate outdoor route tracking. The 2025 model has 64GB of storage, a 590mAh battery, sapphire crystal glass, 10ATM water resistance, IP68 protection, and MIL-STD-810H durability testing. Its health and fitness tools include heart rate monitoring, sleep coaching, Energy Score, Running Coach, body composition analysis, temperature sensing, and ECG support, where available. This model is best suited to Android users who regularly run, hike, cycle, or train outdoors and want cellular access without carrying a phone. The larger battery, rugged construction, bright display, and dedicated Quick Button also make it a stronger option than Samsung’s regular Galaxy Watch models for extended workouts and demanding environments. Grab the Titanium Blue Galaxy Watch Ultra before the Prime Day price resets: Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) [Sold and Shipped by Amazon] Good to know This Amazon deal is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Dedicated
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • First Post
      Tom Schmidt earned a badge
      First Post
    • One Month Later
      D0nn13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Rookie
      +ChiefOfNeo went up a rank
      Rookie
    • One Year In
      Tom Schmidt earned a badge
      One Year In
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      463
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      177
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      124
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      79
    5. 5
      Xenon
      76
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!