Prison Break

Fox locks up more 'Prison' Spoilers

Fox locks up more 'Prison'
Show rewarded for good behavior

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
Fox has sentenced "Prison Break" to another year of hard primetime.

That clears the series through the 2007-08 TV season, the show's third. Skein was rewarded for good behavior, having won its slot in adults 18-34 and come in second with adults 18-49.

Exec producer Paul Scheuring said his team had been proceeding with this year's season finale cliffhanger and had already mapped out much of season three when they received the firm pickup Tuesday.

"We already knew where we were going," he said. "Most of the major players are returning, but it will be a reconceptualization again, just like it was in season two."

"Prison Break," from 20th Century Fox TV and Adelstein-Parouse Prods., launched in 2005 as a drama about a man (Wentworth Miller) who stages a bank robbery in order to land in prison, where he believes his brother (Dominic Purcell) has been wrongfully convicted of killing the vice president's brother.

The two staged their escape at the end of season one; this year, they've been on the lam -- and hunting for $5 million hidden by famed skyjacker D.B. Cooper.

Season three's storyline will expand internationally; the show also plans to add at least four new cast members -- two men, two women, none American. Casting likely will take place in May.

"The scope of the show will play on a much more global scale," Scheuring said.

"Prison Break" will continue to shoot in Dallas next season (having moved there this year after filming the season one prison-set episodes outside of Chicago). But crews will spend more time shooting in Florida and Louisiana, Scheuring said.

Season to date, "Prison Break" has averaged 9.1 million viewers and a 3.7 rating/10 share in adults 18-49. Scheuring, Matt Olmstead, Kevin Hooks, Marty Adelstein, Dawn Parouse, Neal Moritz and Brett Ratner exec produce.