Prison Break
American television series

Prison Break is an American crime drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox. The series revolves around two brothers: Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller); Lincoln has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, while Michael devises an elaborate plan to help his brother escape prison and clear his name. Along with creator Paul Scheuring, the series was executive-produced by Matt Olmstead, Kevin Hooks, Marty Adelstein, Dawn Parouse, Neal H. Moritz, and Brett Ratner who directed the pilot episode. The series' theme music, composed by Ramin Djawadi, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2006. Prison Break is a joint production between Original Film, Adelstein/Parouse Productions (seasons 1–4), Dawn Olmstead Productions (season 5), Adelstein Productions (season 5), One Light Road Productions (season 5), and 20th Century Fox Television.
The series was initially rejected by Fox in 2003, which expressed concerns about its long-term prospects. Following the popularity of serialized prime time television series 24 and Lost, Fox decided to back production in 2004. The first season received mostly positive reviews from critics. Furthermore, it performed exceptionally in the ratings and was originally planned for a 13-episode run, but was extended to include an extra nine episodes due to its popularity. The subsequent seasons continued to receive strong ratings; however, some critics claimed the show had overstayed its welcome.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Prison Break” is american television series. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Prison, Break and American, not as a finished interpretation.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q80044. VIAF identifies the subject as 227045817. The Library of Congress control number is n2006094829. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2006, 2003 and 2004.
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This entry incorporates text from “Prison Break” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.