Critic Reviews

Absorbing, if not squirm-worthy.

Breakout Kings manages to compensate for its lack of creative ambition with some lively writing, good pacing and an off-kilter sense of humor. It is also blessed with a colorful cast of characters.

Just because a show is mix 'n' match doesn't mean it isn't any good. After four years with "Prison Break," creators Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora know their way around this world, and Breakout Kings starts out with a promising blend of character and plot, action and dialogue, sweet and savory.

It does not--repeat, not--take a con to catch a con. That is by now a very tired television cliche and one that's embraced by Kings. But the series overcomes this crutch to become a mostly interesting diversion from going to work five days a week.

The series is sort of fun, more of a USA Network "Characters Welcome" kind of show than a hard-boiled thriller. [11 Mar 2011, p.72]

If nothing else, Breakout Kings is a nice travelogue of the country's prisons. Here's hoping there's a juicy episode coming up for Stateville. But the gratuitous violence and creepiness will turn off a lot of viewers.

Breakout Kings is better than "The Glades," another A&E scripted drama set in the world of law enforcement, but that's not saying a whole lot. Still, if future episodes are as good as the second episode (and better than the clunky pilot), it'll give fans of "White Collar" or "Leverage" something to watch until those shows come back.

Little of this stands up to close scrutiny, but there's a nice twist at the end of the pilot, and it looks as if every episode will begin with a fiendishly clever prison break by someone viewers might actually hope to see caught.

For a show that starts out with so much energy, Breakout Kings quickly settles into a procedural rut.

Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora are two solid guys who know how to make good TV and Lombardozzi and Alonzo are superior actors. But there are only flashes of promise here.