Saunders: 'Vanished' pops up tonight

Published August 21, 2006 at midnight

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What happens when you combine the investigative twists and turns of CSI, the nonstop pace of 24 and the scope of The Da Vinci Code?

You get Vanished, the first new network drama of the season, premiering tonight on Fox. Those comparisons are from Fox, which is working hard to stir up interest in its new serialized drama. And while providing promotional comparisons, Fox could have thrown in Without a Trace and The X-Files.

While it's doubtful Vanished will live up to such hype, the series, based on its premiere episode, should appeal to viewers who relish conspiracy plots, convoluted twists and turns and stylish production.

Meet charismatic Georgia Sen. Jeffrey Collins (political affiliation unnamed), played by John Allen Nelson, and his beautiful, equally charismatic wife, Sara (Joanne Kelly).

Sara receives a mysterious phone call before she and her husband leave for a black-tie gala, where Sara is scheduled to be honored for her charity work. At the event, before you can say "pass the canapés," Sara is told she has a call. She smiles, leaves the room and vanishes.

Enter Graham Kelton (Gale Harold), a moody semi-disgraced FBI agent, and his sympathetic woman partner Len Mei (Ming-Na) and members of the Collins family.

Next on the scene is one of dramatic TV's stock characters - the attractive, aggressive female TV reporter, played by Rebecca Gayheart, who'll do anything - including interrupting her own sexual romp - to follow a major story.

Outlining the entire plot would spoil your fun, if you like to follow stories that have more twists than a lonely Georgia dirt road. But I can tell you this: By the end of the premiere you'll know Vanished is not your typical politically-oriented kidnapping caper.

Intertwined are double-identities, family secrets and a variety of spooky religious symbols all designed to bring you back for future episodes.

Fox has announced that Vanished will be around for at least 13 episodes and possibly 22. Will the puzzle be solved this season or will viewers be left hanging?

"We'd love to be able to continue to work with these characters," says creator and executive producer Josh Berman.

That's as much of a commitment as serialized dramas get these days.

ON THE RUN: Fans of Prison Break, premiering its second season at 7 tonight (Fox31), will recall that the first season ended with Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) breaking his brother Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) out of prison after Lincoln had been framed for murdering the vice president's daughter.

Now, both brothers are on the lam, going their separate ways. Series creator Paul Scheuring knows what happens next, but during a July press conference kept story lines pretty much a secret.

"They'll split up and pop up in each other's lives," Scheuring allowed. "They'll still need things from one another."

The conspiracy story line, so prominent in the first season, evidently is moving to the back burner, at least in the early episodes, according to Scheuring.

Prison Break has added a major character, a move that could provide some solace to fans of Invasion. William Fichtner, who played the mysterious sheriff in the canceled ABC series, now plays a ruthless, hard-nosed FBI agent determined to catch the brothers. Invasion fans may never find out what happened to the sheriff, but at least they'll know what happened to the actor.

In some ways, Scheuring and his associates created a no-way-out series. While the premiere season produced an interesting premise, the characters couldn't plan their breakout forever.

Now that they're out, will on-the-run suspense keep Prison Break an "in" show?

KATRINA HOPES: High Noon Entertainment, a local production house formed several years ago by former 9News producers and photographers, provides a worthy entry tonight to the growing file of Hurricane Katrina documentaries.

Life After Katrina (7 p.m., HGTV) examines the efforts of six homeowners working to rebuild homes in New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss. Unlike numerous Katrina documentaries, this hour provides an optimistic perspective as dedicated families work to restructure their lives.

Producer Chris Wheeler, who has been to the hurricane-damaged areas eight times, says one purpose of the documentary is capture "the emotional roller coaster that so many are on." TODAY'S NOSTALGIA: On Aug. 21, 1971, ABC News aired Heroes and Heroin, an investigative documentary about drug use among U.S. servicemen.

Dusty Saunders is the broadcasting critic. saunders@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5137

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