Comic-Con: 'Alcatraz' welcomes visitors

Mysterious island with a story told in flashbacks, starring Jorge Garcia and exec produced by JJ Abrams. . .sound familiar? JJ Abrams latest TV offering pulled at the heartstrings of "Lost" fans who were hungry for more Bad Robot goodness on the smallscreen.

WBTV's "Alcatraz" stars  Sam Neill, Robert Forrester, Parminder Nagra, Jason Butler Harner, Sarah Jones and Garcia in a sci-fi drama about the mysterious reappearance of missing inmates from the '60s. Harner plays Jack, an former Rock resident who re-appears after five decades with a pocket full of cash, a gun and a slight grudge.

"He not the bad guy. Just the not-so-good guy," said star Jason Butler Harner.

The show reunites Garcia, Abrams and writer/producer Elizabeth Sarnoff, who moved effortlessly from one island to the next.

"I love working with these people, because they make the TV I like to watch," said Garcia.

The pilot played to a full house in Ballroom 20, quite an achievement for an end-of-the-day panel, much less a screening.

Exec producer Jack Bender thinks the appeal has to do with the former prison itself.

"Alcatraz always scared the crap out of me as a child," said Bender. "It's an island of bad people. That's the lure for many."

"Alcatraz" will preem in January on Fox.

-- by Erin Maxwell