Grade: A+

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NFL Network's Rich Eisen hosts TNT's ingriguing and exciting new reality game show that takes ordinary teams and gives them the impossible challenge of escaping prison. And the pilot episode opens with the most impossible and challenging prison of all: Alcatraz Island!

With a $100,000 prize on the line, three teams must break out of a holding cell (once they find the hidden means to do so), they must embark on a four-stage race to acquire pieces to a key, solving riddles, hunting for hidden objects, and using any tools at their disposal to get done what needs done. It's a bit like those computer games i used to play as a kid. (Or last week -- who really cares, though?) "You see a cabinet." "OPEN CABINET." "You see a wrench."

But it's more than just a race with puzzles. This race involves spotlights and roving guards. Get spotted by any of them, and it's time to empty your pockets, drop all your tools, and receive a free escort back to the holding cell, where you have to find yet another way out of it.

Despite the twists and traps, the Gamemakers (anyone else having a Hunger Games moment?) have made it so that one team just can't follow another. Doors opened by one team become sealed to others. But only one team can make it back to Rich Reward Zone where Rich will take their completed key and open the box for the $100,000 prize. Call it an exaggerated scavenger hunt. Call it an elaborate game of flashlight tag. Whatever you call it, you'll find it compelling, and a competitor for other "Race" shows on the air.

The Great Escape, "Escape from Alcatraz" airs Sunday, June 24 at 10pm ET|PT on TNT.