'Alcatraz' Co-Creator Liz Sarnoff Steps Down as Showrunner

A big change is taking place behind the scenes at Fox's midseason drama Alcatraz.

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Co-creator Liz Sarnoff, who was serving as an executive producer and showrunner of the ambitious series, is stepping down from her post. Instead, Cold Case and Chase executive producer Jennifer Johnson and Miami Vice and Fracture writer Daniel Pyne have been tapped to take over day-to-day showrunning duties.

Sarnoff (Lost, Deadwood) is expected to receive the title of executive consultant on Alcatraz.

Earlier this year, Sarnoff and company made the trip to Comic-Con in San Diego to tout their new show, drawing comparisons to another serialized effort that had a similarly complex premise: Lost.

"This show has an incredibly aggressive story engine. There's going to be a bad guy to catch every week. ... We want to answer the questions. It's about combining those things and [fitting them] into one hour of television," said Sarnoff in July.

The Warner Bros. TV and Bad Robot-produced drama centers on a group of inmates imprisoned on Alcatraz island who start reappearing in modern-day San Francisco. Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Parminder Nagra, Jeffrey Pierce, Robert Forster and Sam Neill co-star.

Though no official premiere date has been set for Alcatraz, the hourlong will air in the Monday at 9 p.m. time slot.