The series was first aired in the United States on KTLA in Los Angeles on 8 August 1979, initially under the original name, "Prisoner". Shown Wednesdays at 8pm, it was the first Australian series broadcast in prime time in the United States. The series, whose first two episodes were screened as a two-hour special, was viewed by a quarter of all television viewers in the Los Angeles market and was in second place for the night, beaten only by ABC's "Charlie's Angels".