Watching 24

Something I’m really hoping for in this season of 24 is that it be “mole free.” That’s right I said it. It’s just that It’s become a little easy to spot the mole inside CTU. I would like a season where CTU actually did background checks on all their new employees they have to bring in.

It would be nice to see Jack just have to battle with people outside of CTU. I think it would be more of a surprise if there wasn’t a traitor within the government. Either way I’ll watch though. The thing is whenever 24 throws another traitor at us they do it a little different every time. So we accept it, and just hope Jack meets up later with them and breaks their fingers.

24, Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer, Nina Myers, Season 6

As I talked about in my article All I Want for Christmas 24 one thing I hope to see this season is Mandy back in a bigger role. Mandy, played by Mia Kirshner, has ducked in and out of season after season. Season 4 was her biggest part in 24 as she kidnapped Tony and threatened to kill him if she wasn’t able to get free of the horde of CTU agents closing in on her.

Not even Nina was able to elude Jack as long as Mandy has. Mandy has escaped custody time and time again, and I think if given a bigger role would be able to provide quite the antagonist for Jack. Although in the end I’m sure Jack would kill her, I would love to see her back in this upcoming season.

Over the next 10 days I’m going to list the top ten 24 events that I’m most excited for in this upcoming season. It’s going to be a mixture of things I already know are going to happen, and I just can’t wait to see them play out, and things that I hope will happen.

#10. I’ll be waiting to find out if my favorite Ghostbusters villain, Peter MacNicols (Dr. Janosz Poha) will end up being a good casting choice. For some reason I just don’t see the guy doing a show as dramatic as 24. Maybe it’s just because ever since I was a kid I loved Ghostbusters. When Ghostbusters 2 came out the image of MacNicols saying “Evil� in that high, whiney voice has been burned into my brain.

Then I think back to Ally McBeal, and his insane way of acting completely unsure of himself. I just don’t know how he’s going to mesh with 24 as a whole. But, then again I thought the same thing about Sean Astin last year and he did a pretty swell job. I was glad that he was killed off midway through the season though. Though he personally didn’t irritate me, his character did. He was a wannabe George Mason without the sharp wit.

What does everyone else think of MacNicols? Given we don’t know the exact role he will play in the show, what do you think of the casting choice as a whole?

Over on Buddy TV I found a great article called An Ode to Chloe. Oscar Dahl, the BuddyTV writer defends Chole all the way. Some people hate her yes, but he gives some good reasons why she should stick around.

Personally at first I found Chloe annoying, almost like they messed up in the casting department. I think why most people find her irritating is because she didn’t enter CTU and the 24 world until season 3. Season 1 and 2 didn’t really have any comedic outlets, so when Chloe came into the picture people didn’t know whether to love her or hate her. It was such a departure from the norm of 24 that it jolted some of the audience members. They were used to watching a show that was 100% action and drama. Then Chloe came in, but at that point it was completely foreign to laugh at an episode of 24, who had ever heard of laughing while watching 24? I guess you could laugh at the incredibly stupid decisions that Kim made time and time again, but those just made me yell at the screen wishing that a cougar would eat her.

Honestly though, it took me through season 4 to really understand why Chloe was needed. What her purpose at CTU was, and her purpose for the overall show. I like Chloe. Every now and then she still irritates me with her perpetual scowls, but it’s fun to have some kind of comedic relief on 24.

During the filming of “The Cowboy Way” (1994) Kiefer found out that he had a way with horses. He’s gone on to win Roping Championships.

In the upcoming January/February issue of Men’s Vogue Kiefer is quoted as saying:

“What I lacked as a roper and a cowboy I could make up for in horses, Roping is one of those sports like polo where you get infinitely better the better your horses are. I had some great horses.”

Kiefer is jack of all trades. He also owns his own recording company.

As you know I’ve talked a lot about this new feature that’s going to be coming to Watching 24. After every episode review, I’ll then post the points I have awarded or taken away from each character based on his or her merits or blunders.

Everyone will start out with 100 points depending on what they do, and how I feel their points will go up or down.

Example:
Jack starts with 100 points
-kills terrorist +10
-tells Chloe to shut up and do what she’s told +14
-actually listens to orders from division -7
Total: 117

Chloe starts with 100 points
-first scowl of the season -8
-stops killer virus infecting the CTU’s network +15
-watches poor Edgar die in a roomful of noxious gas released into CTU because the stupid fat hobbit didn’t want to appear moronic for losing his security pass -10
Total: 97

I’ll keep track the entire season. Hopefully everyone will have fun with this. I’ll still do reviews of every episode, but this will just be a way for all of us 24 fans to have a little fun with the most intense show on TV.

Also, I have a prototype of the logo for the feature, but I’m not sure about it. Keep in mind that I’m not a photoshop whiz like a lot of people are. But, here’s kind of what I had in mind. It needs to be cleaned up a little but you get the idea.

Again I’d like to thank Jess at Apropos of Something for the idea.

Also, the character’s pictures will be sized right, this is also kind of a test to see how everything will look.

What does everyone think?

If anyone was actually planning on buying this DVD here’s what Wikipedia says it will look like. I still have no idea why someone would buy a DVD containing the first four episodes of season 6. This move just boggles my mind. If you’re watching them live why would you need this? This surely isn’t going to help the people who use Bit Torrent, because those people are going to download no matter what. If you plan on buying the entire DVD set when it comes out, this product seems pretty much worthless. But, in case you were interested here’s the pic.

Check out this video actually sponsored/made by FOX. It’s a Christmas spoof of 24, called “24th.” I love how they do all the different camera angles, and they also use all the same music. It’s pretty funny.

No torture scenes though. Could you imagine Santa torturing that poor little kid? That would’ve been pretty funny. But, in the spirit of fun holiday cheer check it out.

I made a commitment as I watched season 1 again, to check out if there are any times within the show that wouldn’t mesh with the bombshell we find out about Nina at the end. I’ve always had this kind of obsession with going through a movie, or TV show again and again trying to find any slip-ups or things that just absolutely didn’t make any sense when you compare them to how the show actually turned out.

After watching season 1 again I couldn’t find any of those slip-ups and realized that throughout the entire show they were “telling” us it was Nina anyway. By something so simple as the introduction (which was only done on season 1 and then they switched to the “Previously on 24″ stuff) where Jack would explain to us what is happening that day. I would usually fast forward through that part, but I noticed every time they showed a clip of Nina looking shifty. To take some wisdom from Homer Simpson, it’s always the person with the shifty eyes, and Nina shifter her eyes throughout the entire season.

I also realized, again, how much I loathe Sherry Palmer. Out of all the mean, sadistic, and just plain weird women that have appeared on 24 Sherry Palmer is the one I hate the most. Even more than Nina, yes. At least Nina is getting paid to do what she does. Sherry is just plain evil. The way she would talk down to David Palmer, the way she said “David,” made me want to strangle her.
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Today is the birthday of our favorite 24 actor Kiefer Sutherland.

He was born in London, England on December 21, 1966. Actor Donald Sutherland is his father. A little known fact about Kiefer was that his name at birth was Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland. Celebrities are always weird with naming their kids, but having 7 names, no thanks.

Now let’s take a look back at what Kiefer has done to get to where he is today. The first movie I remember seeing Kiefer in was Lost Boys (1987). It was a campy, cheesy vampire flick, which I hated. Then came Flatliners (1990) who he co-starred with Julia Roberts who was his fiancee. Then there were movies like Young Guns (1988), with Emilio Estevez which were just awful.

So, fine Kiefer’s career before 24 wasn’t all that amazing. But, then 24 came and Jack Bauer was born. Kiefer has carried the show through 5 seasons, with a sixth just around the corner. Jack Bauer has saved the world countless times. Kiefer has become a worldwide celebrity.

And on this special day, we here at Watching 24 would like to wish Kiefer a happy birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Our favorite CTU agent turns 40 today. Or, at least Kiefer Sutherland does. We wish for this year to bring him as much success as last year did, with his Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. On top of that, we are anticipating this season of 24, beginning Sunday January 24th, to be as good as the seasons past.

Happy Birthday! Here’s to many more “days” saving us from evil!

Birthday gifts : send a “Happy Birthday” gift including fresh flowers, plants and gift baskets. Send Birthday Gifts that leave a lasting impression.

Just an update about how things are going with the new point system here at Watching 24.

Like I said before, with permission from Jess at Apropos of Something here at Watching 24 we’re going to do a fun point system throughout the upcoming season of 24.

First thing to announce is the title for the feature: 24 Character Countdown. During the season I will be giving and taking away point for all the main characters depending on what they do. Each character will start with 100 points and then depending on how they act and what they do their points will go up or down.

The logo for the feature should be up in the coming weeks. If you want to see how the point system works with Lost, please go on over and visit Apropos of Something. Of course the whole scoring system is completely objective, but I’m sure we’ll all have fun with it, I know I will.

The folks over at TVSquad have a great story.

It seems that Jennifer Aniston loves 24, so much so she put her name in for the running as one of the guest appearances. Producer Joel Surnow, did one of the smartest things ever, and turned her down. He also turned down Ben Stiller, saying that they were “too recognizable. They’ll take you out of the reality.”

I agree wholeheartedly with Surnow’s decision. 24 is no place for Aniston or Stiller. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ben Stiller, and when he guest starred on Arrested Development as Tony Wonder, I almost died laughing. But, where would Ben Stiller fit in at 24? As a quirky terrorist? I don’t think so.

Aniston would’ve been an awful choice for the show, period. Bring back Mia Kirshner (Mandy) that would work.

Some spoilers for PREVIOUS seasons lay ahead.

Well, it’s that time of year again. Grab a piece of paper and a pen, make a list of what you want, and hope that you don’t get tube socks again.

But, for me I’d like to make a list of what I’d like to see happen in the upcoming season of 24.

1. How did we get Jack back from the Chinese? The first thing I would’ve listed, if I didn’t know better, was that we get Jack back from the Chinese. Since we know that happens, I hope that it isn’t some ridiculously unbelievable reason. Also, I would like to know, how the Americans know that Jack was actually captured by the Chinese. It’s obvious that the new President Palmer knew Jack and so when this new crisis arises it’s a no-brainer that he’d want Jack back in play. But, I’m really hoping of a good believable story on why the Chinese gave Jack Bauer back.

2. Revenge Jack is back. This is something that I actually wished for a long time ago, when I first started watching 24. During the end of the first season there’s a scene where Jack feels/thinks like he’s lost everything. Like he doesn’t have anything to live for, and just goes in guns blazing. It’s one of my favorite 24 moments. Something that’s happening in this season leads me to believe that Jack is going to pull out the little number of “stops� he has left. When Jack is out for revenge, he’s a hundred times more dangerous and deadly. Numerous sources have claimed that this season will be more about Jack saving himself, rather than the country as a whole.
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‘Tis the season for award nominations to be announced.

24 has been nominated for 2 major categories.

Best TV Series–Drama
24
Big Love
Grey’s Anatomy
Heroes
Lost

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series–Drama
Patrick Dempsey, Grey’s Anatomy
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
Bill Paxton, Big Love
Kiefer Sutherland, 24

For a complete list of the Nominees, check out the Golden Globes Website.