Watching 24

In this article I’m going to be as unbiased as possible. I’m just trying to present something which people can comment on.

Today “Jumped the Shark” has become quite a popular phrase around the TV folk. According to Wikipedia the phrase originated when the Fonz, in Happy Days, jumped over a shark on water skis (I always thought it had something to do with Lost and Sawyer actually jumping over a shark). Or in other words “Jumped the Shark” means at what point does a show lose all believability, or when has a good thing gone bad?

After finding out last night that Graham, the ‘bluetooth’ man that was behind the terrorist attacks in season 5, is now Jack’s brother have people begun to think that 24 has now jumped the shark? Is it too unbelievable that Jack’s brother could be Graham, or in other words is it just a ridiculous plot twist that was cultivated to woo the audience?
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Welcome to the 5th edition of the 24 Character Countdown. For those of you that are new that are new to the Countdown check out editions 1, 2, 3, & 4 to get the rundown of what goes on here.

Tom Lennox (91)
-Acted like 12,000 people killed wasn’t a big number at all (-8)
-Put the Admiral in his place for interrupting the President (+5)
-Didn’t want to hide the fact that a nuke just went off on American soil, to the American people (+10)
-Did however want to use the nuke to springboard his own agenda of rounding up all the Muslims and putting them in detention camps (-12)

Net Gain/Loss: -5
Current Total: 86

President Wayne Palmer (24)
-Every line of dialogue consists of almost all whispers (-10)
-Seemed like a boy amongst men in the Joint Chiefs meeting (-5)
-Chose not to preemptively go to war (+15)
-Wanting to calm the American people with his message instead of incite their fears (+10)
-Probably ended up calming the American people too much (put them to sleep) with his ever-whispering voice (-11)

Net Gain/Loss: -1
Current Total: 23

Bill Buchanan (115)
-Didn’t shake Assad’s hand (-4)
-Did, however, shake Assad’s hand after Assad proved that he is a nice terrorist (+7)

Net Gain/Loss: +3
Current Total: 118

Nadia Yassir (127)
-Seemingly just wanders around CTU doing the occasional thing when it requires her to speak Arabic (+1)
-Is still too cute to take off the Countdown list (+8)

Net Gain/Loss: +9
Current Total: 136

Jack Bauer (252)
-Showed his MacGyver skills by making a TV antenna into the Jaws of Life (+13)
-Saved a man from a helicopter dangling off a roof (+7)
-Did what we all knew he’d do. Quickly rescinded his resignation and got back into the game (+5)
-Suspicious of Graham from the start, he knows the guy is bad news (+8)
-Was with Graham’s wife in the past, Jack sure gets around doesn’t he (+10)
-Knocked Graham out the first chance he got (+6)
-Tied him to a chair (+2)
-Invented new Bauer torture technique, the menacing plastic bag over the head (+8)

Net Gain/Loss: +59
Current Total: 311
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10:00a.m.–11:00a.m.

No less than 12,000 people were killed by the bomb instantly, wow!

You knew that was going to set Jack off. After saving a guy from a downed helicopter, on top of the roof of a house (just another minute in the life of Jack Bauer), Jack told Bill that he was back in. No one detonates a nuclear weapon on his soil and gets away with it.

We also were introduced to a few more characters, and an old one that we knew before. Graham, the Bluetooth man is back, and wait for it the twist is that he’s Jack’s brother and it seems that Graham’s hatred for Jack may boil down to a past relationship Jack seems to have had with Graham’s wife (Jack really gets around).

Jack’s Dad Phillip is connected with the terrorists somehow, and Jack needs Graham to help him figure out why. I wonder how deep this really goes.

President Wayne just doesn’t have that commanding presence that David had. When he was in that meeting with the Joint Chiefs it was like a little boy amongst men. He just doesn’t have it, and is falling faster and faster in my books. He showed us the EXACT reason why America doesn’t deal with terrorists, by letting the prisoners go, and having it blow up, quite literally, in his face.

It seems that a lot of information is going to come from Walid, the IAA President that is in the detention camp. I like him more and more, while I like Sandra Palmer less and less; also, kudos to that FBI agent that continues to put Sandra in her place.

Speaking of detention camps, the possibility that Tom Lennox has been pushing this whole time, seems to be creeping its way ever closer to becoming reality. Hopefully it never happens, for the sole fact that we’ll see a lot more uproar over 24 being racist.

It’s tough to tell how things are going to play out between Jack and Graham. I sure hope that Jack finds out that Graham was behind the attacks of last season. Somehow, while Graham is a mastermind of terrorist attacks, I don’t believe he can withstand the “persuasiveness� of Jack. That plastic bag at the end was a nice touch. That just looked eerie.

With four more nukes out there, and Fayed looking for a new technician, anything can happen. At least that buys Jack more time to find out what’s going on. Even with all the revelations in this episode, it still reminded me of the third episode, like it’s all leading up to something very big in the next couple episodes.

Stay tuned for the Character Countdown for episode 5. Those of you that don’t know what it is here’s an example.

24, Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer, Season 6

Now before you get all excited, this is only for one night. According to TVSquad Feruary 12th is scheduled to be a back-to-back viewing of the episodes that will cover 1p.m.–3p.m.

I love the back-to-back episodes, it always reminds me of watching 24 on DVD, which is the best way to watch 24. It’s hard to get back into the habit of watching 24 every week, instead of 8 episodes in a row. So, I’m pretty excited anytime we get episodes aired back-to-back.

24, back-to-back, Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland

What do I think is going to happen tonight?

Obviously the nuke will be at the center of at least tonight’s episode. But, what I’m wondering is how will this change things.

I could actually see this changing the President and having him end up following Tom Lennox’s plan of rounding up all the Muslims. It’s also going to change Jack. The last thing we heard from Jack was him telling Bill that he couldn’t do it anymore. But, the last thing was saw was Jack seeing a nuke go off in California.

Those of you that have high guesses on the Kill Count Contest, be prepared. I don’t think you’re out of the running just yet. After seeing something like that happen on his own soil, I don’t think anything will stop Jack from here on out. Jack’s going on a rampage I can just feel it.

That’s all I have. Does anyone have anything else they’d like to add? Any other insights, thoughts or predictions on what’s going to happen tonight?

Remember to come back for the review after the show airs, and also stay tuned for the Character Countdown.

24, Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer, season 6, episode 5

The Council of Islamic Relations (CAIR) is speaking out about 24 portraying Muslims as the enemy.

I understand that this can be a sensitive issue with a lot of people. Here’s a video with Bill O’Reilly interviewing Arsalan Iftikar of CAIR, about the subject, take a look:

My problem with this argument the guy is making is this. First off it doesn’t seem like he’s even watched an episode of this season. He mentions that they have put 7 million Muslims in detention camps, which they HAVE not done. Tom Lennox, the man who actually wants to do it, is seen as a bad guy, not good by any means.
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Variety is reporting that a season pass for downloading episodes of 24, will be 45$.

45$ are you serious?

Every episode will be available the day after it airs.

So, would you like to know what you’re getting for your 45 bucks? Not one or two…but three, count them three remixes of the show’s theme.

45$ seems really steep, but leave it up to iTunes to charge something this outrageous. I mean when the DVD comes out brand new it’ll be around 45 bucks and you have them on DVD in a nice little box to add to your collection, not stored to your harddrive taking up space, until you finally delete them and buy the DVD when it comes out anyway, so now you’re in around 100 bucks.

Does this deal sound appealing to anyone?

24, FOX, iTunes, Apple

Okay the first thing I ask, before you read this, is that you head on over here and watch the first chapter of CTU the Rookie sponsored by Degree for Men.

Okay you’ve all watched it right? Good. First off, just so people know, this is all a giant advertisement.

Here’s a quote from The Hollywood Reporter:

Unilever’s Degree Men has announced a multiplatform marketing deal with 20th Century Fox Television’s hit series “24″ that includes two original online short films, TV ads and an online animated series prequel with “24″-related themes and creative content as well as in-store promotions tied to “24″ DVD releases.

So, finding out that this is just a glorified commercial, helps me relax a little (how this is going to help sell deodorant is anybody’s guess).

CTU the Rookie follows the day of Jason, a CTU “rookie” just looking for his shot. Instead the entire first chapter, which is all of about five minutes, is of him getting coffee. He also saves a sweet old lady from getting nailed by a car.

The acting is commercial acting at best, and along with what I thought it was going to be “based on the trailer.”
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January 22nd is the day. The day where we see what kind of impact Heroes is going to have on 24’s ratings and vice versa.

There’s been a lot of talk that Heroes will actually beat out 24 for Monday night dominance, but I say “Not so fast.”

24 is coming off of it’s highest rated year ever. The 4 hour premiere really catapulted the show back into the limelight. Even with all the ‘negative’ press surrounding the nuclear explosion, 24 seems to be holding its own with old and new fans alike.

TV has Changed to. DVR’s and TiVo’s now reign supreme, and it would seem that Monday night’s the DVR’s are going to be working overtime, and everyone will watch what they want to watch when they want to watch it.

What I’m not sure of is how many 24 fans are also Heroes fans. In other words how much does the fanbases of each show overlap? I personally don’t watch Heroes, because I just don’t have the time to fit it into the TV watching schedule. But, I wanted to know how many of the readers here watch one or the other or both?

And also, who do you think is going to win the ratings battle come Monday?
Sound off in the comments.

Let me get this right out there at the beginning, I don’t consider myself a Republican or a Democrat. Like I said before, I have become quite disillusioned with the way things are run in this country, and it’s because of this insane way all politicians have with pointing out problems that really aren’t the problems they should be dealing with.

If you Google 24, then go to news, you’ll see tons of articles talking about ‘fallout’ because of the show.

I think 24 handles sensitive material quite well. If you look over the seasons 24 has employed all sorts of nationalities as terrorists, even Americans. As we know from experience with the show, there’s about 7 or 8 more hours of Fayed, until we actually find out who is behind these attacks, which I’m betting will have American ties.

The writers of 24 also deal with tension very well. In the premiere a man was racially profiling Ahmed (Kal Penn) because he thought Ahmed was a terrorist based on his religion and nationality. He was right, however he was right for the wrong reasons, and still turned out to look like a racist.

There’s another character who is head of an Islamic Organization who is wrongfully imprisoned, but still feels like he can help by staying at the detention facility and trying to figure out if any of the men are actually terrorists.

People in the President’s administration are seen as racists as they try to pass legislation to intern all people of Middle Eastern origins. They aren’t glorified for what they’re doing. We know as an educated audience that these people are crazy for wanting to do something like that because it is against everything America stands for.

I’m sick of the politicians that think they need to be my babysitter. They need to tell me what’s right and wrong. They need to watch over me, because I can’t do that myself. It’s ridiculous. How about they worry if I’m going to have Social Security when I’m retired.

24, politics, Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland

EPISODE 3:

Marcus was just a bit too greedy:

All he wanted to do was drive buses for the army:

Original style, or extra crispy:

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This my fellow readers is the place where we remember the ones that have passed on during the course of season 6 of 24.

Please, if I miss anyone let me know and I’ll try and get the screenshot and add them in.

Just a Note: I know that there’s a lot of newscasts announcing people dead in other states by attacks, but we’ll just stick to the ones that are actually shown on screen.

Come Pay Your Respects:

EPISODE 1

A bus load of people blown up with a bomb connected to a fancy iRiver:

If only this poor terrorist knew what was going to happen next:

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It seems that there is quite the mixed feelings about Curtis Manning’s death on 24. Some people feel that Curtis shouldn’t have been killed at all, other people feel like Jack should’ve just shot Curtis in the leg. Yet other people feel that the actions Curtis decided to take against Assad were completely against his character.

I for one am not sad that Curtis is gone, not because I didn’t like him, but I thought that it made for better storytelling and some intense drama.

Could Jack have popped Curtis in the knee? Sure. But, does that mean that while still alive Curtis would’ve still shot at Assad? If he really wanted Assad dead a leg wound wouldn’t have stopped him.

Responding to how Curtis reacted I think that it was well within his character. As a Special Forces soldier I’m sure that Curtis felt a lot of respect and loyalty for his fellow soldiers. I’m sure that while he was a very straight forward upright guy, that this was the one thing that could really set him off. We all have those things. It doesn’t matter how well disciplined you are, everyone has a breaking point, and Assad was Curtis’.

What does everyone else think? Do you think the death of Curtis was uncalled for?

24, Cutis Manning, CTU, FOX

I found a great article on my daily search of everything 24.

It talked about how liberals and conservatives are speaking out about the show, but in two totally differnet tones (like that’s a surprise).

The liberals are babbling about 24 being a bunch of conservative propoganda. Specifically he quotes Keith Olbermann:

“[24] featured a mall attack, a would-be suicide bomber on a subway, and a successful suicide bombing on a passenger bus. Not in places where these things have already happened, but in a country called the United States of America. In case you missed the point, the show finished up with a nuclear weapon detonating in a major American city, literally conjuring up the administration’s imagery for the war in Iraq, the good old mushroom cloud.”

Olbermann continued: “Is 24 propaganda? Is it fearmongering? Or is it a program-length commercial for one political party?”

And the conservatives are telling everyone, “look this could really happen, you’d better listen to us.”

Over the past year or so I’ve become completely dissillusioned with the way things are run in this country, because of silly things like this.

24 is a TV show. It’s not promoting any political propoganda, as much as people would like to think it is. It’s sad. It’s sad because someone like Olbermann wouldn’t be saying anything about this if 24 was on NBC, it’s just because he has some sort of vendetta against FOX, because of FOX News. While I’m not condoning any side, because I think they are both ridiculous, I think that Olbermann has really gone off the deep end on this one.

24 is drama, plain and simple. It’s silly to think of it as anything more.

Please let us know what you think in the comments. And please do try and keep the comments civil. I don’t want to turn this site into a crazy den of politcal insanity.

EDIT: Faithful reader Sammy mentioned this Kiefer quote in the comments of this story, but I wanted to share it with everyone.

In an article in today’s USA Today about 24, Kiefer was quoted as saying, “I long for the day we can go back to when the show is the fantasy it was designed to be�.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

24, politics, Olbermann, FOX

Tom Lennox (70)
-Didn’t want to pardon Assad (-4)
-Actually blew Sandra off. It was one of the best scenes yet (+20)
-Came up with a reasonable story to tell to the American people about why they were pardoning a known terrorist (+5)

Net Gain/Loss: +21
Current Total: 91

President Wayne Palmer (28)
-Somewhat redeemed himself from last episode, after he told Jack to take charge of the hunt for Fayed (+10)
-But, didn’t realize that we all knew Jack was in charge as soon as he got off that plane (-9)
-Gave Assad a pardon (+4)
-Mentioning the fact that he values Tom’s loyalty (-9)

Net Gain/Loss: -4
Current Total: 24

Bill Buchanan (115)
-Regurgitated the information we already knew about Namir in a way that drove me insane (-7)
-Told everyone at CTU that they have to do better. They can’t let terrorists escape in broad daylight (+10)
-Didn’t have the guts to say to everyone that this is all actually the President’s fault (-11)

Net Gain/Loss: -8
Current Total: 107

Nadia Yassir (127)
-Showed off her Arabic speaking talents to let us all know that there are still four more nukes out there (+6)

Net Gain/Loss: +6
Current Total: 133
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