24

wow wow oh wow and double wow.
just finished watching the last couple of episodes of 24 and frankly it just has me gagging for day 5 of 24.

the basic premise for 24 is that jack bauer (played masterfully by kiefer sutherland) and the counter terrorist unit (ctu) of los angeles have to save the day in the space of 24 hours. each episode is played out in hour “real time” segments, actually to allow for ad breaks there is only 45 minutes of action but who is counting. so for 24 episodes you are on the edge of your seats and jack and co do what they have to do to make sure that the day is saved.

as i know at least one person who reads this has not seen the last two episodes (hi paul) i won’t say anything about how the show resolves itself this time.

there are many things that come together in 24 to make it a televisual experience. firstly there is the action packed serial nature of the show – it is not enough that they have a tense and dangerous situation to resolve, oh no there is also time enough to get in all sorts of personal issues. which of course means you end up caring about the characters and you want to see them make it to the end of the day.
this works because the casting has been spot on and the ensemble nature of the show works well (ok it is true that kiefer does seem to make sure he gets all the best lines…)
the serial nature also makes it a must watch event as every episode ends on a cliff hanger, and each episode has the ever present clock ticking away letting you know how much “time” is left in the hour. you want to see what is going to happen next but you don’t want the episode to end, but as the time hits 50 minutes of the hour you are just perched on the edge of the seat waiting for the next revelation.
the stories themselves are top-notch and for the duration of each show totally absorbing and believable it is only as the final seconds have ticked off that you can indulge in the game of “what did that mean?” “that was wrong” “that couldn’t have happened like that” etc. the joy is that no matter how farfetched some if it seems it works within the framework of what 24 is trying to do.

so i have seen the end of series 4 (or day 4) and have to say it is the best yet. though my own personal favourite series was day 2, why you ask? well first series was great and set us up for how the premise worked., so by the time day 2 was on i was rushing home on a sunday night not only to see the new episode on bbc3, but also to catch the repeat that was being shown in bbc2. once the show itself had finished then there was pure 24 with the lovely tamzin sylvester (whose mastery of clothes is only matched by one other…) it was a blissful 24 weeks of excitement. the next two series have been better but have been marred by the fact i couldn’t watch them in weekly instalments but instead got them in blocks (thanks jim). even though i have not been able to recapture the thrill of giving up sunday evenings to watch jack and ctu do what is necessary i have still managed to sit agog at the adventures, i have still
punched the air and whooped with delight at the entrance of a character or an event taking place on the screen.

look if you have not already seen 24 – get over to your local video store and see if they have one of them for rent – its worth it trust me….

what is interesting about 24 is how they now play it in the post 9/11 world – it has become a much harsher, more cynical and more willing to portray the good guys as people who are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, no matter what the cost.
the special agent has replaced the cowboy as the rugged individual who will step outside the lines to do what is right. in many ways jack bauer’s character is similar to john wayne’s ethan edwards in “the searchers” - ethan is relentless in his pursuit of what he sees as the right course but he know in his heart he is not part of civil society even though he will do his best to protect it.

oooh that was deep.

look stop reading this and get out there and see it for yourself: it’s the dog’s bollocks.

for the record my other favourite tv shows include
alias, angel, csi, nypd blue, hill street blues, babylon 5, sunset beach, star trek, prisoner, hr puff’n’stuff., bob mills in bedwithmedinner, game on, between the lines. i suspect that although i have fond memories of follyfoot, timeslip and blake’s seven they will not match up to them if i saw them again.