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My name is Michael Edwards. Today is the
longest day of my life.
6:00 am – 7:00 am: Wake up
7:00 am – 8:00 am: Get out of bed
8:00 am – 9:00 am: Wake up and get
out of bed after having lain back down…
for just a minute.
Okay, so my day isn’t all that bad.
Not when compared to some of the days that
Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has had.
I mean, first he had 24 hours to stop an
assassination plot against Presidential
candidate David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert).
Then, a scant 18 months later, he has to
not only keep a nuclear bomb from going
off on U.S. soil, stop a war from breaking
out under false pretenses (oh where was
Bauer when we needed him in real life?),
and try and take down the masterminds behind
the entire scenario. For Jack Bauer, it’s
all in a day’s work.
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When the first season of “24” aired
in 2001, I knew it was a show I had to watch.
But with my busy schedule I knew I wouldn’t
always be available to watch it when it aired,
so I did what any red-blooded American TV watcher
does, I taped it. I figure I would only get one
or two episodes behind and catch up in an evening.
Well, as fate would have it I finally watched
the first episode right about the time the 18th
hour was airing. At that point I thought I’d
watch a couple of episodes a day until I caught
up. I was caught up in 3 days. Every time one
of the hours would come to a close, I just had
to move on to the next. The show was that compelling.
For those unaware of the concept, “24”
bases itself on the premise that an entire season
takes place in one day. 24 episodes, 24 hours.
The story unveils itself in ‘real time’,
complete with a ticking clock that reminds viewers
from time to time how much time has elapsed. This
had to wreak havoc with the continuity people.
I was amazed at how well the show was written
and edited, and even more so mostly kept within
the realm of plausibility. Occasionally there
would be a stretch of the imagination to make
something work, but rarely.
When the 2nd season of “24” started,
I almost did the same thing. I thought I would
record the episodes for several weeks, and then
sit down to watch. But I couldn’t wait.
Actually my wife and I couldn’t wait. It
ended up being the one show that we made time
for every week for the entire season. It was hell.
Knowing every time an episode would end, we would
have to wait a whole week as opposed to just fast
forwarding on the VCR. But it was worth it. In
its 2nd season, “24” proved itself
to be more than just a flash in the pan. It had
legs and would probably run as long as the creators
wanted to keep churning them out.
I mentioned earlier part of what the plot was
in the 2nd season, though there were also several
sub-plots that run concurrently and usually tied
in to the main story at some point. And here was
where I found the weakness I can pick out of the
entire series. It goes like this… in both
seasons, Jack is having a bad day. Oddly enough,
his daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) is also having
one, too. In the 1st season it was believable
since a part of the plot involved kidnapping Jack’s
family. However, in the 2nd season she is employed
as a nanny to a family that includes a child beating
lunatic who is out to get her, ends up on the
run from the cops herself, meets up with a guy
who tricks her into an underground shelter, etc…
none of which is related to the main story. Now
really, what are the odds that this would happen
on the exact same day as her Dad’s ‘bad’
day? Point made. I’ll move on.
The 3rd season took the storyline 3 years after
the events of the 2nd, where we learned that Palmer
was still in office and Jack had been involved
in an undercover operation that had taken an extremely
hard toll on him. Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard)
was now in control as the head of the CTU office
and was married to Michelle Dressler (Keiko Aylesworth).
I was glad to see so many of the characters back.
Until I saw Kim. She was almost the nail in the
coffin for my hopes of a good season, and though
I could have done without her character anywhere
in the series during the 3rd season, at least
the writers made her an employee of CTU in order
to explain why her day would be as bad as her
Dad’s.
As each season has progressed, the stakes have
gotten higher and higher. You never really know
who might live or die (and I was shocked to see
a really major character bite the dust in the
3rd season), and the some of the choices that
had to be made in the interest of national security
were mind-blowing. The plot of that season went
all over the map, with the threat of a major bio-weapon
being unleashed on U.S. soil. I’ll admit
the first of the season was a little slow, but
once we hit about the 5th hour, I was biting my
nails on every week’s episode. Granted,
as with any series of this type, I had to make
some suspensions of disbelief, in this case is
was more the major globe-hopping that took place
all in the space of ’24 hours’ that
was a little hard to swallow, but aside from that
I had no complaints.
The 4th season, if you can believe it, was every
bit as powerful as the pervious ones. Major characters
had been pushed to the back, or at least that
is how it seemed as some familiar faces started
to pop up hour by hour. Eighteen months had passed
between ‘Days’ and Jack Bauer was
no longer with CTU. He now worked for Secretary
of Defense James Heller (William Devane). When
his new boss is kidnapped, he found himself caught
up in an all-new plot to assassinate the new president
of the U.S. as well as a terrorist threat that
could result in the death of millions of people.
Then of course… the 5th season. Even I had
to wonder if they could do it again. The first
episode hit us with several shocking assassinations,
and the anxiety level did not dissipate for the
entire 24 hours. At the end of the 4th season,
Jack had to fake his own death and live his life
incognito. Here, the assassinations brought him
out of seclusion and directly into the action
as he is unofficially re-instated into CTU to
investigate the assassinations, stop a terrorist
takeover of an airport and find several containers
of nerve gas before they are used to kill hundreds
of thousands of Americans. But to make matters
worse, there were people in control of the day's
events that that are not only shocking in their
revelation, but probably not too far from the
truth in our governmental situation at the time.
All 24 hours of the 5th season kept us on the
edge of our seats, the only small nitpick I have
being that there were a few plot points that seemed
contrived. For example, there is a point of the
plot where Jack is unconscious and handcuffed
in a room around the corner from where some nerve
gas is going to be released. There are two terrorists
taking care of the deed. One tells the other to
go in the other room and kill Jack. Okay…
they are about to release the nerve gas. Why bother
taking the time to go in there and shoot him?
The gas will do the trick. But what this does
is give Jack the opportunity to escape by taking
out the terrorist who conveniently gets close
enough to him to shoot. There also seemed to be
a little too much of the C.T.U. team doing things
behind each others backs or not following protocol.
There are times when a situation is kept secret
from everyone else for no real reason. HOWEVER,
regardless of these little issues this season
of "24" was the best yet.
The season was also elevated by the casting of
some excellent actors in various roles. For terrorists,
we were given the likes of Julian Sands, Gerant
Wyn Davies and Peter Weller. Weller's character
was exceptional as an ex-C.T.U. agent turned bad.
He is probably one of the most cold-blooded of
any of the villains we've seen. I was also thrilled
to see Sean Astin cast in the role of a high ranking
C.T.U. official. After so many nice guy roles,
I wasn't prepared for how coolly he was able to
deliver a no-nonsense type who would talk down
to the rest of the agents. And as the situation
grew worse, his demeanor began to unravel almost
to the point of psychotic. Astin was excellent.
The absolute standouts if the season were Gregory
Itzin as the President and Jean Smart as the First
Lady. Smart was nominated for an Emmy for her
performance, but Itzin should have been as well.
As the President, his character had to convey
both the strength of the office paired with the
weakness of the man. Yet even his weaknesses had
their share of cold calculation. Itzin tore through
this role with gusto and deserved to win an Emmy.
The 6th Season I really won’t get into…
for some reason or another, it just wasn’t
all that. It was okay, but there was a feeling
that the show was starting its spiral. It was
rather lackluster and seemed to go nowhere. I
almost wasn’t looking forward to the 7th
season… but I thought I’d give it
a chance. And thank God I did.
Season 7 brought “24” back to life
(in more ways than one) delivering a storyline
that I feel was every bit as good as the amazing
5th season. This storyline’s home base actually
moves from Los Angeles this time around, bringing
Jack to Washington D.C. to testify before Congress
in regards to his rather questionable past choices.
Of course, the hearings are interrupted when it
is learned that a terrorist group has stolen a
computer chip that gives them the ability to access
government mainframes. Jack is brought back into
the fold because the leader of said group turns
out to be… oh wait… can’t really
drop the spoiler here if you haven’t already
watched the show when it aired.
Throughout the course of the season, Jack finds
himself once again questioning those closest to
him, those who shouldn’t be here anymore,
and occasionally himself as he races against time
to bring down not only the terrorist group…
but those in corporate America (surprise!!) pulling
the strings. Season 7 of “24” truly
shines in its ability to reinvigorate the series.
Of course, it was kind of odd to see a woman president…
well, considering last year’s real life
Washington debacle… I guess it wasn’t
so far-fetched.
The Season 7 set also brings with it a smaller
packaging than ever before, utilizing a regular
size DVD case to hold all 6 discs. And as for
extra features… well there’s no shortage
here. There are no less than 12 commentaries (listed
below) by various members of the cast or crew.
I was hoping to hear from Keifer, but he was oddly
missing (possibly partying??) The commentaries
are all really good and there is a lot of interesting
and FUN information to be found.
“24-7: The Untold Story” offers viewers
an inside look at how the show was put together
from a writer’s standpoint, even going so
far as to focus on how the writer’s strike
actually affected the direction and outcome of
the season. “Hour 19: The Ambush:”
is as it sounds, delivering a behind the scenes
look at how the huge scene was set up and shot.
“The Fimucite Festival Presents: The Music
of 24” introduces us to Sean Calley as he
conducts an orchestra playing pieces of the show’s
theme. Finally, there are several deleted scenes.
“24” is still an awesome and addictive
show. I absolutely recommend adding all seven
DVD sets to your collection, but if you start
watching them you’ll be hard-pressed not
to do it marathon style. Oh… and did I mention
they bring back… never mind…
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland
Extras: 24-7: The Untold Story, Hour 19: The Ambush,
The Fimucite Festival Presents: The Music of 24,
Deleted Scenes,
Commentaries:
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM: Carlos Bernard; director-producer
Jon Cassar.
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Carlos Bernard; writer-producers
Manny Coto and Brannon Braga.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: Annie Wersching; Cassar.
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Hakeem Kae-Kazim; writer-producer
David Fury.
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Wersching; Coto; Braga.
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM: Tony Todd; director/producer
Brad Turner.
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM: James Morrison; composer Sean
Callery; Turner
9:00 PM - 10:00 PM: Bob Gunton; Wersching; writer-producer
Juan Carlos Coto.
1:00 AM - 2:00 AM: Jeffery Nording; Bernard; writer-producer
Howard Gordon.
5:00 AM - 6:00 AM: Mary Lynn Rajskub; Glenn Morshower;
writer-producer Evan Katz.
6:00 AM - 7:00 AM: Morshower; Fury; writer-producer
Alex Gansa.
7:00 AM - 8:00 AM: Gordon; Cassar.
Specifications: Widescreen (1.78:1), Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: 5/19/2009
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
http://www.foxtvdvd.com
We'll give 24: Season 7 an A.
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