Sunday, May 21, 2006

24 No More

This post contains spoilers. If you don't want to know information about the 24 season finale that airs tonight ... DO NOT READ THIS POST!

You have been warned.

Now, first a reality check.

Reality Check: 24 is just a TV show. One that I have enjoyed a lot. But it's just a TV show. I'm fully aware of that.

Now, on with what I have to say.

I'm not sure if I'm going to watch 24 after this season. Because they're starting to tick me off. And here's why...

Real Time?

First of all, the concept of "real-time" television is the entire premise. But so many times this season, they have jumped forward in time. Or the clocks were wrong. Either way, it varies from the whole premise.

For example, remember when Tony died? Jack was sitting there after Henderson had escaped, held Tony and cried, and the clock ticked :58, :59, :00

When the next episode started (what should have been :01, :02, :03 ...) there were people pulling a sheet over Tony and hauling him away.

That doesn't happen in less than a second. Heck, a crew couldn't have made it to the secure room in minutes, much less seconds.

For another example, remember when people drove places in the first season? They'd jump in the car and if was a 45-minute drive, they didn't get there until 45 minutes had passed. That either meant late the same episode, or in the next episode.

This season, they jump in the car and are there before the commercial break! Heck, I work two blocks from where the wife works and it takes 10-15 minutes to leave my desk and get to her desk. And that's in Columbus, Georgia!

While I've never been to Los Angeles, some people I know who have lived there say traffic is not fun. Now, before you say "Oh, there's a curfew on and no traffic on the road", they still have to get through all the roadblocks that are set up to enforce the curfew.

Yes, I know, it's just a TV show. But it's a TV show based on real-time events.

Heck, if Star Trek was supposed to be set in the 23rd century aboard a spaceship, and suddenly it was in present-day in an office building ... well, you get my point. I hope.

No Ideas? Kill Someone

Another thing I don't like is the way they killed off everyone from earlier seasons. Was that to show "hey anyone can die at any time"? Well, killing Terri in the first season established that. I'm wondering if they've done it to keep from having to come up with ideas.

Writer 1: Hey, what do we do about this situation?

Writer 2: Gosh, I don't know.

Writer 3: I know! Let's kill someone!

Writers 1, 2: Yeah!


Anyway, I don't like that they've killed off everyone from the past.

*SPOILER ALERT* Heck, they even kill off good characters from this season. Tonight, Jack murders Henderson. Yes, "murders." After all, he gives Henderson an unloaded gun, then shoots him.

This Isn't SU2

Remember Special Unit 2? Aired back in 2001. The premise was that werewolves, gnomes, etc. (but not vampires) were real. They were the "missing link" between apes and humans.

I enjoyed the show. It was silly. And clever. Well, maybe not clever. But silly. But it was supposed to be silly.

Evan Katz, who created that show is one of the writers and producers for 24. And Joel Surnow, who created 24 was a Creative Consultant for SU2 ... and wrote three of the shows.

Joel Surnow is credited as writer for a half-dozen or so of the episodes for this season of 24.

What's the big deal?

Well, like I said, I liked the implausible (okay, impossible) stuff from SU2. Because it was supposed to be implausible. I mean, gnomes! And for me, it worked.

*SPOILER ALERT* And while 24 hasn't had gnomes, it's had stuff just as implausible. Like Jack Bauer, the most-sought man in the US, hijacks the President's helicopter?

I'd more likely believe Carl the Gnome would hijack it.

I'm Not A Happy Camper

No, I don't like what they've done with the characters from the past, or with the interesting characters that have been introduced this season. And while I can suspend disbelief, I can't completely turn my brain off. And I think they should adhere to the real-time concept.

But, I'm still going to watch it tonight. Not sure if I'll watch it next season. Probably. But I won't like it.

1 comment:

  1. You should hear us hot about the names of streets and locations....even without traffic these guys are covering 25 hard miles in ten minutes of show time...and the airplane landing scene? The 118 (the freeway they landed on) runs for a relatively short distance (in freeway terms) across the top of the San Fernando Valley (it is called the Ronald Reagan Freeway) and passes on the north side of Burbank Airport (Bob Hope Airport) and a few miles west of that, four miles south of the 118 is Van Nuys airport, both of which handle jets.

    They said on the show they were 100 miles from the nearest airport, so they must land on the 118, yet there is a crew from LA CTU at the plane when it lands to get jack. so they went (real distances here, let's assume for a moment that they hit the high desert north of LA AND that Edwards AFB wasn't just north of there) from LA to the high desert (45 miles) in less than ten minutes?

    No wonder they don't have to stop for roadblocks....they warp through them.

    Believe me, living here, I could go on......

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