24

[Trent B 337]

I would check it out. Hopefully this gives 24 the proper send off it deserves.

[Uni 306]

Okay. Finally finished watching Season 8.

What a massive, painful disappointment. I hung on through the whole thing, because everyone here kept saying that while the first half of the season was the pits (and they were certainly correct about that), the second half made up for it. Question: when? The entire season was, for me, the worst of the lot. Season 6 was weak, but this one was just plain bad. They retread almost every element from earlier seasons. Nothing made sense. Plot lines were introduced then dropped unceremoniously—with no consequences or even memory of them—once the writers decided to move on to something else. And most of the characters were needlessly spoiled because the writers simply ran out of ideas and had to keep things "dramatic" somehow. I shook my head in impotent frustration as I watched President Taylor cross the line (sorry, but a woman who sent her own daughter up the creek and ruined her marriage just to do the right thing would never, ever do any of the garbage they foisted on her this time around). But her wrong actions pushed Jack across the line, which only led him to do worse things in order to see . . . what? Justice served? The President forced to make things right? None of those outcomes would've justified Jack's actions, which just meant that they turned him into a monster—again, because they had nothing better to do. (That he was avenging his relationship with one character at the total expense of his relationship with another character he claimed to care about—Kim—was another slap in the face.)

The show had a fairly long and memorable history of changed premises, but they were really going for the record this time around.

The Dana Walsh subplot was miserable to begin with, then became laughable, before turning incredulously dumb. They

had to have come up with the mole idea late, because anyone who could calmly do the things she did later on would not have put up with the antics of a childish ex-boyfriend at the start of the day. The all-important data card in the last couple of episodes vanished without a trace . . . and they made no attempt to explain where it had gone. And without Logan's help, how in the world did Taylor find out how to contact the team that had kidnapped Jack? I could go on ad nauseum, but the show made me nauseum enough, thank you.

They managed to spare a couple of characters: Cole Ortiz (a good addition to the show) and Chloe, but everyone else was sacrificed on the altar of bad drama. A quarter of the way into the season it had become clear that they had so lost their mojo with this thing. By the time the last quarter rolled around, I was benumbed with disappointment and something close to contempt. The finale was a repeat of the end of Season 4 without the cleverness, and by that time I didn't care how they ended it anyway. As someone who followed and supported the series through its run, I hate being treated to such lazy storytelling at the end of the road. When you find yourself repeatedly guessing what the next twist will be (a habit during the entire series, of course), only to see them do something worse and far dumber than your idea, after a while all you can do is give up and let the thing play itself out.

It makes me hugely skeptical that they'll be able to bring the show back with any kind of credibility—although I have to believe they came up with something passing as a good idea, if they're going to the trouble at all. One can only hope. . . .

- Uni

[Richard Penna 3,694]

It lost its footing for me from season 6 onwards. I don't even remember what the plots for 7 or 8 were.

Tony being turned felt like the writers were trying way to hard to be surprising. And I'm tired of plot devices like nuclear rods. Go back to basics with something more domestic, and create a villain who's actually interesting.

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

It lost its footing for me from season 6 onwards. I don't even remember what the plots for 7 or 8 were.

I agree. Actually, the first few episodes of season 6 were awesome, but it soon lost all sense of where it was going. The new writers clearly didn't understand the rationale behind Jack's use of violence in earlier seasons. By the time season 8 rolled around, it was like Jack was just being violent because the writers wanted to be edgy. His motivations were stupid and often unclear and I just couldn't root for him anymore. Redemption and season 7 had a few good moments, but season 8 sucked.

[Datameister 2,044]

I've been rewatching the show from the beginning lately. I'd forgotten how good season 1 is. Season 2 has some greatness in it, but it's got problems, too. I'm gonna be sad as I go into the mediocre season 3 and then the downright sucky season 4, although I'm looking forward to 5. I enjoy 5 a lot. After that...meh, we'll see if I hang on. Maybe I'll just skip 6. I like 7. Season 8 I only saw once, so I'll probably give it a second shot.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I hated Jack's rampage at the end of season 8. Like Uni said, it made him into a monster. Why do this to a character we'd been with for almost nine years? Why did they let him lose every last bit of morality left in him? It's sad, disappointing and utterly alienating. I hope 24: Live Anoher Day will redeem the character a bit, because he's in dire need of it (ironically, much more so than in Redemption).

[Jay 37,372]

So, who watched the season premiere?

[Wojo 2,453]

I caught all of it but the first thirteen minutes. Formulaic but not bad.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

I would have, had it started on Sunday instead of Monday (it was simulcast, but 1am is too late for me for a work night).

I want a lack of cliches.

[Trent B 337]

I would have, had it started on Sunday instead of Monday (it was simulcast, but 1am is too late for me for a work night).

I want a lack of cliches.

It wouldn't be 24 without the cliche's.

I think the 4 year hiatus has helped with this. I liked what I watched last night so I'm looking forward to the rest. I wonder if they'll make a bold move and kill Jack at the last episode (which I doubt they would)... or maybe after saving the President he some how escapes yet again and ends up being on the run once more. Or finally ends up getting captured and taken in this time and unable to do anything.

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

I would have, had it started on Sunday instead of Monday (it was simulcast, but 1am is too late for me for a work night).

I want a lack of cliches.

It wouldn't be 24 without the cliche's.

I think the 4 year hiatus has helped with this. I liked what I watched last night so I'm looking forward to the rest. I wonder if they'll make a bold move and kill Jack at the last episode (which I doubt they would)...

I think they should have killed Jack after season 5. By then it was the only surprise they hadn't pulled off yet. Imagine how blown your mind would be if they did it BEFORE the season finale!

[Jay 37,372]

I caught a few minutes of this when it was on live after we finished Game of Thrones. Chloe is goth mode was hilarious!

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Will be completing my 'refresher' rewatch of Season 8 tonight, ahead of the first 2 episodes of Live Another Day airing on UK TV tomorrow night.

You can't beat a bit of Bauer, television's most no-nonsense action hero.

DAMMIT, CHLOE!!!

[Trent B 337]

I do like even after a 4 year hiatus that Kiefer Sutherland pulled off his character Jack Bauer. It's almost like the show never left. Chloe in Goth mode...ya....she looked cuter before.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Hmm, not the biggest fan of the opening episodes. The escape plot was about as far-fetched as anything I've seen in the show.

I do wish they'd return to the character-based plots. Season 5 is by miles my favourite season in that respect.

And Stephen Fry as the UK prime minister... not the best idea. He's a great actor, but he's too well known over here to be anyone other than... Stephen Fry.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

It was weird watching Jack do his stuff on UK soil, and like Trent I'm also not crazy about Chloe's 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' makeover. But I will of course be sticking with it.

[Wycket 36]

I was a late comer, starting 24 with Season 5 and watching live there after. Following the cancellation, I went back and watched the first four seasons, just finishing 4 about a year ago. I was going to circle back and finish through when they announced a new season so I've been waiting for my Jack fix, and I was not disappointed. This is still the same show as it was four years ago. For better or worse, I hope they don't deviate too much from the proven formula as its part of the enjoyment for me. 24 is never going to be the best show on tv, but like many great 80s action movies, I view 24 for the pure enjoyment factor and look forward to see what Bauer will do next, regardless of how convoluted things may get. If this show can reach the quality of Season 7 or the later half of 8 I will be extremely happy and pleased to dedicate the next ten weeks or so to the show.

If it dips into Season 6 territory I may be less enthralled, however.

[nightscape94 965]

It's on Amazon Prime, so I may catch it at some point. There are so many shows I want to watch that I need to get some order.

[Trent B 337]

"You probably think that I am at a disadvantage but I promise you that I AM NOT."

[Uni 306]

Still haven't had a chance to check out the first episode, but in the meantime. . . .

Here's a little tongue-in-cheek action from the "missing" files of Jack Bauer. I had initial germ of the idea for this years ago when we were watching the series on DVD but lacked the tools to produce it properly at the time. With the advent of Jack's return in London, I thought this would be a fitting time to take a break from all the other video stuff I've been laboring over recently and work the thing up for fun. (And it was a lot of fun—for me, anyway.)

Enjoy.

[Wojo 2,453]

I have to remind myself that I'm watching 24 set in the UK instead of simply Torchwood, especially the Miracle Day series.

Margot Al-Harazi showed this week she's got the depth to become You Know Who. Can't effing wait.

[Jay 37,372]

Margot Al-Harazi showed this week she's got the depth to become You Know Who. Can't effing wait.

What does that mean?

[Wojo 2,453]

Jack will snap and fall to the dark side to get Audrey back. Haven't you been reading the 24 blogs?

[Jay 37,372]

I haven't watched 24 since Season 6 I think. In my world, Tony Almeida died a good guy!

[Wojo 2,453]

You aren't missing much. It's formulaic and predictable. But this past week's episode was personally very satisfying.

[Uni 306]

I finally got to sit down and catch up with the first three episodes. It . . . felt good to be back with Jack. There's a familiarity the series has bred that makes for comfortable watching (most of the time). I wasn't blown away, but it isn't nearly as bad as Season 8 either started or finished.

The style creates an interesting dilemma, though: fundamentally, the show has never really evolved from its initial concept and approach. It's doing things now that it was doing in Season 1, and every season since. There's a certain faint and undeniable sense of stagnation in that idea. And yet—if they changed anything about it, it wouldn't be 24, would it? We'd probably be pissed as all hell if they tried to mix up the formula and try something new.

Anyway, it's good stuff so far. Would've been nice if Jack were going after Chloe just to save an old friend, but I suppose it would be a pretty thin plot without ulterior motives on some level.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Well, I guess the fact that this season is only 12 episodes (which means that at some stage, there's going to have to be more than one hour passing per episode) IS pissing with the formula a bit.

I'm enjoying it, but I still feel it's yet to REALLY catch fire.

[Wojo 2,453]

I already have a problem with the time jump. In episode 3, Parliament was loudly laying into Heller, but in episode 4, we don't see him again until about midway into the episode, when he said a lot of rambling gibberish about feeling good and the real enemy, and they gave him a rousing applause. Really? How did the tension evaporate so quickly?

[Uni 306]

Well, I guess the fact that this season is only 12 episodes (which means that at some stage, there's going to have to be more than one hour passing per episode) IS pissing with the formula a bit.

Not necessarily. It may just be a short day for Jack (11:00 to 11:00). Let the guy sleep for once. . . .

I'm enjoying it, but I still feel it's yet to REALLY catch fire.

My thoughts exactly. It's like "snacking" on 24 between 24 meals.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Definitely feel it's missing something by not being set in the States this time. We've got Jack, we've got Chloe, we've got the ticking clock, we've got a frantic race to stop something bad happening that will have terrible and far-reaching consequences ... but it just isn't the same.

[Uni 306]

I actually not sure if that's the factor. One thing I've noticed is that, for all the folks they've run across so far, only a couple have even sported a British accent. There's nothing to really make it feel like London—compared to the way Sherlock does, for instance. And when it's all about the president, and the president's staff, and the Army, and CIA, and Jack and Chloe and some other displaced Yanks, then character-wise they may just as well be somewhere in New England rather than England.

[Wojo 2,453]

Well it definitely supports the classic, "British accent = bad guy" cliché. Who are the bad guys? Margot, her family, and that shady hacker. Audrey's husband is also getting in the way, just like that reporter from the first two Die Hards.

Really disappointed that Paul Atreides the Marine couldn't see this issue coming.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

I already have a problem with the time jump. In episode 3, Parliament was loudly laying into Heller, but in episode 4, we don't see him again until about midway into the episode, when he said a lot of rambling gibberish about feeling good and the real enemy, and they gave him a rousing applause. Really? How did the tension evaporate so quickly?

I noticed that too, and was unconvinced by the sudden lack of anger towards him.

A few other things:

- Everything about the villain's lair/demeanour/threats, is too cliched for me. How much more thrilling would it have been if we were as uncertain as Heller is about Jack's real motivation?

- The 'within the hour' bullshit. That major plot development is going to come to fruition in precisely 57 minutes' time? Funny that. They used that device twice in this week's episode.

Other than those, I felt this was the best episode so far. Music has yet to make any impression whatsoever (i.e. not a single 'I have to have that' moment).

I'd love them to make a season where they don't specify how many episodes there will be. It could end at any point...

[Uni 306]

Music has yet to make any impression whatsoever (i.e. not a single 'I have to have that' moment).

Typical Sean Callery. He creates the right tone for the show, certainly, but most of the time it doesn't sufficiently catch your attention in a way that makes you want to listen to it on its own. (And that impression is usually confirmed when you do listen to it on its own. It's symbiotic with the show, but doesn't do much apart from it.)

I'd love them to make a season where they don't specify how many episodes there will be. It could end at any point...

Now that's a great idea. . . .

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Think I'm just watching this now to see if the sheer ludicrousness of Heller voluntarily standing on the centre-spot on the Wembley pitch so that a drone missile could blow him to bits can be somehow topped.

[Wojo 2,453]

If that's the final clock for 24, I could live with that. The final thirty minutes or so are pretty emotional for longtime fans.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Found that it picked up a bit for me after it turned out that Heller hadn't actually been drone-missiled into oblivion, but overall I wouldn't have minded at all if Season 8 had been the show's last.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

I'd love them to make more, but I'm just so tired of the cliches/moles/predictable twists. It's a very long time since I was surprised by anything in this show.

Also, the dialogue seems to spell everything out to the viewer - every plot development has a character saying the extensive repercussions of every action to make sure we understand what's going on.

It had some very good episodes, but it's still showing the age of the format.

[Jay 37,372]

So overall, how do you guys feel about Season 9? Was it worth making it?

[mstrox 6,651]

I was in the camp that was hoping 24 would die a merciful death back towards the end of its run, because it had gotten fairly predictable. When they said that they were bringing it back, I figured that they had a good reason to do it - something new or interesting to bring to the show that would reinvigorate it. So I was a bit let down, because really for the first half of the season it just seemed like business-as-usual.

What did change, and what vastly improved the show, is that it was cut in half. They didn't have to spin their wheels to stretch the overarching terror plot for a full 24 episodes, and they didn't have to come up with ideas for subplots to make it last. So as the show wrapped up - around the episode that Jack finished off the terror family--I found myself enjoying it more than I had enjoyed S7 or S8, because everything going on seemed relevant.

I liked the CIA agent (Kate) and wouldn't mind seeing her in a regular role were the show to come back. She is probably the second character in the run of the show who was interesting enough to me to hope they'd set up with a 24 spin-off (the other was Renee from a couple of seasons previously, which obviously wouldn't happen now).

I feel like the show went off with a much better season than S8, at any rate, so I guess it was worth making.

[Wycket 36]

I enjoyed it, and appreciated that it still felt like 24 and not just another show/movie with an old name attached to it (the recent Die Hard films for example). As mentioned, the shorted season made things much more compact and the story-telling much more precise and to the point. I really enjoyed the end of Season 8 and was a little uneasy about bringing the show back as I felt it went out on the perfect note, especially after the terrible beginning that the season had. That being said, season 9 impressed the hell out of me and left the 24 story in a good place, whether it be the end of not.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Bespin 8,484]

I'm in season 9. It's the 24 I know... with the return of Chloe, that we affectuosly call "baboune" (french-canadian word for an air of dissatisfaction, contrariety, gloomy attitude).

I love it.

But why only 12 hours???

[Trent B 337]

I'm in season 9. It's the 24 I know... with the return of Chloe, that we affectuosly call "baboune" (french-canadian word for an air of dissatisfaction, contrariety, gloomy attitude).

I love it.

But why only 12 hours???

Because I think that's all the budget was able to be afforded. I also think they weren't sure how it would be received by fans. It definitely had a lot of support though.

[Jay 37,372]

24 Revival: Fox Orders Pilot for New Series Featuring a New 'Jack'

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Sigh....

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[fommes 153]

No, Thomas Newman should!

[Wojo 2,453]

Ugh. 

[crumbs 14,318]

Please, no.