"24"-Season 1
 

I recently decided to take advantage of a sale Amazon was doing with first season boxed sets of numerous Fox video TV shows by getting Season 1 of "24" for $14.95. I wanted to see what this kind of show was like.

After going through the entire season in three days I find myself rueing the money and time I wasted and getting another sad reminder of why the contempt I have for TV shows in general of the last 15-20 years is not because of something confined to Moore Galactica alone. The ending they used was beyond sadistic (not to mention the fact that there were more plot loopholes you could drive a truck through, especially starting with the ridiculous premise that a Senator like our noble Presidential candidate could have been in such a position to make direct decisions of US foreign policy, which is why he has become a target for revenge. The writers evidently could have used remedial training in the US Constitution and something called "separation of powers").

No purchase of season 2 or 3 for me.

No one ever accussed Hollywood writers of ever getting their facts straight!

Now that I've had a chance to read more about this first season after subjecting myself to it, I've found more examples of the arrogance of so many of today's writers, especially in the matter of justifying the final scene of the final episode of Season 1 where Kiefer Sutherland finds his wife shot dead. The defenders say this shows off the "daring" nature of the writers by avoiding the "cliche" of a happy ending and being more "realistic" and that a happy ending would have been the real cop-out.

This kind of thinking is pure rubbish. All of their daring cliffhangar thrills at the end of each episode are a mile wide and deep in terms of unbelievability and unrealism, but the audience member accepts it in terms of being entertained for a long ride that at the distant end, he expects to get some emotional satisfaction. I think it's a pathetic comment when there are writers who have no qualms about asking us to suspend or disbelief in terms of shock value and thrills in an episode, but who then refuse to give us the emotional satisfaction of some decent resolution to all we've invested our time and (in my case) money in because that's "unrealistic."

No doubt these sadists who write "24" would have preferred a classic of suspense and terror like "Wait Until Dark" end with Audrey Hepburn's husband finding her dead in the last scene.

Well, EP, the writers like to say they "know what the audience wants". MooMooPoop! They write what appeals to them, period. And, of course, those of us who can't see the artistic justification for their masterpieces are "ignorant", or just don't understand the deep things of writerdom.
RDM, anyone?

Downbeat endings themself per se are not necessarily a bad thing. "Star Trek II" I think is a great example where the downbeat ending of Spock dying works beautifully; (so much that I found bringing him back to be a true example of a copout) and the downbeat ending of "The Omen" is another good example. But for a generally mindless entertainment action thing stretched to 24 hours of programming as "24" is, is something where that kind of abruptness doesn't work artistically or stylistically IMO. It'd be like the last episode of Galactica ending with the Cylons obliterating them all.

"24" is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of show as evidenced by comments by viewers:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0285331/usercomments

"24" did win 4 Emmys, so it appears somebody is watching.

"Alias" also brings out the same love-hate emotions/opinions and is another Emmy winning show.

Both shows attracted enough viewers/ratings to get renewed, although "Alias" may be moved to another night (Thurs at 9 is the latest rumor) and may be in danger of being cancelled since "Desperate Housewives" now occupies/took over the Sunday time slot and is considered a major hit for ABC. "SupportALIAS"...Our loyalties aren't flexible. We love Alias. End of Story, http://supportalias.com/ , has begun it's campaign for the show and ABC feels that it has a strong core audience that will follow it to any night but who knows. Thursday is a tough night.

Well, as long as it's the new one..... :D

I love "24"! You disengage your brain and get on the rollercoaster ride. Series 2 was even better. Haven't seen series 3 but am gonna v soon :)

I'm sorry to hear you don't like it Eric, I suppose as Sci-fi say it is a hate it or love it series. I'm in the love it wagon, since the first day I saw it, maybe been an Kiefer Sutherland fan help in the matter. :duck: But since day one I just love that for me it was so different compare to anything we have seen in tv, the format of the series with the counting hours, great acting and the plot and specially how they build up every day to something bigger. It definitely keep me wanting to see more. I have it in DVD and I'm looking forward to Season 3 in DVD and Season 4 in tv. Wondering what the theme will be in Season 4.

Krystal:rose: