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Me neither, well... mostly DomA Send a noteboard - 11/11/2011 06:41:21 PM
24 is another show that marked me, but only season 1. I don't list it high as to go down as a one of a kind classic, they needed to have the wisdom to stop after one season. Instead they went one, rapidly showed themselves as a one trick pony and ruined all that.

When you've only really got one sympathetic character, and you then turn that character into a ruthless traitor for the sake of having a big shocking climax, well, that may be a clever choice, but for me at least it removed all reason and inclination to watch any more episodes.


It's been too long, I'm a bit confused there. You mean Nina?

That was an extremely manipulative American-TV style plot twist (manipulative, because as I think you mean too, it felt like everything about the character in the season was there for the "impact" when she was releaved as a traitor. Let's make her this way, and let's her do that, so that later the audience cares. It's terribly artificial). That was an early sign the writers were not so clever and original as the brilliant and innovative format of their show let believe.

Of course, they pulled off about every variation of the "traitor" and "fake traitor later revealed not to be" device in the book (even with Bauer himself). Heck, they even gave Nina a second run at some point, if I'm not mistaken.

Killing Jack's wife was a terrific send-off had the series stopped there (and thus on a very atypical dark note for a US show, especially one dealing with this subject matter where it seems the Americans must always triumph at the end in some way), but the way they milked it later on rapidly became very annoying.

I watched season 2 completely, lost interest rapidly along the way. It's then I stopped buying the DVDs. I started watching season 3 on TV, I gave up after a few episodes. Same when I borrowed sets from friends for season 4 and later 5, as apparently it was "better". I didn't even try for the others.


The show simply stopped having any depth or intelligence after the first season (all the writers cared about after season 1 was putting together another 24 episode puzzle that would essentially repeat the first, but became more and more far fetched, and over the top, in attempts to hide the fact they were just applying a recipe.), where there was an interesting perspective on America, politics and anti-terrorism (and was gathering extremely impressed and elogious reviews for this abroad). It rather distanced itself from reality more and more, avoided pretty much all the real issues concerning terrorism and the way the US dealt with it, and Bauer rapidly became a rather despicable and unsavoury "American Hero", a mix of vigilante and victim (a kind of symbol for "everyone doubt us, everyone dislikes us and out methods, even the establishment is putting its head in the sand but the Jack Bauers cowboys shall triumph and save everone) doubling as a poster boy for American paranoia, a hero tailored to fit the mood of many Americans during those years and kept being seen very positively by much of the audience, I'm sure, but the show became more and ridiculous, annoying and unwatchable if you're not American, almost pornographic in a sense. It went from being brilliant and innovative in season one to being dumb and one of the worst and most exploitative shows (milking shamelessly arabophobia one season, notably) in the other seasons. It became pure entertainment, unoriginal for the most part, annoying in other aspects, and unchallenging.

That was especially painful to see the show go that way when you watched the originally similar counter-terrorism/action/thriller series Spooks (from which 24 creators borrowed some of its editing style like the simultaneous shots on black, incidentally - they never hid that fact) from Kudos/BBC. Spooks went on to become everything 24 no longer had the balls to be. It managed to increase its social/political relevance over the years, staying often uncomfortably close to reality, while remaining entertaining as a thriller/action show, and with a great ensemble cast they made you care about instead of a central and more and more antiphatic hero/anti-hero. In short, a show with brains, and challenging about the issues regarding terrorism (without any easy answer, another challenge for its audience), instead of just an adrenaline rush.



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What are your Top 5 TV shows of all time? (EDITed AGAIN) - 09/11/2011 06:41:59 PM 1530 Views
Hm. - 09/11/2011 07:04:06 PM 743 Views
I should probably add West Wing to the HMs - 09/11/2011 07:29:21 PM 679 Views
Adores the west wing - 10/11/2011 12:26:21 AM 747 Views
Top, you say? - 09/11/2011 07:26:11 PM 647 Views
Now there's a tricky question. - 09/11/2011 08:28:51 PM 837 Views
I might actually put Ab Fab in there too... - 10/11/2011 01:57:24 AM 832 Views
I enjoyed 24 until the final episode of season one, and haven't bothered with it since. (spoilers) - 10/11/2011 07:32:20 PM 782 Views
Me neither, well... mostly - 11/11/2011 06:41:21 PM 756 Views
Buffy is my life, death, and resurrection. - 09/11/2011 09:02:09 PM 775 Views
Friends & Frasier, but no Seinfeld? *NM* - 09/11/2011 09:03:41 PM 360 Views
Re: Friends & Frasier, but no Seinfeld? - 09/11/2011 09:05:18 PM 633 Views
I just couldn't get into buffy - 10/11/2011 12:33:10 AM 824 Views
I can't. EVEN! - 10/11/2011 02:57:07 AM 611 Views
I had a hard time at first, too. - 10/11/2011 03:33:25 PM 762 Views
You stopped before it gets good, then. - 10/11/2011 07:36:28 PM 673 Views
nice list. I realize I completely discounted sitcoms in my list - 15/11/2011 05:19:04 AM 667 Views
Oz, Supernatural, Frasier, Dexter, Salatut Elämät (because I wanted something non-American) - 09/11/2011 09:14:34 PM 729 Views
Squeel <3 Gilmore Girls *NM* - 10/11/2011 12:34:07 AM 366 Views
Lost, by far. - 09/11/2011 10:23:57 PM 748 Views
Guess I missed too much Lost - 15/11/2011 05:34:45 AM 747 Views
I shouldn't have forgotten E.R. - 28/11/2011 11:12:50 PM 639 Views
ok - 10/11/2011 01:01:49 AM 621 Views
Psych, Lost, Arrested Development, Monk, Seinfeld *NM* - 10/11/2011 02:44:11 AM 349 Views
Comedies for me, mostly - 10/11/2011 03:44:06 AM 694 Views
Re: What are your Top 5 TV shows of all time? (EDITed) - 10/11/2011 03:58:18 AM 661 Views
well... - 10/11/2011 11:44:00 AM 688 Views
In no particular order - 10/11/2011 03:45:50 PM 768 Views
In no particular order... - 10/11/2011 05:51:07 PM 771 Views
The Wire, Gilmore Girls, Lost, Firefly, Mad Men *NM* - 10/11/2011 09:54:21 PM 375 Views
LOST, Firefly, Psych, Seinfeld, Farscape. *NM* - 10/11/2011 11:56:54 PM 373 Views
tough very tough - 11/11/2011 03:54:59 AM 576 Views
Fun. - 11/11/2011 05:37:02 AM 651 Views
Whyever would that mean it doesn't count? - 11/11/2011 02:59:18 PM 570 Views
Sure does count - 15/11/2011 05:44:38 AM 573 Views
The Shield, The Wire, Rome, 24, Firefly - 11/11/2011 06:18:39 AM 662 Views
Re: The Shield, The Wire, Rome, 24, Firefly - 15/11/2011 06:01:22 AM 774 Views
In no particular order - 11/11/2011 10:41:23 AM 587 Views
Yikes, I'm bad at this. - 11/11/2011 11:43:42 AM 725 Views
It becomes a lot harder doesn't it if you count anime - 11/11/2011 02:08:40 PM 650 Views
I'm gonna have to split this up a bit.... - 11/11/2011 10:06:48 PM 666 Views
that makes two shows you list I have to watch - 15/11/2011 06:08:16 AM 746 Views
Well now... - 14/11/2011 04:46:12 PM 766 Views
I'll admit - 15/11/2011 06:11:35 AM 627 Views
M*A*S*H was a great show. *NM* - 15/11/2011 01:14:39 PM 576 Views
I also loved Magnum, when I was a kid - 15/11/2011 11:37:00 AM 591 Views
Firefly, Invader Zim, French & Saunders, The Office, Lost *NM* - 17/11/2011 05:21:35 PM 397 Views
not sure which ones I would pick but Mash would have to make the list *NM* - 28/11/2011 05:53:19 PM 531 Views

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