Based on all the hype and pressure from co-workers and friends — and having a spare evening to kill — the Wife Unit (TM) and I watched the first 4 hours of critically-acclaimed “24.”
Remind me what’s so special about this show?
In a nutshell “24″ show is passable entertainment. Hour one was spent in amazement (“How does he get to downtown LA at 6 am in 10 minutes?”). Hour two was spent befuddled by the badass-ness of Jack Bauer as he is captured, tortured, learns the Bag Guy’s Sekret Plan (TM), escapes, locates the counter-counter-terrorist and rescues him, then convinces said “terrorist” to help him (Jack) defeat the “real” terrorist. Oh, and did I mention he stopped a bomb from going off on a subway train? Hours three and four were spent rolling our eyes and laughing at the acting and dialog; no one told us “24″ was a comedy!
The real problem, I think, was the hype. With such a buildup I think any show would have been hard pressed to live up to those expectations. But, when you step back, there really isn’t anything special about “24″ aside from the gimmick format — which, I’ll add, totally ruins the suspension of disbelief. It just isn’t possible for the things that are done in an hour to actually happen. The real crime is the acting, however. It’s “Days Of Our Lives” bad. For a show that’s such a cash-cow for Fox you’d think they could afford some decent actors beyond Sutherland. And the writing? Ack! The dialog is painful!
“Jack, we’re asking you to sacrifice yourself for your country.”
“Jack, I swear to you: Your sacrifice will not be in vain.”
“Jack’s sacrificing himself…”
“This time, I have a chance to die for something.”
“Dammit! Jack’s sacrifice will have been for nothing!”
Did I mention this was all within the first hour?
I could go on and on and on but there’s really no point. People who love “24″ are no doubt enjoying this latest romp through Jack Bauer’s day — horrible acting and all — while the rest of us who step back and critically look at a show without the rose-colored glasses are left to ask, “what’s the big deal?”
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have the latest episode of “Heroes” to drool over.
Give it more time!! Watch more!!! You need to watch all the seasons.
Watch season one at least. That was very good. Season Two wasn’t bad either. The rest are okay but you can see a slow deterioration. I can’t bring myself to watch the current one.
Yeah, I’ve only seen season one — but I got pretty much the opposite impression on every count. Heck, I’ve watched the whole season twice.