Thursday, May 20, 2010

Previously on 24...

Monday night at 10:01pm will be the end of an era.

On November 6, 2001, television changed and on May 24, 2010 it will come full circle.

“24” will wrap up on FOX with a two hour series finale starting at 8pm.

It was one of the first shows in primetime to experiment with the “real time” concept. Every minute in real life was a minute on the show, every show was an hour of Jack Bauer’s “day”, every season was one day in their main character’s life.

A quote by Kiefer Sutherland during interviews on the first season said “The time element is the main character of the show. That gives the writers a chance to do things with characters that other shows can’t do.”

But, it didn’t take long for people to become attached to Jack Bauer’s family and his daughter Kim and wife Teri.

And that’s why when the non-stop action of season 1 culminated in the death of Jack’s wife, people took notice that this show is unlike any other.

I saw a trailer for the show before it aired and thought the “real time” element was interesting, so I watched it…I have never missed an episode since.

In the Eight seasons to follow, Jack has stopped a Presidential candidate from being assassinated, stopped a bomb from detonating in Los Angeles, fought a heroine addiction to stop a Mexican drug cartel from acquiring a deadly virus, captured terrorists trying to steal nerve gas, been kidnapped by the Chinese, protect the United States from several nuclear devices and protected a peace treaty, until things went wrong.

In between his wife was killed, his girlfriend was killed, he was betrayed by friends, he had to kill friends, his daughter disowned him and he has seen more dead people than a funeral director.

I think you’re lying if you can say to me that in your life there has never been a character in TV or movies that you didn’t become attached to.

For me, Jack Bauer was the ultimate. He was vicious, hostile and deadly, while also being someone who would do anything to protect the people he cared about.

It is, of course, fiction…but it’s entertainment and no one has delivered a better week-by-week punch than Jack Bauer.

And the critics agreed: “24” has ironically won 24 major awards and nominated for over 65 more.

It’s always been one of those shows that if you haven’t watched it from the start of a season, you are probably out of the loop – and that may be it’s downfall.

I know many people who have never watched a second of the show, but I can honestly say have yet to meet someone who has started watching the show – and then stopped.

So Monday night I will be following a very familiar pattern of sitting on the couch, grabbing a snack and waiting for the ticking clock to begin.

But Monday will be different…it will be the last time.

It’ll be sad to see Jack Bauer go, because for me – he was the best.

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