New Running 24 Thread (01/29)

[BYH]

And I figure Fayed has about four, maybe five, episodes left in him. He's just the frontline bad guy. There's a whole other layer of bad guys behind him that Jack will have to go kill ... or torture ... or both.

Don't most of the bad guys last most of the season?

Season 1: Drazen & Co.: whacked in the finale (I believe)
Season 2: all the bad guys are whacked or caught at the LA Coliseum
Season 3: Mexican mafia dude bit it fairly early (that season sucked), but wasn't the head bad guy the one shot at CTU by the agent's widow in the finale?
Season 4: Marwan slices his own wrist and falls off the building
Season 5: Robocop takes it in the finale

Though it's obvious Fayed is no longer the head bad guy, I think he'll last most of the season...if only because ER Doc Helicopter Dude is going to bite it very soon.

 

[dog428]

And I figure Fayed has about four, maybe five, episodes left in him. He's just the frontline bad guy. There's a whole other layer of bad guys behind him that Jack will have to go kill ... or torture ... or both.

Don't most of the bad guys last most of the season?

Season 1: Drazen & Co.: whacked in the finale (I believe)
Season 2: all the bad guys are whacked or caught at the LA Coliseum
Season 3: Mexican mafia dude bit it fairly early (that season sucked), but wasn't the head bad guy the one shot at CTU by the agent's widow in the finale?
Season 4: Marwan slices his own wrist and falls off the building
Season 5: Robocop takes it in the finale

Though it's obvious Fayed is no longer the head bad guy, I think he'll last most of the season...if only because ER Doc Helicopter Dude is going to bite it very soon.

What I'm saying is, the head bad guy -- the one they kill in the finale -- never ends up being the guy they're chasing for the first seven or eight episodes. Like last year, there was that terrorist dude they were after at the airport and Walt Cummings. But there was this whole other layer behind those two.

You're right in that the big-time terrorist usually lasts until near the end, but we usually don't see the big guy until about episode seven or eight. And after that point, we learn about all the people at CTU and in the federal government who are helping this bad guy.

 

[CradleRobber]

I just want to say that Tom is a *****. **** that guy.

 

[Hiro]

There seems to be a BIG change around hour 11-13 in each season, as others have mentioned. They spend 11 hours chasing the worst bad guy in series history, catch him and just before they put an end to him they find out about HIS boss, and even bigger bad ass (or other random McGuffin) and off goes the second half.

Example last year, chasing the bad guy in the first half and trying to get/protect the evidence implicating Logan. In Day 3 the mafia guy ate it in the middle ... you really have to think of the 24 hours as more of two 12 hour stories (roughly).

And ditto on English Bob being the guy he found with the ability to fix the bomb, maybe even under the threat of hurting Chloe (which would justify his being back and her having a story at all this season).

 

[ballscribe]

I just want to say that Tom is a *****. **** that guy.

Hasn't that actor (John Lowenstein?) made an absolutely great living playing the guy that everyone wants to punch in the face?
It's a living, I guess. Probably avenging his high-school torment every working day of his life.

 

[Kent_Dorfman]

My only request from this season is that before Jack finally kills him, that Jack's brother gets his arm chopped off by a helicopter blade and gives the Luke Wilson "Now this is gettin' goddamnridiculous" line from Anchorman.

 

[healingman]

Just want to chime in: I've seen episodes here and there on "24 Weekend" versions and always been interested. I don't have TiVo, so no copying ("Copy that!") show to see later on while at work. Yet this season, I was able to see most of the first 4 hours. Wow! I'm really impressed. Kiefer Sutherland is an incredible actor in this role ... and I'm glad to see him with success, too. It kinda -- and I mean kinda -- has a little "Mission: Impossible" (TV show, OK?) feel to it for me ... but I may just be in the minority on that point. Ahh, well ... just a newbie's two cents.

 

[KYSportsWriter]

Last season had a MI feel for me because of all the spy music they played.

 

[suburbanite]

It kinda -- and I mean kinda -- has a little "Mission: Impossible" (TV show, OK?) feel to it for me ... but I may just be in the minority on that point.

I see where you're coming from, but even MI, the show made some semblance of sense every now and then. 24 never does, which I suppose is the appeal of it.

 

[KYSportsWriter]

It kinda -- and I mean kinda -- has a little "Mission: Impossible" (TV show, OK?) feel to it for me ... but I may just be in the minority on that point.

I see where you're coming from, but even MI, the show made some semblance of sense every now and then. 24 never does, which I suppose is the appeal of it.

24 never makes sense until the very last episode.

 

[suburbanite]

Though it's obvious Fayed is no longer the head bad guy, I think he'll last most of the season...if only because ER Doc Helicopter Dude is going to bite it very soon.

If they whack Romano with anything helicopter-related, I'll start watching again. That would be awesome.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I think Jack's brother is in cahoots with the weasy guy from Ally McBeal. They are the ones really running the terrorist organization.

 

[broadway joe]

OK, I know about the level of suspension of disbelief required.

But James Cromwell looks about 6-foot-6. No freakin' genetic way can he spawn two midgets.

The rest I can buy, but casting they can control.

What would have been cool is if they'd gotten Kiefer's real-life dad, Donald Sutherland, to play his father. I read that Kiefer asked him to do it, but he was committed to a movie and couldn't work it into his schedule.

 

[MC Sports Guy]

someone mentioned on a different thread that maybe the show did too much early, and I'm starting to wonder if maybe that's the case. I'm sure there's plenty of good stuff left, but where do you go after those first four hours?

Have you never watched 24 before? It's that way every season.

Yeah, I've watched every episode of every season.I agree that there's always some major **** that happens right off the bat, but not a friggin' nuke going off near LA and Jack shooting another main character in the throat.

Hopefully there's more left, but my point is that those first four episodes are difficult to top, even by 24 standards.

 

[KYSportsWriter]

someone mentioned on a different thread that maybe the show did too much early, and I'm starting to wonder if maybe that's the case. I'm sure there's plenty of good stuff left, but where do you go after those first four hours?

Have you never watched 24 before? It's that way every season.

Yeah, I've watched every episode of every season.I agree that there's always some major **** that happens right off the bat, but not a friggin' nuke going off near LA and Jack shooting another main character in the throat.

Hopefully there's more left, but my point is that those first four episodes are difficult to top, even by 24 standards.

That's what the writers want us to think.

 

[BYH]

Just want to chime in: I've seen episodes here and there on "24 Weekend" versions and always been interested. I don't have TiVo, so no copying ("Copy that!") show to see later on while at work. Yet this season, I was able to see most of the first 4 hours. Wow! I'm really impressed. Kiefer Sutherland is an incredible actor in this role ... and I'm glad to see him with success, too. It kinda -- and I mean kinda -- has a little "Mission: Impossible" (TV show, OK?) feel to it for me ... but I may just be in the minority on that point. Ahh, well ... just a newbie's two cents.

This is Kiefer's career-defining role. Hard to believe now, but he was in the direct-to-video bin before 24 hit big.

His career arc--getting dumped by Julia Roberts at the altar, catching the "B" movie bug and a party man past/present--gives Jack the necessary element of darkness. Jack Bauer is one of those roles you can't imagine anyone else playing.

 

[JR]

OK, I know about the level of suspension of disbelief required.

But James Cromwell looks about 6-foot-6. No freakin' genetic way can he spawn two midgets.

The rest I can buy, but casting they can control.

What would have been cool is if they'd gotten Kiefer's real-life dad, Donald Sutherland, to play his father. I read that Kiefer asked him to do it, but he was committed to a movie and couldn't work it into his schedule.

I actually mentioned that to HC when Cromwell made his entrance. ]That would have been very cool.

And they could have asked his mother, Shirley Douglas, a respected Canadian actor, to play his onscreen mother.

 

[Franklin]

OK, I know about the level of suspension of disbelief required.

But James Cromwell looks about 6-foot-6. No freakin' genetic way can he spawn two midgets.

The rest I can buy, but casting they can control.

amen. at least cromwell looks a little like kiefer. but the ER guy looks nothing like either one of them. curtis would have been a more convincing bauer family member than him.

 

[Ellis Redding]

I just want to say that Tom is a *****. **** that guy.

Hasn't that actor (John Lowenstein?) made an absolutely great living playing the guy that everyone wants to punch in the face?
It's a living, I guess. Probably avenging his high-school torment every working day of his life.

I assume you're referring to Peter McNichol.