Last night, reports started coming out that Fox is on the verge of declaring this season of "24" the last, in part because of ratings, in part because of expense, in part because Fox needs timeslots to groom new hits, and the one after "House" is some of the best real estate they have. Both reports agree that it's unlikely another network would pick up such an expensive show, especially since Fox's movie studio wants to go forward with a "24" feature film (which can't be filmed until the show is off the air, due to scheduling problems). As you know, I've had little patience for "24" these past few years, and abandoned any plans to watch this season after Herc from "The Wire" and Starbuck's hillbilly ex-boyfriend showed up in the third episode. So I'm not the best person to ask whether now is the right time for the show to end, since I'd have ended it a long time ago. I haven't heard great things about the season even from more devout fans, but I almost checked out the recent string of episodes with Rami Malek (pictured above with Kiefer Sutherland) because Malek gives one of my favorite performances in HBO's "The Pacific" (review coming tomorrow).
So for those of you who have stuck with the show through thick and thin, how has this season been? And are you okay with the idea of the show coming to an end? Particularly if you get a big-screen Jack Bauer adventure out of it?
It's been mostly cartoonish, a parody of itself. Almost to the point where you are honestly trying to imagine how such a group of gifted writers and directors (at least in this genre) could be that clueless. I mean they have always been savvy enough to know what the audience has thought of past plotholes, to the point where they've either addressed them or fixed them midseason. Yet, they seem to have recycled only the bad plot devices.
ReplyDeleteTwo weeks ago, the action and story got better, with Kiefer driving the story in a more exciting fashion. Up until then, it was a mess of subpar action, deplorable subplots (Starbuck. Beats. Cougars.), ridiculous scheming and mishandling of actors. Characters are once again scheming and conniving as per the 24 bible. All of CTU is a flat out joke. A bunch of idiots running a terrorist organization on the USS Enterprise. And the "big" storyline hasn't really been big at all as it's been dragging out for over a third of the season all for something called "nukular rods" (Kiefer's words). Even the Renee Walker character, which got uber interesting this season, is full of such ridiculous plot holes. (Last season she was so adverse to any type of heavy-handed tactics or torture and then a few months later she's revealed to have an undercover identity infiltrating Russian mobs as a hard-assed tough as nails thug.)
To me the show has always been about the action and the human elements that good actors brought to the show. But they don't have many of those anymore (the good actors or the action). The show keeps falling into this bad parody when all it needs to do is find a great compelling action-packed story and let Kiefer run with it. Jack Bauer is still one of the coolest characters on TV. And i really would hate to see him go. For 24 to live on, they need to clean house in the writer's room and the cast, and pair him up with smart stories and better character actors.
This season has been ... not very good. The show became a parody of itself 3-4 seasons ago. Yet I still watch - hoping it will be be able to recapture the brilliance of the first season. This season has all the typical "24" metas: the immediate threat which ultimately proves to be a distraction for a larger threat, the "Jack Says 'Dammit' a Lot" drinking game, the the B story (Dana Walsh) that should be a D story, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think Bill Simmons said it best: If Freddie Prinze, Jr. is the answer, you're asking the wrong question.
Renew 24 for a 9th Season Join Here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=342025491576&ref=mf
It's basically been a mash-up of every device used in the first 6 seasons ... Couple that with too many uninteresting storylines and an increased unbelievability that Jack can keep doing what he does at his age, and this loyal watcher is just about checked out.
ReplyDeleteI haven't *hated* it this season, but that doesn't mean that it's been good. This week's was the most boring of, pretty much, the entire run. Which is weird considering some of the ridiculous past stories/episodes *and* the fact that the Jack portion of the episode was pretty compelling on paper. It just didn't work. Plus, I thought we were going to be done with the white trash nonsense last week, but there it is again. I'm always happy to see Stephen Root on my television, but this story has to die soon. Kim *did* eventually get away from creepy survivalist Dillon and the cougar. Starbuck deserves similar treatment.
ReplyDeleteIf it ends this season I won't be sad. If it carries on...I'll still watch. I'm neither proud nor ashamed of that. 24 is just a part of my January to May weekly routine.
They had a great opportunity last year to reinvent the show by having a merry band of ex-CTUers operate outside of the government. It could have reenergized the show like what was done in Season 4 of Friday Night Lights. Unfortunately, they did not pursue that opportunity and 24 is again stale.
ReplyDeleteThe first couple of seasons were good because the producers understood the meaning of "suspense." To be suspenseful, you have to keep viewers actually waiting and wondering what's going to happen. Stuffing every hour with action and plot twists is the opposite of that. It sucks out the suspense. It also defeats the whole conceit of real-time, because nowhere in the real world do so many major events happen in such a short period of time.
ReplyDeleteI gave up on the show this season. I TiVo'ed it a couple of times and then realized that I didn't miss it.
I started watching 24 around season 5. Watched the first 5 seasons over a 1-year period (on DVD), and have watched other seasons more or less live.
ReplyDeleteLike most of the viewers, I liked the first couple of seasons ... and I forget maybe another season - 4 or 5 maybe.
However, I still watch it. One of the advantage of watching live TV (or next day DVR) is that you stop paying attention to the "events happen in real time" part of the story since they do not, and that's always been one of my gripes about it. Once you are watching an episode on weekly basis, something which happened 3 hours ago is about 3 weeks old in your memory ... and you do not care to co-relate the timing.
The other aspect is the story. With a "concept" like 24, how can you come up with a different story. You need to have a clock, you need to have a surprise or mission for every hour on the clock. You need to have people not believing in Jack. And you need to have stupid people in CTU. I guess it is possible to make the story better ... but will require more creativity that the current writing team can think of.
Still, I find myself watching it every week. Maybe it is habit. Maybe it is just to see 2-30 seconds of ultimate Bauer. For example when he takes a knife out of his body and dang ... it goes into someone else without him skipping a beat. I know I could watch some Bond/Bourne movie for a good action, but why not 24?
I probably would not care if they pulled the plug on it. However, I think despite the now cliche formula, 24 could be re-imagined as a much much better TV series. Just need some creative people there, who think of a good story, sketch out the whole 24 hours at a time rather than make as you go, and yes, people who avoid cougars at every cost.
It needs to end. I'm still watching out of some misguided loyalty towards the first two seasons, but it's bad. Half of the scenes are lifted from previous seasons (seriously, the scene a few weeks ago where President Taylor discussed the possibility of a Nuke detonating in NYC it felt completely pulled from season two).
ReplyDeleteI used to LOVE 24, but it's in the hands of incompetent buffoons. Brannon Braga is not the right person to run ANY show.
I've watched every episode of every season, because there are usually (season six aside) at least 12 fantastic installments. Yeah, the show has redefined "filler" in other places, but the good episodes have made it worth it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this year, after four episodes, I was done with the series. It's lazy, stupid, and worst, boring. I can't imagine even wanting to see the movie.
I'm pretty much in line with a lot of the comments. I have been a LOYAL "24" watcher since season 1, live, and a staunch defender. In fact, outside of season 6 (the one with Dr. Romano as Jack's brother), I can honestly defend or out & out love seasons 1-5 and 7. (6 was just impossible to defend).
ReplyDeleteBut not only has this season been bad, somewhat uninteresting, but as others have said, they keep repeating the same formulas that don't work. They also hired some really terrible actors. Mykelti Williams and Freddie Prinze are genrally bad performers in most of their work. Even one of the good actors they hired, Katee Sackhoff, they've completely mis-used her in a horrible storyline.
I don't know. If "24" comes back next year for season 9, I suppose I'd watch out of both blind loyalty and just to see Jack Bauer beat up some bad guys, but I am hopeful this is the final season on TV and that Jack Bauer becomes a film character. I absolutely think there's no reason not to transition Jack to the big screen, lose the 24 hour format, and just have it be a Jason Bourne scenario for Jack.
It ran it's course after 5 seasons but the money was so good they kept going.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how Brannon Braga gets to run anything in Hollywood. Didn't they go back and look at the Star Trek shows he ran into the ground?
They should have backed a dumptruck full of money at Ron Moore's house instead.
MattinRaleigh,
ReplyDeleteRon Moore??? You mean the same Ron Moore inflicting the godawful "Caprica" on an unsuspecting science fiction fanbase right now?
Ron Moore maybe COMBINED with David Eick, gave us one truly memorable series in "Battlestar" and I will disagree about "Trek", which even though hit its peak during "Deep Space Nine" run, still had moments of entertainment during the 2 latter series, but "Caprica" is one of the worst shows I've ever seen. If that's what Ron Moore does for a follow up, I think it's time for Moore to leave Hollywood.
The show not horrible but it is clearly tired. It is a slave to a constricting premise that would work better for a British style limited run series than an American style run it into the ground version.
ReplyDeleteI will ride out this season but i think that will be it for me. Not sure I even care if there is a feature film or not.
As with the other recent 24 seasons, this one is up and down. It's fun at times and ridiculous at others, and sometimes both at once. The thing that stands out for me about this season is that the low (the Dana Walsh storyline) is just so much worse than anything else I remember them doing.
ReplyDeleteI used to love 24 and i've watched all the seasons and I hoped this season would be scaled back and get back to the kind of suspense they had in the earlier seasons. But I'm afraid this season been abject and i stopped watching around episode 6 or 7. I hope they do cancel it because its well past it's sell by date.
ReplyDeleteAs with the other recent 24 seasons, this one is up and down. It's fun at times and ridiculous at others, and sometimes both at once. The thing that stands out for me about this season is that the low (the Dana Walsh storyline) is just so much worse than anything else I remember them doing.
ReplyDeleteThat really is the main show killer this year. There are other boring bits (we really could have avoided all the time wasted on the daughter/bad guy relationship and the three or four episodes where jennifer westfeldt just sat around looking scared), but that's just the worst. I like Katie and even if he's a bleh actor, Freddie Prinze was charming enough in the first couple of eps. Now I want them both to go away, whether by choice or by horrible death. I don't care.
There were a couple of wow moments this season (like Renee cutting off the guy's hand) and a couple of moments you knew were coming but were still fun (Renee stabbing Callum Rennie repeatedly) and even semi-exciting (Cole maneuvering the car to shield the President from the explosion), but there's just too much boring between the fun and exciting.
And there's just not enough Chloe being bitchy. She's been positively nice these last few and I don't care for nice Chloe, I like eye rolling "told ya so" Chloe.
I have always loved the show, but the problem is simple. They've simply run out of fresh ideas, and they have recycled old ones.
ReplyDeleteThey tried changing the scenery by moving it to New York this year, but I don't care if they filmed it in my back yard--if the story is lame, it's time to move on.
The Malek episode was actually quite excellent with some great performances (Mare Winningham!), good suspense, and great use of the split screens. But mostly the show is a parody of itself with one big fish villain after another devouring the one before it. And this season, whoever has 'the information' gets killed before the end of the episode, only for the next person with the information to be pursued. Give it a rest. Wait two years, and the movie will be successful.
ReplyDeleteHey Allen,
ReplyDeleteI just discovered this site, but I was a regular at the NYPD Blue site years ago.
Like most others on here, I have been a 24 fan since the beginning, but this season has just been horrible. The wife and I are watching out of habit at this point. End it and hire some good writers to take Jack Bauer to the big screen.
BTW, I recently introduced my 17 year old daughter to NYPD Blue via DVD, and she loves it. Any chance we will see any more DVD releases?
I think "24" has really run out of ways that Jack can save civilization as we know it within the confines of a 24-hour day.
ReplyDeleteThe past couple of seasons have made Jack into too much of a superhero. This season in the course of three hours, he was stabbed, shot and tortured, but has managed to shake all of that off with just a quick change of clothes.
It's still fun and entertaining at times, but there is too much heavy lifting going on by the writers to get us from point A to point B. Part of it is that we've killed off every supporting character but Jack and Chloe (who was a season two or three add, I can't recall). Without someone I care about at CTU or the writers bothering to do anything new with the support staff there, I can't find myself all that invested in things going on there.
It doesn't help that Starbuck is involved with the most ridiculous subplot since Kim battled the Cougar in season two either.
This season hasn't been great. Not actively bad, but just sorta there. I think it's time to end it.
ReplyDeleteMonday's episode was the first one ever that I watched the first 5 minutes and then fast forwarded through to watch the last 5 minutes. So it seems as good a time as ever for me. Too much treading water.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read through all the comments, but I'll throw in my thoughts because this season of 24 has been on a new level of bad. The 1st season was, as I'm sure most will agree, fantastic. But, by season 3-4, I had lost interest... boring, ridiculous. The last 2 seasons picked my interest up again because, although still ridiculous, they were very entertaining on a "turn off your brain level." Now, this season, almost instantly, proved to be so outrageously devoid of any sense and went back to lacking the level of entertainment that the last 2 seasons had rediscovered. The cast is bad. The credibility of "real time" has truly, and finally, become so insanely broken that it's pure torture to watch them make a 1 hour drive in 2 minutes... arrrrgh! The plot is mind bendingly implausible... I mean the scenarios are always implausible, but how the characters' side plots populate them, in this season, are so insane, I can't take a second of it seriously. Maybe I'll finish it at some point, but I have no drive to keep watching. I don't really feel like I'm missing anything at all. Kill it... For good. They keep soiling the goodness that was Season 1 with this crap.
ReplyDeleteIt's time to end. The show has not only become a parody of itself, but its become boring. I actually still have Monday's episode sitting unwatched on my DVR. There was a time I couldn't wait to watch the latest episode. Now I kind of dread watching the episodes. I do wish the show was ending on more of a high note creatively, but since the show has been going downhill for a while now I'd rather see them cut their losses on TV and just continue in movie form.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how many years do we give it before someone launches a 24 reboot? I guarantee this isn't the last we've seen of this format on TV.
I have watched every episode of 24 since the series premiere. Prior to this season, it was one of the few shows that I HAD to watch the night it was on, so I wouldn't miss anything or be behind. Even when it wasn't great, I still was involved and wanted to know what happened next. Sadly, that is no longer the case. 24 has committed the biggest sin possible this year: it's boring. For the first time, I check email and the internet while the show is on. I don't feel any suspense (the only exception to this is any time there is Jack-Renee interaction). I never watched BSG but had heard enough about it to be excited about Katee Sackhoff joining the cast. Not only is she in what may be the worst/stupidest subplot in 24 history, but she's horrible in it. This season is just a mess. The time for cancellation is now.
ReplyDeleteTo say that 24 is cartoonish is to do a disservice to realistic and well thought out animated efforts such as Aqua Teen Hunger and Booger Squad. Actually Booger Squad only exists in my mind but it is still more realistic than 24.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite scene was were Rene sticks a knife in Jacks stomach and he pulls it out and kills a bad guy. The wound apparently healed instantly.
24 is already one of the shows that landed on my "back pile" for the summer months between regular seasons.
ReplyDeleteIt's not important to me anymore to watch it on a weekly basis or even read spoilers about it.
I'm watching about 20 shows a week and I have to carefully decide which are the ones that I want to watch in the week of airing and which ones aren't.
24 is not (anymore).
i'd be lying if i said i wouldn't miss it. yes this season is very very weak thus far, but damnit if isn't still the best thing on tv at that timeslot.
ReplyDeletealso lets be honest--its not like the show hasn't had bad seasons before,(yes the one with jack's dad.) or managed to pull itself out bigtime after a lametastic handful of eps in the past. what can i say? hope springs eternal!
Id hate for this season to be its last---if only cause i honestly for better or worse enjoy the damn mousetrap that is the show week in and week out for many years now----(but understand since this really is turning into a weak weak season)
but also what the hell does fox think it could program here that would do better exactly? Lie To Me is a good solid show but it wasn't exactly posting 24's numbers here in the fall. Unless they wanna take a shot on moving Human Target here---which could potentially work---i'm not sure what fox thinks they have in the hopper that could work better.
I'm still watching it every Monday night (I'm already in front of the TV for Chuck), but it's mostly out of some sense of loyalty to the show. I mean, I like it enough, but it's time for it to end.
ReplyDeleteYes, God, please, end it. I'm one of those "been watching from the beginning" types, and I can't seem to stop watching for... oh, I don't know why. But I don't think I'll stop watching on my own. So I beseech Fox to do us all a favor and put the show out of it's misery.
ReplyDeleteOn my own blog I wrote about the my even/odd year theory, which is essentially that the odd years of 24 are always better then the even years. This is probably not completely true; I suspect that Day 2 is a lot better then Day 7, if judged on their own merits, but Day 2 was a comedown from Day 1, whereas Day 7 was like Shakespeare after Day 6.
The thing about 24 that boggles my mind is that, after EIGHT YEARS, they still haven't figured out how to fill the screen when Jack Bauer isn't on. And this year has definitely been the nadir in that regard. You know what might have worked? If they'd flipped the Sackoff/Prinze characters. If she was the badass field agent, he the lame-o with the secret past, it might've worked. Might've.
I've had enough. The reformed hillbilly Starbuck plot is WORSE than Kim vs the cougar, because the cougar went away. This just keeps going on.
ReplyDeleteNot even exploding terrorists can keep me watching this stuff any more.
I don't have high hopes for a movie, though, since "Redemption" showed how weak the concept is without its gimmick and cliffhangers. Maybe if they pre-meditatedly set out to do a series of eight 3-hour movies, but I don't think that that's in the cards.
ReplyDeleteAnd if they are ending this season, they should re-write the ending to make Nina Miers come back as the main villain. (Because if Tony can come back, she certainly can. Nobody was even watching her after she died. And the unheard whispered dialog business sets up a way to verify that it's her even if they can't get the actress and go with the extensive plastic surgery plot.)
This season has been weak, but at least not actively bad. Although the most recent episode had a few howlers in it (Hint to terrorists: just because you're wearing a suicide vest doesn't mean it's probably much quicker to hang yourself with your belt than repair it. And why in the world would you put a 60 second timer on your failsafe remote detonation backup?)
I've been a loyal 24 fan from the beginning. I'm still watching, but sometimes don't get to it for a few days. I won't deny that the show is a parody of itself now. For me, that's part of its charm, and has been for the last few years. I can't think of any other show that makes me laugh when someone gets stabbed in the neck. That knife got passed around pretty quickly in the "Jack gets stabbed, then stabs someone else with the same knife ten seconds later" scene.
ReplyDeleteThey made a couple mistakes last season, and those mistakes have come back to bite the show in its ass.
I'm not at all happy about what they've done to Renee. Last year she was tough and smart, and a good agent. This season, she's an off-the-rails victim in the middle of a mental and emotional breakdown, and she has to be saved by Jack. I mean, yeah, pretty much the whole world needs Jack to save it But I don't see why Renee is someone who needs to be saved, when she could be one of the people doing the saving.
Everything that should be said about Katie Sackoff's storyline has already been said. But I can't believe the writers haven't figured out yet that this kind of plot drags the show down.
If it's renewed, I know I'll watch. But I think it's way past time for cancellation.
Stopped watching a few seasons back. Checked in once during the Africa season and laughed my way away again.
ReplyDeleteI might watch if a cougar ate a cast member in every remaining episode.
Or maybe if Jack, Tony and a dwarf dressed as a butler wound up in a cage on the back of a truck headed for London while "Dem Bones" played on the soundtrack...
I was a pretty big fan for a long time. I've watched all seasons - except for 6, they lost me about halfway through - and all of them in real time. This year, I began by DVRing the show, and every weekend I swore I would sit down and catch up. Well, after eight weeks and a lukewarm (at best) general response to this season so far, I deleted all recorded eps and canceled the season pass. I am ready for this show to be done.
ReplyDeleteI love this show, have since the start, but this season has been too slow. These last few eps have gone a little faster, but even they aren't to the quality of seasons 1-5 & 7.
ReplyDeleteI do hope they give it one more season, if only to pull a season 7 move by making the show incredible for their last bout.
zodin2008
ReplyDeleteYes - Ron Moore the same Ron Moore who guided DS9 thru the last two years and then only lasted a season working with Braga on Voyager. Braga and ST:VOY were tremendously awful and the hatchet job he did on the first 2 seasons of ST: ENT even worse.
I'll give you Caprica being a POS though.
I disagree with all the parodies and shell of itself...this is simply not a very good season, which happens to many shows especially when they survive for this long. It's kind of disappointing because it's not straightforward bad like s6. It's just uneven, for example past two weeks were not good but next week looks great. And s7 was a very good return to form so idk where they lost it. Oh well. No show can go forever, let's have them try and at least end the series on a powerful note and then onto the 24 movie which would be awesome. This coming from a major 24 fan too, I always thought you were too hard on it Alan
ReplyDeleteAfter last season's relative upswing, I was optimistic. But this season just feels so boring. I think the premise has finally worn itself out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with those who said that '24' in its prime was appointment television. My friends and I even had small-scale 24 viewing parties to each various episodes throughout the third and fourth seasons when we were all in school.
ReplyDeleteBut as many have noted, the sixth season was just so terrible it seemed to kill the series dead. S7 rebounded a bit and I've generally liked this season (the opening four episodes and the last two episodes, especially) but I agree it's time to put the series to bed.
still better from the majority of thr shows on the air, but this is by far the worst season of the series.
ReplyDeleteIt will be good to end it now, before it gets worse.
Well, I don't like shows being canceled before their creators are finished, but does that even apply to 24 anymore? Is there a creative visionary at the helm who's trying to tell a story? Was Joel Surnow the closest thing?
ReplyDeleteThis has been a lame season, overall, but the show is no worse than it's ever been. It's always been kind of lame. It's a mediocre show punctuated with frequent moments of awesomeness, and it's always been that way.
For example, much ado is made out of the lousy Starbuck plot this year, but whether it was Jack's wife developing amnesia or Kim being terrorized by Johnny Drama, there have always been craptastic subplots. This is nothing new.
The problem with the show isn't that it's been going on for too long, the problem is that it's really, really hard to make a compelling show from the self-imposed straitjacket of real-time storytelling that has to last 24 hours.
I'd love to see them ditch the real-time aspect and see what possibilities that opens up. Forget real-time, forget a single day. Just do some kick-ass anti-terrorism stories and see what happens. Take as much time, or as little time, as the story needs for a change. Let the story dictate the timeframe rather than the reverse.
Sure, it wouldn't be "24" anymore, literally, but so what? 24's on the verge of being canceled anyway.
I'm so happy I gave up on this show at the start. That's not to put down anyone who was a fan. It just wasn't my schtick, I couldn't take it seriously and "The Shield" fulfilled on my needs for violence and intensity.
ReplyDeleteI'm crazy about Mary Lynn Rajskub, however. Maybe I'll cull out her best episodes, plus some others sometime and rent a few discs.
So from what I am reading on these internets, this is "almost" an obituary post, I guess the final obits will be written in May.
ReplyDeleteSo I thought I will put down some ideas for them just in case they survive the chopping block...
- What if you renamed the show to "12" and keep the spirit of "real time"? I know they can still screw it up by making the A story the cougar story.
- What if you produced only 18 episodes ... and just a placard at the end of some episodes saying "nothing much happens in the next hour", so skipping it? Skipping 6 hours like this might still be way better than the current model.
- Like Sopranos had a family hour each season, build in some easy episodes. I know it is hard to do that when a nukular Armageddon is minutes away, but if you can solve this problem, I guess you are the right person to re-imagine the show.
- 24 "All Stars". No you do not need to revive all the dead people ... just have Jack land up on the sets of House, Lost (I know it is not on FOX), HIMYM and so on once in a while.
I know some of these ideas are bad, but so is what is being shown, especially with Starbucks.
Anyway. Looks like the show is dead. So long live the show! Thanks for the couple of great seasons.
As a fan who has watched every season without fail I must agree the time has passed to halt 24.
ReplyDeleteThis season has been the absolute worse. As much as I like 24 it is now played out...let it go.
I will, however, watch it until the end!!
ADW:
ReplyDeleteIf you're a Mary Lynn fan, watch Day 5, 2:00 AM-3:00 AM. She stars in what must be the funniest scene in '24' history.
If they really are planning to turn 24 into a movie franchise, they better partner Jack Bauer up with Sam Worthington or some other younger tough guy actor who can take over the franchise after Bauer dies while trying to save the world (hopefully at the end of the first movie). Truth is, NO ONE wants to see a Keifer Sutherland action movie.
ReplyDeleteI followed 24 for the first few years, before it finally lost my attention early in season seven. I think what disappointed me the most was how the writers of the show never considered going outside the box. I thought a great premise for Season 6 should have been following Jack Bauer's escape from a Chinese prison. 24 hours to get out of China? CTU assists him along the way? Yes please...but they continued to have Jack "save the world". It was bound to run out of original ideas...
ReplyDeleteI don't quite understand why its so expensive, you only really need Sutherland, and can surround him by a bunch of cheap extras.
ReplyDeleteThat said this show was always an embodiment of the Bush agenda of jingoistically slaughtering your way to liberty - so perhaps its demise is inevitable.
Last season of 24 was fun with undead Tony Almeida and General Juma hidng under the White House while his country was being invaded, but this season is so painful it's not even enjoyable. It's borderline Heroes bad. I always hoped that 24 would go out with a bang when it became apparent the show was getting cancelled by fully embracing its increasing absurdity. And by that I mean I'd like to see them go nuts with the constantly escalating threats Jack Bauer faces and have him deal with the aftermath of a bad guy plot that worked: the release of a citywide zombie virus outbreak that could last for the last 6-8 eps.
ReplyDeleteThey always try to outdo themselves with the shocking episode endings, but the zombie outbreak could let them go all out with an ep ending with a decomposed hand rising up from David Palmer's grave, or Chloe getting bit by a zombie, or zombie Curtis returning for revenge against Jack for shooting him in the neck, etc.
I think the season started promising, but the last bunch of episodes have been awful imho. Bad writing, and simply not enough action. It doesn't help Katee Sackhoff's plot-line is one of the worse in the show's history, if not the worse.
ReplyDeleteThis should be the last season. The show has run it's course.
Season 7 was way better.
I just wanted to add that Season 6 was easily the worse in the show's history (it was a joke), and Season 8 is quickly approaching that territory.
ReplyDeleteI know this is an old post, but I wanted to mention SOMEWHERE that I'm officially GLAD they cancelled 24 after what happened to a particular character recently. Was that REALLY necessary?
ReplyDelete