I am exhausted today. Totally exhausted, after spending 24 hours with Jack Bauer, or rather, with the entire seven DVD set of Season 5 (from 2006) of the popular television series 24 starring Keifer Sutherland. I watched it from start to finish over the past three days, and honestly, it wore me out, just watching it. It felt as if I was right there with Jack Bauer, going through every draining confrontational thing that the cool-headed Jack endured from moment to moment and never once having time to stop to just drink some water or even grab a sandwich. Poor Jack Bauer!
My goal was to watch the entire season of 24 in real time, as in over the
course of one day/24 hour period. * Actually it's 18 hours due to fact that each show is approx 45 minutes, But even at 18 straight hours, it proved just too exhausting for this viewer. Simply put, I couldn't keep up with Jack Bauer! Not owning a TV, I had never seen the show before. Of course, I had read about it and heard about it from friends who are diehard fans of the show. They told me it was a rare good TV show and addictive viewing. They were right! They just didn't prepare me for the relentlessness of each minute of every hour (episode) of Jack Bauer's day.
Other things I learned from watching 24 include that the word "schematics" is used a lot and that Jack Bauer utters the word 'dammit' frequently. And I noticed that, despite all the turmoil and danger he finds himself constantly in, he never loses his head or that little shoulder bag of his. And neither he nor anyone else ever seem to have to charge their phone batteries -- yet they are on them all the time. Same for their laptops, although they are usually plugged in. They also never laugh or smile, eat food or drink water, or catch a wink of sleep as far as I could see from watching Season 5 of 24. I also learned, after doing a bit of online research, that there is a Jack Bauer Appreciation Day (May 9th) and that there are numerous spoofs of 24 including an episode of the Simpsons in which Bart prank calls Jack Bauer.
But exhausting as watching 24 for the first time was for me, I am hooked on the great TV show and want to see the other seasons (which should by the way be available in Amoeba's DVD section). I am told that the earlier seasons were better so I am looking forward to checking them out...but first I need to rest some more.
Meantime, if you are a 24 fan and can recommend the best season to watch or offer some of your insights into the popular TV show, please do so in the COMMENTS box at bottom of page. Thanks!
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Television (38), Kiefer Sutherland (2), Dvds (40), 24 (4), Jack Bauer (1)Recent Posts From Billyjam
Comments
I've seen ALL seasons of 24. AND, I found your blog because I wanted some validation that Jack Bauer and friends NEVER EAT. Have you ever seen a 24-hour office setup without a coffee station? [In opposition to Dexter Morgan and friends who are ALWAYS eating AND drinking.]
RECOMMENDATION: Watch all of them CHRONOLOGICALLY. BUT, I will rank the seasons and put some non-spoiler comments.
1: Classic
2: An excellent follow-up, nice surprises.
3: Possibly the worst, but it's good enough, I think I skipped a few episodes and just worked with "PREVIOUSLY on 24."
4: Has good parts and bad parts, sometimes you just want Jack to get killed already. But, not really. hehe
5: I didn't expect them to come up with something this good!
6: Brilliant!! Especially if you've been with CTU since season 1.
(I think 24 fans lucked out with the timing of the writer's strike. The season wasn't CUT unceremoniously mid-season like the other shows.)
7: I have Redemption and the 1st 8 hours. I'm going to time-synch it watching the 8am-9am episode from 8am to 9am.
I have to totally disagree with 24 being a great show. Especially watching this past seasons show. It seems to me the writers are getting tired or something. To me it's really phony how all the events that happened throughout show all took place in a 24 hour period. From Jack being captured by the Chinese to the President being in the hospital in coma and getting out the same day to once again run the country. Also, if CTU is so "highly secured", how are they allowed to have cellphones in the central command center of CTU. Highly unbelievable. I didn't even finish watching the rest of the season because the unbelievable crap they were showing as the weeks went by.
LaterZzzz!
ALF