Really cool thing #991: 24

So this week we said goodbye to Jack Bauer. It had me hooked from the start. I loved that anybody could be killed at any moment (except Jack of course). It really showed commitment to the story and not just to the actors. I also liked that 24 wasn't afraid to take a stand. It didn't try to be super PC all of the time. The writers took a very practical approach to issues of right and wrong. Often Jack had to do the wrong thing for the right reasons.
I will admit it was getting just a teeny bit long in the tooth. On his last "day" Jack was tied to a chair and beat up, crashed his car into a limo, hand-cuffed and hung from a pipe and shocked, stabbed in the gut (by his girlfriend), shot in the chest (he was wearing a bullet-proof vest), blown up (don't worry he jumped clear), in a car crash, watched his girlfriend killed by a sniper, stabbed again in the gut (bad guy), shot in the chest (by his best friend, clean through and through, no worries - but maybe he should be pickier about his friends), tear gassed, and beat up again. And I'm not even sure I got everything in, there might have been another gunshot wound in the arm. Oh, and he tortured a few people and yelled "GIVE ME A NAME!!" (Tiff, that's what my T-shirt will say) in a really gravelly voice. And remember, all this happens in 24 hours.

I'll see you at 24: the movie (or will it be 120 minutes?)

Best. Show. Ever.

It official. All other shows should just give up striving to be the best. 24 is the best show on TV, period. Thanks to last year's writers strike it has been 18 months since the show was aired. I thought this year it should have been titled "48" in order to make up for the season they skipped. Alas they chose to just do a 2 hour movie which aired in November.

Anyway, back to my point. This show has it all. Action, suspence, drama, good acting, thought-provoking themes. This year they are taking on some of the criticism that the show has received about glorifying torture and violence.

I'm not afraid to admit that I was practically giggling at the commercial breaks during the premiere. Its just so much fun! Some of the best writing producing and acting that has ever been done for television. Check it out.