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as good as folks say
Maybe better. This could be season's hit show.
By Elizabeth White
So far this season, there have been some respectable new TV hits, like CBS’s "The Guardian" and the WB’s "Smallville," but nothing to make audiences and networks go "whoa." Not like "Friends" and "ER" both did when they debuted, or "Survivor" did on Thursdays last year.
Fox’s "24," which debuts to much anticipation tomorrow night, could change all that.
The show is that good, and it’s that different from everything else on television.
The show's gimmick is that each hour unfolds in real time, with the series starting at midnight on the day of the California presidential primary and ending at midnight that same day, 24 episodes later.
That gimmick has been tried before in films, with limited success, because it inevitably appears too arty.
It works with "24." Its writers have put so much action into each of its hours that viewers will forget the show is in real time. Only the frequent appearance of a clock will remind them, and the running clock simply heightens the suspense of the show even more.
And "24" is a very suspenseful show. It looks more like an action-thriller film than a TV drama, and that effect is enhanced by having a movie star as its lead actor.
Kiefer Sutherland plays Jack Bauer, the head of the Los Angeles counter-terrorist unit, called into work moments after midnight to stop an assassination attempt on one of the candidates, Senator David Palmer.
Sutherland is so good as a determined but harried agent that you want to forgive him for "The Cowboy Way" and "Flatliners." His supporting cast is equally superb, using their few lines to inject subtext into a story that doesn’t have room for traditional character development.
The first 15 minutes of "24" lay out several of the mysteries Bauer will have to solve in the next day. He must stop the assassin, figure out who is behind the hit, uncover the mole in his own operation, and locate his daughter, who snuck out at 12:01 a.m.
Those are just the immediate crises.
The show also suggests that every character is sleeping with at least two other characters, or could be if he wanted to, adding a layer of sexual intrigue to the series.
The first episode further lays the groundwork for a scandal surrounding Senator Palmer and a conspiracy behind the assassination that could be traced back to Bauer’s own bosses.
With so much story to tell, it’s a good thing that "24" is a TV show and not a movie. To help viewers understand what’s going on, often the screen is briefly divided into two, three, or more views, so that the audience can see what is happening with several story lines simultaneously. That unique editing further contributes to "24’s" film-like quality.
But there are two things that could keep "24" from being a monster hit.
One is the show’s subject matter, which is about a counter-terrorist unit and violence against Americans.
Its producers have already snipped out one scene from the pilot show of a plane that explodes.
Still, ABC’s spy show "Alias" has done reasonably well. Like it, "24" is less grounded in reality than the struggling "The Agency" on CBS.
Perhaps more damaging is "24’s" time slot, Tuesday at 9 p.m., which is arguably the toughest on television. It will go head-to-head with other rookie successes, like "The Guardian," "Smallville," NBC’s "Scrubs," and the veteran "Frasier." There simply may not be enough audience left for "24" to carve itself a piece.
But let’s hope audiences aren’t so foolish as to skip "24." It is easily one of the best shows to come along in recent years.
November 5, 2001
© 2001 Media Life-
Elizabeth White is a staff writer for Media Life.
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