24 is an American serial action/drama television series. Broadcast by Fox in the United States and syndicated worldwide, the show first aired on November 6, 2001, with an initial 13 episodes (the next 11 episodes were later ordered). 24 is the second longest-running espionage series in television history, behind the original Mission: Impossible series by number of episodes and The Avengers by longevity of broadcast. However, after the conclusion of the eighth season, 24 will become the record holder in both these categories.
24 is broadcast in the semblance of real time, with each season depicting a 24-hour period in the life of Jack Bauer, who works with the United States government as it fights fictitious terrorist threats to the United States. Bauer is often in the field for the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit as it tries to safeguard the nation from terrorist threats. The show also follows the actions of other CTU agents, government officials and terrorists associated with the plot. The first six seasons of the show were all based in Los Angeles and nearby California locations—both real and fictional. Occasionally other locations have been featured as well—most notably, Washington, D.C., where a portion of the fourth and sixth seasons took place. Departing from tradition, the seventh season is set primarily in Washington, D.C. Season 8 is to take place in New York City. No decision has been made on whether the show will return for a ninth season.
After leading actor Kiefer Sutherland won a Golden Globe for his role in the first 10 episodes, the ratings of the show increased, leading FOX to order the second half of the season. A feature film based on the show is being planned.
The seventh season, originally scheduled to premiere on January 13, 2008, was postponed in the wake of the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike. To ensure a nonstop season, a trademark of the show since the start of its fourth season in January 2005, the season was postponed a full year until January 2009. To help offset the strike-induced delay, the show returned on November 23, 2008 with a feature-length TV movie, 24: Redemption , that takes place nearly four years after season six and sets up the story that launched season seven.
Series overview
24 is a thriller which is shown in "real-time", with each minute of airtime corresponding to a minute in the lives of the characters, often depicts torture scenes, and often contains unexpected plot twists. This leads to some continuity errors, such as in season 3, after Jack Bauer kills Nina Myers. The clock hits the hour mark, thus signalling the end of the show directly after Jack commits the murder. In the next episode which continues on from exactly the last moment, several CTU staff already know about the murder and are reviewing the security footage less that 20 seconds into the episode. While the show only has 44 minutes of airtime, the real time clock of the show continues to tick during the commercials, emphasizing the reality of the 24 hours of the season in which the characters work. Finally, 24 has avoided flashbacks with one exception in Season 1 and it does not use slow motion techniques, even on moments of rapid action or sleight-of-hand, which other franchises might choose to emphasize in that way.
Actual show run time without commercials is approximately 44 minutes, as is typical for hour-long television shows on many commercial stations. However, the effect only works if episodes are shown with commercial breaks during the show and then only if these are inserted at the right points in time and have the same length, which may not fit in with the normal programming of a commercial station.
Watched continuously, each season would take approximately 17 hours to finish. This real-time nature is emphasized by an on-screen digital clock appearing before and after commercial breaks, with a distinct beeping noise for each second, alternating between B and C sharp tones. The sound associated with the on-screen digital clock is occasionally not played to signify highly emotional moments, such as the death of a main character or in the conclusion of certain season finales. The producers and fans have dubbed this the 'Silent Clock', and its use has become a hallmark of the show. This time corresponds to the in-universe time of the show. The characters will often place time windows (such as the common "within the hour") on certain events such as terrorist threats, thus foreshadowing the attack, or event, that may occur before the end of the episode.
The action switches between different locations tracing parallel adventures of different characters involved in the same overarching plot. As a result, there may be long sections of unseen narrative for each character, in which case a character may only be seen for a portion of an episode's overall running time. 24 employs fast-paced and complex plots. Though each day's events typically revolve around thwarting an impending terrorist attack, the series maintains an episodic format by requiring its characters to investigate leads on terrorists. Each lead normally takes roughly an hour and introduces the next episode's lead in the closing minutes. The exact objective of the day may also change over the course of the season, as the terrorists adapt, contingencies arise, and schemes portray larger scale operations.
Characters forced to allow tragic events to happen, for the sake of a greater good, is a recurring theme. In Season 2, a Dept. of Defense staffer has the chance to warn CTU of an imminent attack on their building, but argues doing so would alert the culprits, and allow a valuable trail to go cold. The sitting President is often faced with difficult decisions; as in Season 6, when President Wayne Palmer asks Jack Bauer to sacrifice himself in exchange for the location of a known terrorist.
The first season began and ended at midnight, and during its ninth episode (8:00 - 9:00 AM) Jack mentioned that he had already been awake for 24 hours. Later seasons have tended to use a different time window, starting in the morning, with the exception of Season 3, which began and ended at 1PM, and Season 8, which will begin and end at 4PM, to allow filming to begin in the summer when there are more daylight hours available. This also makes for a more realistic period of time for the characters in the show to be continuously awake, in addition to plot elements such as 24-hour crises and worst-case scenarios.
Jack and others employ the use of torture or threats of torture in nearly every situation in order to extract information. CTU has also used "hyoscine-pentothal", a fictional pain-inducing drug, in interrogation sessions where quick results are needed. This has been used on both agents and antagonists, and its hypothetical effects are unlike those of the real hyoscine and pentothal. The show has been criticized by human rights groups for its over-use of torture scenes. In response, the shows writers have said that they will try to include fewer torture scenes in future episodes, not as a concession, but because it was starting to overwhelm the storytelling.
Production
Immediately prior to 24 , series co-creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran executive-produced La Femme Nikita for its entire five-year run on USA Network. Both series deal with anti-terrorist operations, and the lead characters of both series are placed in situations where they must make a tragic choice in order to serve the greater good. As a result, the on- and off-screen creative connections between 24 and La Femme Nikita are highly pronounced. Numerous actors from La Femme Nikita have portrayed similar roles on 24 , a number of story concepts from La Femme Nikita have been revisited on 24 , and many of the creative personnel from La Femme Nikita currently work (or have worked) on 24 in the same capacity.
In addition, 24 borrows some aspects of the 1997 film Air Force One , namely the plane itself and the use of the 25th amendment. In Seasons 2, 4 and 6, Air Force One can be seen (although in Season 6 it is actually Air Force Two, as it is the Vice President on board) and the series reused the same set as the one featured in the movie. Additionally, five actors featured on 24 —Xander Berkeley, Glenn Morshower, Wendy Crewson, Timothy Carhart and Spencer Garrett—appeared in the film Air Force One.
Cast
See also: List of 24 characters, List of 24 cast members, Minor CTU agents in 24, and Recurring and minor characters in 2424 is known for making major changes to its main cast every season—the exceptions being Kiefer Sutherland, who is the only main cast member to star in all seven seasons—and all 168 episodes—to date. Glenn Morshower, who plays Aaron Pierce has also starred in all seven seasons, and background extra Michael Jacey (who plays Agent John) is the only actor besides Sutherland and Morshower to appear in the first six seasons. Due to the unpredictable nature of each season's storyline, main cast members are added and dropped frequently. Most cases an actor will have a recurring role before becoming a main cast member in a subsequent season. In a few cases, guest stars have been upgraded to main cast members during the course of a season, this occured with Lana Parrilla and Roger Cross in season four. Main cast members who return from prior seasons—whether they return for one e
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