httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRVnRNngelU&eurl
What seems like ages ago, Rush Limbaugh launched into a ownership tirade of the TV series “24,” but most specifically Jack Bauer, saying he was obviously a Republican. I wasn’t surprised, but as a fan of the show I was infuriated. How could a television show and character belong to any party? After all, it’s TV. But most importantly, Rush seemed to be regurgitating that wingnut favorite that any strong, lethal warrior is automatically a Republican. Why quibble, right? After all, who wants to claim someone who tortures his prisoners. It’s more complicated, proved by the two decades of conversations going back to the 1980s when the C.I.A., in the midst of a war inside Afghanistan, started to re-evaluate Gerald R. Ford’s action banning assassination, which began the long, curved trek to rendition, secret prisons and Bush-Cheney’s torture policy post 9/11. Anyway, the response from me to Rush’s hilarious attachment to Jack Bauer as a Republican was “Jack Bauer is a Democrat.” It infuriated non political types who were fans of the show, because they didn’t want politics brought into it, but especially wingnuts, as emails poured into me.
This Christmas I received the DVD “24″ movie. It was a lot of fun to watch and very much off the usual storyline of the TV “24.” We also spent some marathon hours watching the DVD collection of the show to get primed for the new season, which was fun because my hubby hadn’t seen the early episodes. As for my excuse, I have none. This is the action stuff I love watching.
Tonight, Bauer is back in a new season, with Tony Almeida returning, this time supposedly as an adversary. There’s much in the show that inspires conversation about the TV “hero,” even as some, especially progressives, think he’s an awful character to which the word “hero” should never be ascribed. I’ll let you argue that one out.
There’s not been much good on the small flat screen lately. That’s not a good thing, especially as economics forces people inside. I’m rooting for Jack Bauer and “24″ to change that, at least one hour a week. I’m glad Jack is back.
Bauer ROCKS!
Agreed!!
When we got married we realized that with the exception of a VERY few programs on public stations and cable like the History channel and Discovery there was ZIP worth the price of cable every month. Whenever I’m in the hospital(couple of times a year for a chronic problem) I get TV because otherwise you just count the cobwebs and in the middle of the night you can’t see them. Everytime it just reinforces our dicission to drop cable and use the tele as a monitor for the VCR and DVD players.
I have no idea what/who we’re talking about on this thread. We’re like you sec, we pretty much watch the History channel, Discovery, oh my husband watches the Military channel which talks alot about airplanes. Loved “Rome” and can’t wait for the third season of “The Tudors.” Never watched 24, I don’t even think I have heard of it.
I have at least heard of 24 but not watched it. What I can’t believe is that Rush Limbaugh comes up in ANY conversation at this point.
I really enjoy 24, for hosts of reasons, and it’s a great adreneline rush.
I stop short of idealizing Jack Bauer outside of the TV fantasy, though, and can separate real life from a good yarn.
I often wonder how the national fictional hero became Jack Bauer, when it used to be Atticus Finch.
I really enjoy 24, for hosts of reasons, and it’s a great adreneline rush.
I stop short of idealizing Jack Bauer outside of the TV fantasy, though, and can separate
real life from a good yarn.
Z Mulls | Homepage | 01.12.2009 – 09:04 am | #
Bravo! Very well said.
Loved “Rome” and can’t wait for the third season of “The Tudors.” Never
watched 24, I don’t even think I have heard of it.
Jane Austen | 01.12.2009 – 06:04 am | #
I’ve never seen a single episode of “24″ then again I never got into the Soprano’s which makes me a pariah to some people. :=)
My wife got me into Rome and the Tudors though…great production value.
GeoT | 01.12.2009 – 10:31 am | #
GeoT – so we are two pariahs. I never could get into the Sopranos either, maybe because it seemed devoted to how bad people could really be without any morality. I guess I like the good guys to win and to me the Sopranos just represented everything that was wrong with humanity. But then I come from a different era and I guess I have a different value system.
What I really love are the old movies from the ’30s and ’40s. They really make me smile, laugh, cry, sad.
I pretty much thought “The Tudors” was nothing *but* production values!
The artistic argument for 24 and The Sopranos goes something like, they hold up a dark mirror to us all. This, the shows argue, is what we could become, what we might be, without our consciences. Inside all of us is the desire to operate without anyone’s rules but our own, to give in to our id, to live by our wits — it’s only our desire for civilization, our moral rationality, that prevents us from becoming like that. We can see the darkest parts of ourselves in the characters (all mixed in with intelligent plotting, good dialogue, humor, and great acting).
As for 24, it’s a Jacobean revenge drama. Our frustrations of impotence in the face of terrorism and triumphant evildoers makes us want to lash out. We want to be able to confront the “bad guys” and let our anger out directly. Jack Bauer does everything we wish we could let ourselves do — and the show makes sure that Jack is always entirely justified (ticking bomb!!!!), is always selfless and is doing it only for love of country and love of true justice. He *never* acts selfishly. The show gives us permission to root for him. Even when he’s wrong in the short run, he turns out to be right in the long run.
But revenge fantasy is fantasy, and it’s cathartic, but it’s not real life. The same people (I’m looking at *YOU* Justice Scalia) who use Jack Bauer to “prove” a point about being tough on terrorists, would never point to James Bond as a role model, though Bond arguably does the same job, and dresses better.
Z Mulls | Homepage | 01.12.2009 – 10:42 am | #
Bingo! Absolutely dead-on. Again, very well said.
As for 24, it’s a Jacobean revenge drama
Z Mulls | Homepage | 01.12.2009 – 10:42 am | #
and I thought it was just a TV show with commercials for pick-up trucks :=)
Z Mulls | Homepage | 01.12.2009 – 10:42 am | #
At first look “The Tudors” seemed to be a very extravegant production. Jonathan Rys Davis (I’m not sure about the spelling of his name) was not exactly what I imagined Henry VIII looked like judging from the paintings I have seen of him, yet he captured the character of Henry very well from all that I have read about him. Some years ago I started writing a little play where I put Henry on trial for wife abuse and murder. It hasn’t gone very far but I have been absolutely fascinated by that whole period in English history and especially the way women were used as political pawns and disposed of when their men tired of them.
and I thought it was just a TV show with commercials for pick-up trucks :=)
GeoT | 01.12.2009 – 11:03 am | #
No. Cell phones. *g*
Actually, while I do enjoy letting my uncivilized id have a little fun watching 24, I enjoy it more for other reasons.
I love the structure of plays, movies, songs, etc. I love seeing how they’re put together, and how the pieces interact. 24 is a structure fetishist’s dream.
You know the conceit. It happens in “real time.” So something has to be happening every minute. If Jack is going to take 25 minutes to get to his next location, *something else* has to be happening in the meantime.
So they keep several plot threads going, and try to figure out what scenes can be used as filler for vamping when characters are in transit.
I heard in a DVD extra that the producers actually don’t plot the whole season in advance — they are only 6-7 episodes out in front. So they get to the middle of the season and need Stuff To Happen for several episodes before the big finale stuff. And it’s amusing to see the kind of desparate things they throw at the wall.
Remember, they have several hours to fill between 1:00am and 7:00am when most people are asleep — and they still need to keep busy. They need a shocking cliffhanger to happen at exactly the top of the hour, and minor surprises and shocks to come at each commercial break, on schedule. It’s really astounding to look at it and marvel at how they manage.
Plus the show made a commitment early on that they wouldn’t wrap everything up in a happy ending. It’s known that no character is safe. Other than Jack, *anyone* might die, even principal characters, at any time. I respect a show that will do that.
On top of that the supporting characters are usually excellent. Not the CTU staff, necessarily (though we all love Chloe), but the various villains and officials and government plotters that have come in and out. James Cromwell, Jean Smart, Dennis Haysbert, etc. This season I am very much looking forward to Colm Feore and Cherry Jones as the first couple. I saw Colm Feore at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival many years ago, two seasons worth, and he blew us away, he’s a magnificent stage actor. And while Cherry Jones is not the more well-known name in film, many consider her to be the Best Stage Actress in America right now, bar none. (The “Meryl Streep” role in DOUBT? Played by Cherry Jones on Broadway)
24 is like riding a roller-coaster, you just let logic go and hang on.
24 is like riding a roller-coaster, you just let logic go and hang on.
Z Mulls | Homepage | 01.12.2009 – 11:23 am | #
My blood pressure would probably go sky high and then I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I watched this show.
Jane, my wife and I watched the whole first season on DVD. She decided exactly that, it was not something she wanted to watch before bed, so it became my exercise bike DVD series of choice. Did great things for my blood flow.
The show is *very* nerve-wracking at times. (At other times it’s laugh out loud ludicrous. You be the judge)
Best 2-hour opener “24″ has had in a long time. Joel Surnow is involved, contrary to previous stories. New cast is terrific.
I really enjoyed having seen the 2-hour movie DVD, which explained the background on the genocide, as well as the storyline about their son.
FANTASTIC.
TaylorMarsh | Homepage | 01.12.2009 – 11:52 am | #
You said it, TM. The show badly needed a reboot, and it sure looks to have gotten one. The Africa genocide story angle is very interesting — I’m biased, of course — and timely. It also feels authentic, complete with the conscription of boy soldiers. Then you have the raging policy debate as to whether U.S. involvement to stop the genocide is desirable. SecState (a man) says no; Madam President says, get with the program or resign!!
(BTW, did not know they released the prequel as a movie DVD. I watched it when it aired last November on Fox.)
Apropos of a “Madam President,” one of my favorite movies is The Contender, written and directed by Rod Lurie. I understand he wrote it with Joan Allen specifically in mind. Joan’s always fantastic, and she has a wonderful supporting cast here: Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges, Sam Elliott.
They tried to bring it to TV, but the TV version sucked in comparison.
Okay, confession: I’m running on because I don’t want to go upthread. I have a feeling it’s about to get ugly….
Wait…was there a 2-hour movie prequel in *addition* to “24: Redemption” or was that the prequel you’re talking about?
Z Mulls | Homepage | 01.12.2009 – 12:13 pm | #
The latter. I was caling 24:Redemption the prequel.
…it’s entertaining and it came at a time when people were very afraid of what was happening in the real world. To be able to get from it all, where the good guys win, was a relief to millions. The fact that Jack uses methods that ran along the same lines utilized by our own government also can be used as a “tell” in that many are not on the same band wagon. To millions the use of questionable force, to keep the US safe from terrorism, is fine.
24 offers proof that “The ends justify the means” to millions.