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24 (The TV Show)

Question: Do you watch 24?

My Answer: I've never seen more than a few minutes of an episode. I always missed the first one and I figured I'd be out of the loop.

When will the show end? Will it be worth buying the whole series on DVD? Or should I just rent on NetFlix?

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

10 Responses to "24 (The TV Show)"

  1. Netflix is the best way to go, as you can go through the episodes pretty quickly. The thing about 24 to remember about 24 is that the show is ridiculous and the things that happen could never happen in real life, but that's its charm.

  2. Having seen every episode, I can say it's definitely worth it. I woudln't wory about missing an episode or two, but I wouldn't jump into the current season (only a few episodes left.) My wife and I did Seasons 1 and 2 via Netflix, but have caught the rest via TiVo. I'd suggest BitTorrent or Usenet downloads of the current season if you're interested.

  3. MacMerc just posted that 24 is now available through through the iTunes Music Store.
    I've watched a few episodes here and there and with the help of my fans who are friends have been able to figure out what's going on.

  4. Thanks for the pointer, but I probably won't buy them from iTMS when I can get them from NetFlix and watch them in a much higher quality for a lot less $$$. I don't believe I'll need the replay value "owning" a tiny little video gives me.

  5. I was in the same boat as you a year or so ago, perhaps even a bit worse -- I didn't "get" the appeal of 24 at all. Then someone gave me Season 1 on DVD as a gift.

    A few months later, and I'd worked my way through the first four seasons! As noted, it's a borderline ridiculous show if you try to apply reality to much of what happens (dang those protocols, they are *always* messing things up!), but that is half the fun.

    The other half of the fun is that they do a fairly good job at building up the suspense over the season; you'll get little 'reward' tidbits here and there, but never enough to sate your curiosity. The current season is a prime example. Just when we thought we were learning something last night, it turns out that we're probably not as close as we thought we were :).

    -rob.

  6. I've watched an episode or two of 24, and it does absolutely nothing for me. I will probalby never "get" the excitement over the show and, as such, will probably never watch it.

  7. No. I don't like getting caught up in a series like that where I have to watch it every week. I Usually do something else with my full concentration elsewhere while I'm watching TV, so the TV is mostly background noise for me. I watched Lost in the beginning, but when it started getting too implausible I stopped watching.

  8. Its worth getting from Netflix for sure. My wife and I are addicts. We're waiting for the series to come out on video.

  9. I was a little skeptical when I started watching, but I love the show. It is a little far fetched, but you never know what kind of stuff goes on behind the scenes in the real world anyway. I know someone who is high up in the Army, and he says that the show is quite realistic in terms of protocols, etc. Supposedly the writers have also taken old declassified intelligence and have begun to incorporate that into the script as well. Plus, Jack uses a Mac sometimes.

  10. I started an annual ritual of buy the DVD sets when they are released. Started this when they released the first season, meaning this December I'm going for my 5th straight year doing this.

    At this point I would definitely have a hard time recommending to anyone actually watching the show on Fox, and today that also expands to buying it on iTMS. Why? Because when you own all 24 hours (a full season) you can watch it commercial free, and watch it 4 episodes (about 3 hours) at a time.

    Erik, do you like reading thriller novels? Say somebody like Robert Ludlum? That's what "24" is like. They like to leave you hanging at the end of a chapter -er, episode. But they also like to wrap things up at the end of a season too.

    Sure, like any good movie or novel series they can leave you wanting more about how the main characters move on. But there is nothing close to a season-ending cliff hanger. (At least so far.) Don't think there's an ending like, say, Star Wars 2 or 5. Rather, think of how The Matrix ended.

    Except, of course, the 'sequals' for "24" have been much better than for The Matrix!

    One other comparison I might try to make with The Matrix is style.

    When you put it all together - watch it commercial-free and a few episodes at a time. Watch an entire season over the course of two weeks. It plays much more like a novel than any other TV show I've ever seen.

    As for iTMS and it's TV shows... I've found myself buy/renewing subscriptions to The Daily Show and Colbert Report. I'm not always awake when they come on, and love being able to watch it at my leisure. At $9.99 I cable my MacBook up to the TV and really don't care it the picture quality isn't that great. I'd never buy a DVD of those shows anyways.

    The just-announced Fox affiliation has me thinking about trying the first (half?) season of "Prison Break" that way too. I heard alot of good reviews of it, haven't caught any of it, and am interested to see if going that route interests me for other shows.