24 (television)

24 is a current U.S. television action/drama series, produced by the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide. It is named 24 because the action on the show ostensibly occurs in "real-time", with each season covering the events of one day in the life of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). The show also follows Jack's colleagues at the Counter Terrorist Unit in Los Angeles, as well as the actions of both various terrorists and the White House. Every episode in a season covers the events of one hour in that day (hence 24 episodes per season). 24 makes frequent use of hand-held cameras and split-screens to show the actions of various characters concurrently.

Season synopses

Every season so far follows a similar format, centering on a central threat posed by terrorists. Surprise sacrifices, backstabbings, and other plot twists are common. Besides the central threat, each season has several major subplots that span the majority of the episodes and become interwoven with the main plot, which itself tends to change once or twice as a season progresses. Throughout each season, Jack Bauer often faces intense personal anguish in addition to his tasks to stop the terrorists. Each season starts at a different time of the day in Pacific Standard Time.

Related Topics:
Plot twist - Pacific Standard Time

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Season 1

The first season (2001–2002) revolves around an assassination attempt on Maryland Senator David Palmer, an African American candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, on the day of the California Primary. The central character is Jack Bauer, a former Delta Force operative who now works for the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) in Los Angeles. Bauer becomes personally as well as professionally involved when his wife and daughter are kidnapped by the people behind the assassination.

Related Topics:
2002 - Assassination - Maryland - African American - Democratic - Primary - Jack Bauer - Delta Force - Counter Terrorist Unit

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Major subplots:

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• A mole at CTU is sabotaging efforts to stop the assassination
• Kim and Teri Bauer are kidnapped
• Political scandals threaten to erupt, centered around Senator Palmer's son having killed his sister's rapist
• Jack's personal anguish: worried about the safety of his family

The season starts and ends at: 12:00am (midnight - LA time); the action begins in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (4:00pm, Kuala Lumpur time).

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Although it is not clear what year the series is set in, presumably it is for the 2004 election. Therefore, the date of day one would be Tuesday, March 2nd 2004

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The season has a dramatic and unexpected ending: the death of Teri Bauer. Many fans were dismayed by this sudden plot twist, while others applauded 24s genre-defying willingness to kill major characters with little warning. As a consolation to fans who hated the fact that Teri died, the producers filmed an alternate ending in which Teri, Kim, and Jack are reunited. This alternate ending is available on the Season 1 DVD boxed set, although it is noticeably less dramatic than the actual ending which was aired.

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Season 2

The second season (2002–2003) takes place a year and a half later and follows the work of now-President David Palmer and agent Jack Bauer to stop terrorists from detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. Season two must take place after 2001, since it is set in September, and references are made to sending terrorists to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation, which was not done until 2002. Following the theory that season one was set during the 2004 Presidential election, this would place season 2 in September 2005.

Related Topics:
2003 - David Palmer - Nuclear bomb - Guantanamo Bay - 2004 Presidential election

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Major subplots:

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• Kim is on the run, having rescued a child from her abusive stepfather
• Kate Warner suspects that her sister's Middle Eastern fiancé is a terrorist
• President Palmer faces traitors in his own cabinet, who attempt to remove him from power to advance their own agenda
• George Mason, director of CTU, is dying of radiation exposure
• Jack's personal anguish: worried about Kim; develops a heart condition after being tortured by terrorists

The season starts and ends at: 8:00am (LA time); the action begins in Seoul, South Korea (midnight, Seoul time).

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The first fifteen hours deals with finding and disposing the nuclear bomb. After the bomb is disposed of safely, the story focuses on the United States' retaliation against the people responsible for constructing it. A recorded conversation between a terrorist involved with the bomb and high-ranking officials of three Middle Eastern countries (which are never specified) is used to implicate those countries in the plot. However, Palmer is reluctant to order military action against them until he has absolute proof that the recording is genuine. Several members of his staff then vote to relieve Palmer of his position under Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, believing his hesitation to be a sign of indecision and weakness. The Vice-President then orders military strikes against the three countries to continue.

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Jack, Michelle and Tony race to find the evidence that the recording is a forgery, and they eventually discover that a group of American businessmen fabricated it in order to wage war with the Middle East so that they could benefit from rocketing oil prices that would result. The strikes are called off and Palmer is reinstated as President after the proof is produced, thanks largely to Sherry Palmer (who risks her life). The seven cabinet members and vice president tender their resignations (Palmer does not accept them), and Palmer then tells his staff that he believes that the strictest evidence of hostile intent is required before waging war. The entire storyline has thinly veiled references to President Bush's foreign policy in the Middle East following the September 11th attacks and the "three Middle Eastern countries" could be a reference to the Axis of Evil.

Related Topics:
Vice president - President Bush - September 11th attacks - Axis of Evil

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Like the first season, the second ends with a surprise twist. The nuclear bomb situation is resolved without massive loss of life, but President Palmer collapses after being attacked with a biological weapon, presumably in an assassination attempt. Viewers were forced to wait until the third season to see whether Palmer survived the attack. The sudden shift from a nuclear to biological threat also foreshadows the third season, which initially centers around the threat of an engineered virus being set loose on the general public.

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There were several large plot threads left unresolved from the second season into the third and fourth seasons, most notably the characters of "Max" and Trepkos, two men who seemed to be the driving force behind the day's events, as well as President Palmer's assassination attempt. How the assassination attempt ties into a war for oil is something that never quite fit together, and many have suspected that they may have had some larger and more sinister goal in mind. They were never seen again, and the only clue to their fate is a cryptic hint given by Wayne Palmer in the premiere of season 3. However, it has been revealed that the events directly preceding season 3 will be chronicled in the upcoming video game, currently in production. Presumably, the fates of Max & Trepkos will be dealt with, as well as how several of the characters at CTU in the third season began working there.

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Season 3

The third season (2003–2004) takes place three years after the second season and centers around the threat of a deadly virus being released in Los Angeles while President Palmer is visiting to participate in a debate with his chief opponent in his re-election campaign.

Related Topics:
2004 - Virus - Los Angeles - President Palmer

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Major subplots:

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• President Palmer faces scandal during his re-election campaign involving his official doctor/girlfriend (a civilian whose ex-husband may have 'cooked the books').
• Strained romantic relationships between Tony and Michelle, Kim and Chase
• Jack's personal anguish: recovering from a heroin addiction that he claims he developed as part of an undercover operation

The season starts and ends at: 1:00pm (LA time). This is the first season where the action starts in the United States.

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The driver's license of a 19-year-old character in the third season, Kyle Singer, shows his date of birth as 1987, thus setting the third season in 2006 or 2007, with the first season therefore being in 2002 or 2003. However, some believe that since the first and third seasons fall in Presidential election years, it could be a mistake and the seasons actually take place in 2004 and 2008. However, like The West Wing, it is possible that elections in the 24-world do not coincide with ours.

Related Topics:
1987 - The West Wing

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Unlike the first two seasons, the third does not end with a sudden plot twist. It is also the first season which has not concluded with a silent timer, though the silent timer was used earlier in the season when Jack was forced by the terrorists to murder his boss, Ryan Chappelle. Despite the lack of a last-minute plot twist, important events occur at the end of the third season that have major consequences for the next season. First, Jack chops Chase's hand off with an axe to detach a timed-release device containing the virus that was secured to Chase's wrist, thus saving both their lives. Second, Tony turns himself in to the authorities for his role in helping the terrorist mastermind, Saunders, escape in order to save Michelle's life. Third, President Palmer decides not to run for re-election due to his ex-wife Sherry being murdered under suspicious circumstances. Presumably, Vice President James 'Jim' Prescott took over the Democratic Party ticket.

Related Topics:
Ryan Chappelle - Terrorist - Vice President - Democratic Party

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Criticisms of Season 3 generally revolve around plot inconsistencies, a perceived lack of drafting out the plot in advance, and subplots that considered to be ridiculous and generally have little or nothing to do with the main conflict.

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One of the greatest successes of the first season was that any one of the characters could have been good or evil. To bring back this feel, and to revamp the show, the producers decided not to renew the contracts of most of the cast. Thus, many fans see the first three seasons as a trilogy of sorts.

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Season 4

:The season starts and ends at 7:00 AM

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The fourth season (2005) is set a year and a half after the third and sees Jack, now working for Secretary of Defense James Heller after being fired by CTU, caught up in an elaborate terrorist plot which involves both men and the daughter of Heller, Audrey Raines, who doubles as her father's chief policy assistant and Jack's lover (whilst married to another man, but separated). Jack must work with CTU and Erin Driscoll, the new director and woman who fired him, to uncover what is happening. Again, one or more moles is revealed to inhabit CTU, aiding the terrorists.

Related Topics:
2005 - Secretary of Defense - CTU

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Unlike previous seasons, which focused on a singular threat, this season is based around a vaguely Arabic terrorist named Habib Marwan who controls a series of Middle Eastern terrorist cells that launch a series of attacks against the United States. The waves of terror begin with the bombing of a train allowing for the theft of a MacGuffin which can take control of (and meltdown) United States nuclear power plants, which is masked by the kidnapping of the Secretary Of Defense and his near-execution, which in turn is just a smoke screen to keep the President of the United States airborne in Air Force One, so that it can be shot down by a stolen stealth fighter, whereupon Marwan can steal the nuclear football and a nuclear warhead, and then launch it at Los Angeles. Jokingly, Marwan's plot has been ridiculed as a Rube Goldberg device for its ridiculous complexity and "domino effect" planning.

Related Topics:
Arabic - MacGuffin - Meltdown - President of the United States - Air Force One - Stealth fighter - Nuclear football - Rube Goldberg

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Based in part on the success of their earlier summer programs such as The O.C., the Fox Network decided to implement a year-round schedule, and aired the entire season, without any hiatuses, over 19 weeks - with double episodes airing twice in the first week, and again at the end of the season. Utilizing the extended planning session that this opportunity afforded the writers, they attempted to map out the season like never before, but as the season wore on, they eventually fell back to writing on an episode by episode basis, without any planning or foreknowledge.

Related Topics:
The O.C. - Fox Network

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This was particularly evident in the way the story was told. Unlike previous seasons, which all began with the discovery of the threat and went through the investigation, the containment of the threat and followed the aftermath, season four began with no one knowing what the threat was to be, and the characters - and audience - were kept in the dark for several episodes.

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When the season began, every character from the first three seasons was absent except for Jack Bauer, President Keeler (Palmer's Republican opponent in season 3), and Chloe O'Brian. However, as the season went on several characters came back, including Tony Almeida (for 18 episodes), Michelle Dessler (13 episodes), Mike Novick (7 episodes), David Palmer (6 episodes), Aaron Pierce (1 episode), and even Mandy the assassin from seasons 1 and 2 (3 episodes).

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As with the third season, there have been many criticisms of Season 4, including complaints regarding its disregard for the real time format (with characters getting to anywhere in Los Angeles within 10 minutes), the complete implausibility of most of the season's plotlines, and some plots which could be interpreted as a rehash of Season 2, including the multiple nuclear threats, and exercising extraordinary provisions of the constitution, implementing the 25th Amendment. In addition, the show was sharply criticized for its portrayal of people of Arabic descent as terrorists, while failing to portray any such characters positively. However, positive Arab characters did appear later in the season. It has also been criticized as having no real overall plot, in that it's just a sequence of events that happen sequentially, often with little or no connection with any other plot elements besides the one that has directly preceded it.

Related Topics:
25th Amendment - Arab

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Season 4 provided viewers with several new characters. However, many viewers complained that they were unable to get attached to some of the new faces. One of the new characters, Erin Driscoll, is involved in a subplot that involves her daughter's schizophrenia. Driscoll's daughter, Maya, ends up committing suicide. As a result, Driscoll ends up leaving CTU. Many viewers contend that this subplot was annoying and dragged on for way too long. Some of the indifference viewers had towards Driscoll may have been due to her unwillingness to take risks that would have helped Bauer and his work. George Mason and Tony Almeida, in previous seasons, were willing to put their jobs as Acting CTU Director on the line in order to help Jack. Viewers never really saw this from Driscoll.

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Although torture, real and feigned, by both the U.S. and its opponents, has been depicted in previous seasons, there was noticeably more of it in Season 4, and the characters seemed on the whole much less disturbed by it. In the wake of the real-life Abu Ghraib scandal and similar allegations at other U.S. military facilities housing suspected terrorists, some commentators accusedhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/arts/television/22gree.html the show of legitimizing the use of torture in the war on terror. Many viewers were upset with the torture of subjects such as Sarah Gavin and Behrooz Araz, who were not hiding anything. They also criticize the show's position, that essentially the torture helped exonerate them. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Kiefer Sutherland commented on the show's use of torture and how it relates to the recent controversies over government sanctioned torture. "Do I personally believe that the police or any of these other legal agencies that are working for this government should be entitled to interrogate people and do the things that I do on the show? No, I do not." http://www.progressive.org/?q=mag_cusac0805

Related Topics:
Torture - Abu Ghraib scandal

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The season also played with the cast line-up in a way no previous seasons had done. The season began with Sutherland, Raver, Watson and Devane as main cast. Watson left after twelve episodes, Lana Parrilla - upgraded from recurring to main character in episode six - was gone by episode thirteen, and Roger Cross was then put into the main cast. Devane then left after episode fourteen, returning briefly later in the season. Some criticisms were levelled at the writers for removing these characters simply to bring in characters from previous seasons.

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Future seasons

24 has been officially renewed for two more seasons http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/050517g.php. Season five will premiere in January 2006 and will presumably run over five months, similar to season four.

Related Topics:
January - 2006

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For season five, David Fury and Manny Coto are joining the crew as writers/executive producers. Fury was previously a writer for Lost, where he wrote the acclaimed episode "Walkabout." Coto was a writer and executive producer on ' near the end of its run. Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer), Carlos Bernard (Tony Almeida), Roger Cross (Curtis Manning), James Morrison (Bill Buchanan), Gregory Itzin (Charles Logan) and Mary-Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O'Brian) have all signed on for season five, according to various reports. In July 2005, Variety magazine reported that Jean Smart, Brady Corbet and Connie Britton have all joined the cast for the fifth season. Smart will play Logan's Wife, Britton will play Jack's new love interest, and Corbet will play her son. Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin has signed on for the fifth season. Dennis Haysbert (David Palmer), Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle Dessler), and Jude Ciccollela (Mike Novick) will all appear in at least the first episode.

Related Topics:
David Fury - Manny Coto - Lost - Variety - Jean Smart - Brady Corbet - Connie Britton - Lord of the Rings - Sean Astin

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In an interview with the cast and producers of 24 on the Charlie Rose Show it was said that the gap between seasons 4 and 5 will be shorter than the usual 18 month gap. Also, season 5 will be more directly affected by season 4 than other seasons have been by the preceding season.

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Richard Marcinko, one of the founders of SEAL Team SIX, Red Cell, and the father of counter-terrorism, and novelist Vince Flynn, have been signed onto season 5 as story consultants.

Related Topics:
Richard Marcinko - SEAL Team SIX - Red Cell - Vince Flynn

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