April 05, 2007

What Are The Writers Of "24" Thinking?

I don't mean "where are they going with this". I mean what the frak are they thinking?

The first act, episodes 1-8, got off to a good start right up until the last four snukes got armed. The second act's episodes, 9-16, have (to put it delicately) completely sucked. They've been chock full of recycled plot points, lame character interactions (Chloe/Morris, Milo/Nadia), disappearing characters (the Logans, Papa Bauer) and unimpressive story developments that push the limits of implausibility. Usually we'll accept something totally implausible as long as it's really cool.

Anybody watching the show for the first time must be scratching their head wondering "why is this show so popular"?

Here's my hope: that the writers fleshed out an awesome story but when it came time to write it out realized they only had material for about 16 episodes and came to the conclusion that they had to stretch out the story arc. So they wrote all this filler crap in the second act.

If this season doesn't take an amazing plot turn that resolves all the frustrations that have been building so far I'm going to be really disappointed.

I watched seasons 1-5 on DVD at a much faster pace than they are normally broadcast so maybe I'm glossing over story weaknesses of the past. But, honestly, this is the first time I've felt like I can DVR an episode and not care if I watch it days later.

Posted by Gary at April 5, 2007 12:00 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Yeah, it's pretty draggy.

The answer, of course, is to bring back Kim Bauer and have her menaced by a cougar. That always works.

Posted by: The Colossus at April 5, 2007 11:12 AM

At this point, bringing back Kim and have menaced by Milo would be worth it.

Posted by: Gary at April 5, 2007 11:17 AM

Chloe. Menaced by a cougar. Hot.

Posted by: The Colossus at April 5, 2007 11:27 AM

Maybe this---Chloe sneaks out of CTU to get a bite, is menaced by a cougar in the Quiznos. Chloe kills the cougar with a #2 pencil, jammed between its eyes. Chloe kidnapped by Gredenko, as he too was sneaking out of terrorist sooper sekrit HQ for a toasty late nite sandwich. Jack proceeds to blow up Quiznos, provoking an international incident as the Quiznos is technically part of the Vatican consulate in LA. Flying pieces of Sun Chips (french onion flavor) get sucked into the ceiling fan units of CTU, coating the place in a toxic orange paste. Morris's shoulder becomes infected and he almost dies.

Chloe licks the Sun Chip crust off Jack's face...

Posted by: Steve the LLamabutcher at April 5, 2007 01:45 PM

Anybody watching the show for the first time must be scratching their head wondering "why is this show so popular"?

[raises hand]

I had heard so much about "24" from so many different people that I finally decided to watch it this time around. Somewhere around the middle of the fifth or sixth hour I just lost interest. Slow, clumsy, overdone, melodramatic -- and not in a good way.

Posted by: wolfwalker at April 5, 2007 01:51 PM

I like Steve's show better.

Posted by: jen at April 5, 2007 02:12 PM

It's been a weak season. The best part was Logan getting stabbed.

I've been trying to figure out who I like least. Ricky Schroeder, Vice President Cy Tolliver, Peter MacNichol, Morris, Milo, President Palmer the Less, Palmer's sister, any relatives of Jack not named Kim, or Audrey, even though she's dead. There ain't a one in the group that I care about, and all they do is take screen time away from Jack and Chloe. There needs to be some serious killing in the last 4 or 5 hours to appease me at this point.

Or Chloe and Nadia being handcuffed together and menaced by cougars. All would be forgiven.

Posted by: The Colossus at April 5, 2007 02:35 PM

I mean, at least on Lost they're trying to amuse us -- they had Kate and Juliet handcuffed together, and menaced by The Entity. Quality TV, that.

Posted by: The Colossus at April 5, 2007 02:42 PM

And how sweet was the bare-fisted, rain-drenched cat fight in the mud?

There. Somebody had to say it.

Posted by: Gary at April 5, 2007 03:11 PM

Yeah, I wish---knowing our luck we'll get hot nekkid love scenes featuring a cougar-ish Karen Hughes handcuffed to the President's sister.

Posted by: Steve the LLamabutcher at April 5, 2007 10:08 PM