Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The Following Is A Review of One of the Greatest Shows Ever
12:00 a.m.-12:00 a.m. on one of the longest days of all times. Jack Bauer must save a presidential candidate as well as himself and his own family, and he must uncover the mole working in his own organization. This is probably the greatest drama TV show ever. From the first hour to the last minute, you will be hooked, and you will never want to stop watching. There is a new twist every hour that will hook you. The actors are great, and the characters are developped extremely well. Trust me, you will never have a better (or worse, if you are a character in the show) day.
Rating:  - All In A Days Work...
As a television viewer, I tend to watch shows that break all the rules, in terms of plot and execution. Any program that promises to break "New Ground", I am willing to give it a fair shot, I mean after all most shows on T.V. today, have a certain "sameness" to them. How many cop, lawyer, medical shows can their be? 24 has become one of my favorite shows, for the simple fact that for most of its first season, it kept me interested and entertained Its real time aspect was the hook, but the storyline and pulse-pounding weekly cliffhangers, kept me coming back week after week.Special Counter Terrorism Agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and his team, learn of an assination plot to kill Senator David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) on the day of the California Presidential Primary. Fellow Agent Nina Meyers (Sarah Clarke) tells Jack that their is also a mole within the Counter Terrorism Unit that is working against them. Jack's wife Teri, (Leslie Hope) is out looking for their missing daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), who snuck out of the house, shortly before Jack got the call to report to work.. Throughout the season Sutherland puts in some amazing work as Bauer, as does Haysbert as Palmer, who has some family problems of his own to deal with, as the day wears on. Of the female cast members, Cuthbert and recurring guest star, Penny Johnson Jerald, as Palmer's wife Sherry get high marks from me. Every hour brings with it at least one surprise. As a whole the idea and story sustain itself very well. Even when some episodes aren't quite as good, as others, the show is STILL better than most stuff on the tube. I am not bothered at all by the serialized aspect of 24. As I said, as long as it stays a quality show, I plan to stick with it. There were a few mis-steps, among the quality stuff. Casting Dennis Hopper and Lou Diamond Phillips in the series as Guest Stars was lopsided at best but can be overlooked. The DVD box set allows you to catch up with all of the first season action of this great show...But the set is not as good as it could (or should) be. In an effort to woo potential viewers for season 2, FOX rushed the set into production, so the set is lacking in some areas *The episodes "Previously On 24" recap segments have been edited out of the set for some reason.
*Kiefer Sutherland's introduction appears on disc 6/ The 2nd season preview promised on the box, offers nothing in terms of footage, just generalities that don't say much/the preview and introduction are one and the same and why put it on the last disc? It's a bit misleading, if you ask me.
*The only real extra (again on the last disc) in the set is an alternate ending to the last hour. All I can say is, the ending that was used, makes for a better conclusion to the first season Thank goodness the producers used the one in the final version instead of the alternate one. The other ending has a commentary option from one of the show's creator's
*There's a booklet included that give a summary of each hour of the day (ho-hum) The show gets a 5 star rating for sure, while the set, gets just 4 Recommended just the same. I have high hopes for season 2...The clock continues to tick...
Rating: - Great show - but with missing scenes!.
The show itself is of course magnificent for the most part. Innovative, exciting and very well acted. A landmark in modern TV drama, despite a brief drop -off in quality in some of the late afternoon episodes. The DVD picture quality is wonderfully sharp, and the sound is nicely crisp. Important to note if you are buying this package having not seen the show before (having heard about it from others but too late to join in watching it on TV) that there are spoilers all over the presentation. the enclosed booklet includes short summaries of every episode and not much else, so don't look at it until you've seen the whole show. Similarly the menus feature clips from the show which is nice to watch if you aren't worried about information being given away, as the clips on the menu for each disc tend to reveal major plot points. Also, the DVD extras are actually pretty poor. The alternative ending is dull and obviously only shot to keep the true ending secret. The teaser for season 2 comprises only Kiefer Sutherland talking in very vague terms about the general concept of 24, with no real information about the second series. Worst of all is the fact that the footage on the discs is only the footage that was originally broadcast IN THE US. In the UK the broadcast footage included an extra couple of minutes for each of the episodes 7pm - 12pm. This footage contained scenes that was cut from the US broadcast for adverts, whereas in the UK 24 was shown on the BBC where there are no adverts. These scenes ranged from nice additions to important points: one cut scene had a major impact on the crucial events in the final episode and another even greatly improved the climactic battle between Jack and the bad guys. Fox haven't included this footage on the DVD versions in either the UK or the US, meaning that us poor Brits have scenes that we miss and this has led to calls for a recall and replacement with the full footage. For the US viewer, this is actually worse, in that you are never going to see these great scenes. There are no running time issues on DVD, unlike on TV, so why not let those fans willing to pay for the box set have bonus footage integrated into their box sets? Bizarrely, this doesn't affect the VHS British release of 24, only the DVD, so if you want those extra scenes you'll need a PAL compatible TV and VCR. Why not drop Fox an email congratulating them on making such a great show and asking for them to include the full footage as was broadcast on the BBC?
|
