24 Things 24 Got Right. (No particular order.)
1. The real time thing. It's been fudged with the last few seasons but the "gimmick" of it was a fun and a good selling point for the show. I'm glad they kept it and wished they were a little "truer" to it. (Granted travel times have to be fudged but there's sometimes where they just completely fake it.)
2. The action. This show had a surprising amount of good almost theatrical levels of action on a TV show budget. The helicopters at the stadium in Season 2, the raid on the terrorist compound in Season 4 and so much more.
3. Killing Teri Bauer. When I saw Season 1 I already knew this would happen, but between the sepia tone "flashbacks" of Jack's last meaningful interactions with her and Kim 24 hours prior and the silent-countdown was very well played.
4. Creating an icon action hero. Jack Bauer will live for a long time as one of fiction's greatest action heroes. He shares the ranks with the likes of Chuck Norris, Batman, James Bond, Captain Kirk and many others. Jack Bauer is an American Icon.
5. President Palmer. A man who truely seamed like a meaningful, disciplined and honest man who'd make a great President. (Who'd get utterly eaten by the Republicans.)
6. Sherri Palmer. Never will there be another woman on TV who'll I'll so much love to hate. Her agendas, her scheming and her planning made her an utter bitch. But the actress played her off very, very well. A woman you really hated but she made it fun.
7. Chloe O'Brian. Another character who'll live along side Jack as an iconic character but in a total different way. From her presumed Aspergers, her social awkwardness, her snark and her mad hacking skillz and brilliantly played by Mary Lynn. I feel so bad for hitching on the bandwagon in S3 calling her "Potato Face" along side TWOP's recaper/forums. I hated her in Season 3 but quickly began to find her awesome and indispensable.
8. Jack's honor. Jack's got a great honor about him. When he gives someone "his word" you know he means it with his ever dying breath as he will fight to keep it. A man who puts his Country and his Mission above all else. Yeah his daughter will certainly pester him with personal BS, but even then Jack is only momentarily pulled off task. If only he could learn to put his phone on silent-alert.
9. The Marwan Season. This season was over the top. It was the first step in 24's descent in to madness. But this season was so much fun you just revel in the madness.
10. Event Episodes. Plenty of times over the series "event episodes" occured that had you gasping for breath and unable to wait for the next episode.
11. The Nina Reveal. Again, I knew it was coming when I saw S1, but the reveal was nicely played.
12. The Nuke Going off in S2. Dramaticly well played in tone, music, effects, and reveal.
13. The Nuke Going off in S6. Shocking and, again, handled very well. The rest of the season? Eh....
14. Michelle Dessler. Another character who when she was introduced I didn't like her but as S2 wore on I really grew to like her, mostly for aesthetic reasons, but at the end of S2 she kicked ass and she kicked even more ass in S3. The closest we had to a female Jack Bauer until Renee Walker was introduced.
15. Casting. Throughout the series this show has always had some great casting.
16. Secondary Characters. With some notable exception the series has had some good secondary characters. Milo, Agent Pierce, Mike Novick, Michele Forbes' character in Season 2 and many others. This show has some great, great casting.
17. The personal connections in S1. Season 1 was about nothing else beyond one man's life. If Jack failed in his day's tasks the world would move on. Sure, the Democrat's secondary candidate would get the nominaton but by and large the world would've been the same. S1 was about Jack's family and saving one man's life. A man Jack had never met yet was devoted to saving. 24 has never really matched this as each season ramped up the "threat" in a law of diminishing returns.
18. Tony Almeda. Another great character who got railroaded. But before that Tony was awesome.
19. Bill Buchanan. The one CTU Divistric person with a brain in his head and one of the few people Jack carried enough about to consider a friend. That's good enough for me.
20. Season 7. Probably 24's, oh, fourth best season. Mostly from the recovery it made after the abysmal Season 6.
21. The opening moments of Season 5. Killing off Palmer, Michelle and -seemingly- Tony. Was pretty shocking at the time.
22. Kim Bauer: Her plot lines were mostly silly but silly enough to serve an interesting distraction during the main events of the day.
23. CTU. And Orwellian nightmare of an agency. But somehow slickly cool.
24. Everything that I've forgotten that I'll be reminded of in the course of this thread.
