| 24 (tv Series) |
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''24'' is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning American Television Series. Broadcast by Fox Network in the USA and syndicated worldwide, the show first aired on November 6 , 2001 , with an initial thirteen episodes. In January 2007, ''24'' was made available online to US viewers through Fox on Demand. It is set in the fictional U.S. Government Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). ''24'' was originally presented by Fox in Real Time , with each season depicting a 24-hour period in the life of Jack Bauer , who works with the U.S. Government as it fights threats on her soil. Bauer is often in the field for the fictional Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) as they try to safeguard the nation from terrorist threats. Based in Los Angeles , the show also follows the actions of other CTU agents, government officials and terrorists associated with the plot. After leading actor Kiefer Sutherland won a Golden Globe for his role in the first 10 episodes, the ratings of the show increased, leading FOX to order the second half of the season. There have been six seasons of 24 produced. On May 15 2007 it was confirmed that FOX has ordered seventh and eighth seasons,2 with the seventh planned to begin airing in January 2008. A Motion Picture based on the show has been written and was scheduled to be filmed in 2007 for a 2008 release but plans for production were put on hold to focus on the TV show.3 ELEMENTS Real time ''24'' is a Thriller that is shown in " Real-time ," with each minute of airtime corresponding to a minute in the lives of the characters.4 Commercial breaks were originally placed at times when non-essential plot is taking place (i.e. characters driving somewhere will begin when a commercial break starts and arrive at their destination at the end of the commercial break.) This allows for the show to actually occur in real time without compromising action. Actual show run time without Commercials is about 45 minutes, as is typical for hour long television shows on many commercial stations. Watched continually each season would take approximately 18 hours to finish. This real-time nature is emphasized by an on-screen digital clock appearing before and after commercial breaks, with a distinct beeping noise for each second, alternating between C and D tones. This time corresponds to the in-universe time of the show. The characters will often place time windows (such as the common "within the hour") on certain events such as terrorist threats, thus strongly hinting that the attack/event will occur before the end of the episode. The action switches between different locations tracing parallel adventures of different characters involved in the same overarching plot. As a result, there may be long sections of unseen narrative for each character; in that case, a character may only be seen for a portion of an episode's overall running time.5 Storytelling and visual style ''24'' employs fast-paced and complex plots. A recurring theme of ''24'' has characters faced with the decision of whether or not to let something tragic happen for the sake of a greater good. In Season 2, a Dept. of Defense staffer has the chance to warn CTU of an imminent attack on their building, but argues that doing so would put the culprits on alert and thus cause a valuable trail to go cold.6 A similar situation occurs in Season 5, when terrorists plan to release a canister of nerve gas inside a busy shopping mall.7 In Season 3, the President and CTU agents must choose between the life of a high-ranking CTU official and the imminent threat of further attacks,8 while Season 4 is notable for a scene in which two men — one of whom possesses crucial information about a nuclear missile strike, and the other is the husband of a major character — lie dying in an emergency room, creating the ethical dilemma of whom to save.9 In addition, the sitting President often has to deal with a similar quandary. For example, in Season 6, President Wayne Palmer asks Jack Bauer to sacrifice himself in exchange for the location of a known terrorist.10 The first season began and ended at midnight,11 leading to the situation that the main characters had to go almost two days without sleep. Later seasons have tended to use a less punishing time window, starting in the morning12 or early afternoon.13 For the first two seasons, ''24'' frequently used split-screen action to follow multiple plots, although from Season 3 onward this was scaled back somewhat and confined mostly to phone conversations and shots leading into and out of commercial breaks.14 Creative influences Immediately prior to ''24'', series co-creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran executive-produced '' La Femme Nikita '' for its entire five-year run on USA Network . Both series deal with anti-terrorist operations, and the lead characters of both series are placed in situations where they must make a tragic choice in order to serve the greater good. As a result, the on- and off-screen creative connections between ''24'' and ''La Femme Nikita'' are highly pronounced. Numerous actors from ''La Femme Nikita'' have portrayed similar roles on ''24'', a number of story concepts from ''La Femme Nikita'' have been revisited on ''24'', and many of the creative personnel from ''La Femme Nikita'' currently work (or have worked) on ''24'' in the same capacity.1516 ''24'' "borrows" some aspects of the 1997 film '' Air Force One '' too. In Seasons 2, 4 and 6, Air Force One can be seen and the series reused the same set as the one featured in the movie.17 Much like in the film, the 25th Amendment has been invoked three times on ''24'' in Seasons 2, 4, and 6. Additionally, three actors featured on ''24'' — Xander Berkely , Wendy Crewson and Glenn Morshower — played roles in ''Air Force One''. Counter Terrorist Unit The Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) is a Fiction al elite branch of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and similar to the real-life NYPD/FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the CIA Counterterrorist Center's Special Operations Division. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C. with satellite operations in major cities where threats are likely. CTU's primary mission is to disrupt and destroy foreign and domestic terror cells hostile to the United States, as well as protect the U.S. from terror attacks. With an office in nearly every major city of the U.S., CTU also has a role in creating security policy and fighting groups of organized crime that fund terrorism.18 Although CTU is fictional, a similar department, the National Counterterrorism Center , was set up by the government. CTU offices are run by a Director, also called the Special Agent In Charge , to whom the Director Of Field Operations and the Chief Of Staff report. Departments within a CTU office include Communications ("Comm"), Logistics, and Tactical ("Field Ops."). Communications and Logistics personnel report directly to the Chief of Staff, whereas Tactical personnel are deployed into Tactical Teams ("Tac Teams") by the Director of Field Operations. The Los Angeles CTU Field Office houses several areas. The first floor contains the Situation Room, as well as the main communications complex and command center, often referred to as "The Floor." On the second floor is the Director's office and Field Ops office. Situated elsewhere in the building are the Information Technology department (I.T.), an in-house Medical clinic, Meteorology department, several Holding Rooms used for interrogation and confinement, and Tech Rooms, which contain the bulk of the physical computer hardware used by CTU. The CTU offices within a region report to a Divisional Office, overseen by the Division Director. Divisional offices cover a larger amount of territory in their jurisdiction. Finally, the Divisional office and all other offices report to a District Headquarters, overseen by a Regional Director. This title implies that each District Headquarters has jurisdiction over an entire region of the United States. However, in Season 1, the reverse was implied: the District Director, George Mason, reported to District Manager Richard Walsh (who was killed in the second episode), and then Ryan Chappelle, the Regional Director from Division. However, in the Season 2 finale, Chappelle referred to a Mr. Vaughn, the District Director, as his superior. CTU often suffers setbacks for the sake of plot. Despite the high-profile and high-risk nature of its duties, it is frequently infiltrated by double agents, and several times has been attacked or seized by terrorist forces. Recurring plot devices There are some plot devices that are used constantly on 24.
CAST See Also: List of 24 characters List of 24 (TV series) cast members Main casts ''24'' is known for making major changes to its main cast every season — the sole exception being Kiefer Sutherland , who is the only main cast member to star in all six seasons to date. Honorable mention should be given to Glenn Morshower who plays Aaron Pierce - the only actor besides Sutherland to appear in all six seasons. Due to the unpredictable nature of each season's storyline, main cast members are added and dropped frequently. In a few cases, guest stars have been upgraded to main cast members during the course of a season. Main cast members who return from prior seasons — whether they return for one episode or the better part of a season — are often given a "Special Guest Star" billing, although this is also used for other cast members who are well-known film actors, like Dennis Hopper , Powers Boothe , Sean Astin , and James Cromwell . Because of the intense nature of the series, the number of onscreen deaths is high compared to other television dramas. Of the 28 characters who have comprised the main cast over the past six seasons, ten are deceased. That number is considerably higher when guest characters — whether they be government agents or terrorists — are also included.
Notable guest stars ''24'' features a large number of guest characters in every episode. Below are the guest stars who have appeared in the highest number of episodes during the past six seasons, starting with the most. Cameo appearances
SEASON SYNOPSES Season 1 See Also: 24 (season 1) Season 1 begins and ends at 12:00 AM, and occurs on the day of the California presidential primary. Jack Bauer must protect Senator David Palmer from an assassination plot, and rescue his family from those responsible for the plot, who seek retribution for Jack's involvement with a covert U.S. mission in the Balkans. Season 2 See Also: 24 (season 2) Season 2 begins and ends at 8:00 AM. Jack must stop a nuclear bomb from detonating in Los Angeles, then assist President David Palmer in proving who is responsible for the threat. Season 3 See Also: 24 (season 3) Season 3 begins and ends at 1:00 PM. While struggling with heroin addiction, Jack must re-infiltrate a Mexican drug cartel in order to keep it from acquiring a deadly virus. Jack must then stop the mastermind behind the virus from releasing it. Season 4 See Also: 24 (season 4) Season 4 begins and ends at 7:00 AM. Jack must save the lives of Secretary Heller and his daughter Audrey Raines (with whom Jack is romantically involved) when they are kidnapped by terrorists. The same terrorists then launch further attacks against America, and Jack is forced to use unorthodox methods to stop them, methods that will have long-term consequences for both Jack and the U.S. Season 5 See Also: 24 (season 5) Season 5 begins and ends at 7:00 AM. Jack is believed to be dead by everyone except a few of his closest friends. Terrorists with connections to the U.S. government attempt to steal nerve gas in order to protect US oil interests in Asia, and Jack must resurface to stop them. Season 6 See Also: 24 (season 6) Season 6 begins and ends at 6:00 AM. Jack is released after being tortured in a Chinese prison for twenty months. Terrorists attempt to set off Suitcase Nuclear Device s in the United States and Jack must stop them as well as prevent sensitive circuitry from falling into the hands of the Chinese to prevent war between the U.S. and Russia. Season 7 See Also: 24 (season 7) Season 7 will begin and end at 7:00AM, and will begin airing in the United States in January 2008. Kiefer Sutherland has been signed to stay with the show through 2009. The season is to be more personal than previous seasons.19 It will also feature the show's first female president, Allison Taylor , played by actress Cherry Jones ,20 as well as the return of Mary Lynn Rajskub , James Morrison & Bob Gunton . FEATURE FILM A ''24'' feature film was originally scheduled to be released in 2008 , but in April 2007, it was announced that plans to shoot the film have been put on hold. 24 movie delayed indefinitely The creators of the film originally announced that filming was not expected to start until after the was completed and before the seventh season. In an interview with .http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117944863?categoryid=13&cs=1 In an interview with the '' Chicago Sun-Times '', Sutherland confessed, "Anytime (the production team) got really close to having a great idea for having a film, we needed it for episode 18. So there it went."http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20060423/ai_n16414190 Kim Raver and Mary Lynn Rajskub will appear in the upcoming film according to the official 24 magazine. Elisha Cuthbert has also said that she would be interested in playing her character, Kim, when the 24 movie is produced in 2008.http://www.moviehole.net/news/20070314_kim_bauer_back_for_24_movie.html BROADCASTING INFORMATION US television ratings Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of ''24'' on FOX. ''Note: Each US network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May Sweeps .'' ^ = ''Indicates a "non-stop" season'' Viewership increased midway through its second season when the mega-hit '' of 2005. The consecutive-week schedule was also implemented for 2006, beginning in mid-January 2006. In comparison to its 2005 season, ''24'' in 2006 was up 16% in overall viewers and 14% in viewers of the advertiser-friendly 18–49 age demographic.26 Thus, the series has so far reached its ratings peak in 2006. The sixth season's two-night, four-hour premiere gained its largest audience ever, scoring an average 15.7 million viewers.27 At one stage, ratings peaked at 16.3 million viewers. Viewership has increased steadily for ''24'', except for a slight fall in the third season. FOX was able to continue gaining audience share in 2005 and 2006 with non-stop seasons and the number of viewers was up over 60% in season 5 vs season 1. Viewership numbers of primetime programs during the 2005-06 television season International broadcasters ''24'' is widely broadcast in other parts of the world, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. CRITICAL REACTION See Also: Critical reaction to 24 (TV series)
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