HTF REVIEW: "24" The Complete First Season (A MUST BUY!) (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Tim Sly]

I don't watch much regular TV, mostly movies, but I got started on this series at the beginning and loved it. I only saw a few episodes due to a busy schedule. I think it would be worth buying for $35 just to see the whole thing and in widescreen would be great! I don't know about rewatchablility. Who knows, maybe when my wife has her friends over to watch Pride & Prejudice over and over and over, us guys could watch 24! Of course we would get the 56" widescreen in the home theater and they would get the 27" TV in the family room. P & P is probably in 4:3 anyway.

 

[Rafael M]

I don't know why I never watch the series when it premiered back in October. Anyways that change when I picked up this months issue of Maxim with Elisha Cuthbert, I took a chance and purchased the DVD. All I can say is 24 is awesome! (though only second to my favorite, The Sopranos!) and I have to agree with Ron, it's addictive! I spent two nights watching the DVD/Season, the first night I remember staying up until 4 in the morning.

I can't wait for 24:2!!!

 

[Tom Rags]

So, does anyone wonder what Germany
has to do with the terrorist plot? The second mole
clearly was involved with this faction....do you think it will be addressed in the next season?

 

[Jonathan Burk]

After hearing the great things about this show, I borrowed the set and my wife and I sat down to get started. After the first disc (4 episodes), we found we spent most the time laughing over plot holes and characters acting stupid, so we turned it off. I was curious enough to read the plot summaries off the website for the remaining 20 episodes, and I'm really glad I quit when I did.

Major spoilers follow...

Our biggest problem was with the "real time" format of the show, and the corner that painted the writers into. Given the choice between two courses of action for a character, the smart, sensible choice, or the "takes an hour" approach, they had to have characters eat up the time doing something stupid.

There were three main plots for the series, as far as I can tell:

-The bad guys' desire to rescue Dennis Hopper

-The bad guys' desire to get even with Jack (and his family) for Jack having killed Dennis Hopper's family.

-The assassination of Palmer.

Now, if I were a smart bad guy, I would operate under the KISS principle (Keep it simple). The fewer steps to a plan, the less that can go wrong. If I were faced with those three "missions", the first thing I would do is keep them separate, so if one of them wasn't successful, it wouldn't sabotage the other missions.

I'll tell you what killed the show for my wife and I.

First, we have the assassination mission, which develops thusly in the first couple episodes:

-Photographer on plane. Seduced by girl.

-Girl lifts photographer's wallet, blows up plane, and parachutes to desert floor.

Now, who in their right mind would consider this the best way to get the photographer's ID? How many things could have gone wrong? If you're trying to get the ID and kill the photographer, could you think of a harder way? Is it really that hard to steal a guy's wallet, and make him disappear? Especially if you have $1million to devote to the endeavor? And while I haven't given it much thought, it can't be that hard to assassinate a political candidate, especially if you have millions of dollars to devote to the endeavor.

And the kidnapping...

Could there have been a worse way to kidnap the girl? Why not just walk into the house with a gun, point it at the mom and daughter, and tell them to get into the car? It took 4 hours to accomplish what could have taken 10 minutes. (Not to mention it took them a whole episode -60 minutes- to drive a few miles across the valley...at 2 in the morning?!)

The series just had a seat of the pants feel, that might have been less obvious in once-a-week spurts. But taken as a whole, the meandering plot and total absence of character development was just too blatant for us.

 

[Mike-M]

Jonathon,

I think you have to realize that not only is this a TV show but it's ultimately entertainment. Sure, you can sit back and nitpick at things but the fact is that if many of the things that you disagreed with didn't happen, the show would just be boring. Heck, anything would be boring. I mean, take Star Wars for example. Why would a Jedi use a light saber and other means to fight an enemy when he can just lift up his hand and use the force to knock an enemy down? It may be the "most realistic" approach but it'd be boring.

Same principle applies to "24." And while it did get rather silly and arugably quite poor in the middle, the producers pulled the concept off brilliantly and the show overall was great.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

After the first disc (4 episodes), we found we spent most the time laughing over plot holes and characters acting stupid, so we turned it off.

Sorry to learn this.

I am a little perplexed. One of the events

you describe (including actor) doesn't happen

till around disc 6.

How did you know if you didn't watch that far?

 

[GlennH]

Jonathan, you must be one of those "if it doesn't make complete sense I don't like it" kind of guys. That's fine, but I imagine it eliminates about 99% of all movies or shows from consideration.

I watched the whole series when it aired and I noted several such "why did he do that?" and "wouldn't it just be easier to ..." type moments. Sometimes they could be explained as Jack not thinking straight after being awake so long. Other times not. But that doesn't ruin the overall enjoyment. As was said, it's entertainment.

 

[Elliott Willschick]

My philosophy for when movies or tv go a little over the top is: if you want real life, get up and go to work, take the kids to school, go grocery shopping and pay your bills. If you want excitement then pop in a DVD.

 

[James D]

I really enjoyed the series and am more than willing to suspend my disbelief to a certain point. However, there are some instances that are hard to swallow, such as when the cop killer was able to just walk out of the police station.
Almost all shows suffer from implausibilities, but if you can ignore them, you can still be entertained.

 

[Jonathan Burk]

know, and had a contingency in case he didn't!"

And, doubly ironically, that friend absolutely loved 24.
I tend to only get bothered by things that really jump out at me the first time I watch it. If I'm watching a movie for the 100th time, I expect to notice little flaws. But when huge, gaping holes are easy to see the first time around, it does take me out of the experience.
It may be a whole different experience to watch it a week at a time, so I'll definitely check it out this season to see how I like it.

 

[Mike-M]

What I find very ironic is that you watched the first disc, didn't like it, then went online and read the episode descriptions for three hours. Then, you plan to tune into the second season.

It's odd, because it sounds like you are reluctantly addicted--or at the very least extremely curious/interested--in the show.

 

[Jonathan Burk]

What I find very ironic is that you watched the first disc, didn't like it, then went online and read the episode descriptions for three hours. Then, you plan to tune into the second season.

It's odd, because it sounds like you are reluctantly addicted--or at the very least extremely curious/interested--in the show.

Yeah, in spite of my problems with the show, I was still curious to see what twists and turns the plot would take. I just wasn't curious enough to devote 20 more hours.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Never watched the show, always wanted to though but never found the time and after missing the premiere episode didn't bother. Picked up the first 3 seaons on black friday for $20 a piece and burned through the first season in 4 nights.
Best $20 I've spent in a while.
The first 12 hours were edge of your seat, the after did lull quite a bit and I did have to laugh at a car sliding down a small hill only to then explode in a ball of flame. I had more problems with that than Teri getting amnesia which made some sense given that after all she had been through it ends with an image of her killing her own daughter in the car. To me it came off that her brain just popped at that moment.
But anyway, after the sun went down things picked up quickly again. Loved all of the cameos by some fun actors, Hopper's accent aside. The was really afraid that the ending would be wrapped up neatly and all happy. Glad I was wrong.
I think this will remain a DVD only show for me. With all the other shows out there now that keep up the end of the week cliffhanger nearly every week it was nice to go in fresh and just watch it from beginning to end, no breaks.
With Prison Break not coming back until March, and Lost not until mid Jan and the same with Survace, I think the next 3 seasons of 24 will keep me occupied. Just have to pick up season 4.
edit: Oh yeah and does anyone have a final body count for the day? It has to be up there.

 

[George_W_K]

I just finished watching both Seasons 1 and 2 with my fiance again. Well, again for me, but it was the first time she has seen Season 2.
This show is terrific. I have to watch what I spend as I'm off work for a month, but I'll have to pick up seasons 3 and 4 now and see how they turned out.
Anyway, we were both on the edge of our seats these past couple of days. I remembered what happened and I was still enthralled by what was going on!
I can't decide which season I like the best. I think 2 had me on the edge a little more than season 1, but I'm not sure that means I liked it better than 1. I guess it doesn't really matter as liked them both anyway.
It was fun to see Dennis Hopper's accent again.

 

[TravisR]

Not that you were looking for opinions on the other years but what the hell. I think Season Three is underrated. It's the weakest of the four seasons but once it gets moving, it's great. I think (and the general fan consensus seems to be) that Season Four is the best year since the first one.

I remembered what happened and I was still enthralled by what was going on!

I just rewatched all the DVDs in anticipation of the S4 DVD and the upcoming S5 and I know exactly what you mean. Can't wait to see more Jack Bauer action in January!

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I just finished Season 3 last night and think it is the best season so far. I found myself breathing heavy at the end of a couple episodes.
I lent my mom season 1 and 2 and she just finished 2 and is dieing to start 3. I went through most of the threads covering the first 3 seasons and there seamed to be a lot of complaints and I think it is mostly because of having to watch only one episode per week, plus with big breaks inbetween. This show appears to be so much better when one is able to watch the episodes back to back with no interuption. It never loses its edge or intensity which is why I won't bother watching Season 5 until it is on DVD. This is the only show I've decided to do that with.
One thing I must say is that the actress playing Kate Warner in S2 is by far the worst actor 24 has employed. I could not stand to look at that one expression botoxed face, let alone listen to her try to act infront of a real professional like Kiefer. It does seem like the show has a thing for really dumb blondes, but at least "Kim" is getting a little bit better as things move along.
Anyway, so glad that I finally introduced myself to this wonderful series. Time to bust open Season 4!

 

[StacyV]

Don't know if this has been mentioned anywhere else. I just recently started watching the season 4 set in anticipation of the season 5 premiere, and they continue the unfortunate practice of having images on the menu screens that can be considered spoilers in that they give a tip-off to events that haven't happened yet. I know this was a problem on the season 3 set as well.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

Has anyone heard any plans to release the earlier 24 seasons on Blu-ray?

Did a search. Couldn't find any information.

 

[TravisR]

^ I'm guessing that the seventh and eighth seasons didn't sell well enough to warrant them going back. It might even be possible that the earliest seasons were finished on video.