24 was a series that left me with mixed feelings. Eventually, I gave up on it, and not for reasons such as a schedule conflict which was what did in my relationship with Lost.  No, with 24 it was simple out-and-out issues I had with the stories as time went on. Watching the first season again all these years later, the seeds for what I would have an issue with down the road are evident early on.

This first season of the series had the misfortune of debuting just after 9/11. This affected the plot early on as the initial scenes of an airliner being blown up were reworked quite a bit.  I was hoping to see the original scenes now on the disc, but it doesn’t seem to be here.  What also hurt the series was the lack of commitment by the Fox Network to a full season. It’s quite evident as the season progresses where the writers had written the show to conclude, just in case, and where they had to pick up an ongoing suspenseful plot once again.

The plot for this first season revolves around a known threat to Senator David Palmer (portrayed by Dennis Haysbert), the man who will quite possibly be the first African-American President on the day of the California Presidential Primary.  Jack Bauer (portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland) is a top agent with CTU (Counter-Terrorism Unit) in Los Angeles and is brought in to work the case. Complicating matters are issues with his home life which also seems to his a crisis that night and bleed over into his work.

Right from the start, the show illustrates its real-time format quite well.  The action takes place in three different locations.  We are seeing an intelligence officer receiving news of an attempt on Senator David Palmer’s life.  The Senator himself is shown working on his Presidential campaign.  Finally, there’s the broken home life of agent Jack Bauer.  All of this is framed with a ticking clock, showing the time ticking down.

The plot holes that caused me to stop watching the series after the third season are present here in the first, but I think I was one of those so blinded by the innovativeness of the format that I didn’t catch them the first time, watching the show in sequence with the episodes a week apart. Watching this first season over again, I almost get the same feeling.  There are things happening that are plot holes the size of Texas.  For instance, Jack seems more worried about his second in command, Nina (portrayed by Sarah Clark) bruised feelings after she learns that he was suspicious of her at one point than he is worried about his daughter’s disappearance.  Granted, at that point, he believed Kim (portrayed by Elisha Cuthbert) was just at a party with a friend, but there’s a lot in how he behaves that indicates how little he values his family.  This isn’t just his job versus his family, but also his co-workers versus his family.

There are numerous implausibilities just to further the plot and keep the tension up.  For instance, Kim’s friend Janet is murdered in the hospital yet no one responds to the change in her vitals on the monitors. Why weren’t nurses and doctors rushing in or at least alarms going off?  If it’s to be believed that the people behind everything going on could run an operation this slick, what did they need Jack for in the first place?

The casting itself was hit or miss as well, which doesn’t help.  Both Sutherland and Haysbert are fantastic in the roles and I believe this is really the one redeeming factor that keeps the series the least bit interesting. Haysbert just acts Presidential right from the start. The weaknesses he displays have more to do with faulty writing than anything else.  I find it hard to believe that for all the time he’s been married to his wife Sherry (portrayed by Penny Johnson Jerald) he never had a clue what a manipulator she was. He’s smart enough to be President, yet she’s been pulling the wool over his eyes for this long? No way.

Sutherland has good chemistry with nearly everyone in the cast except the one we’re supposed to see sparks with.  Leslie Hope portrays his wife, Teri, and does a horrible job as far as I’m concerned. There’s absolutely no chemistry between them, positive or negative, and any time she was on the screen I felt like changing the channel (or fast-forwarding the DVD). Elisha Cuthbert is fine as Kim, but with both of these characters, there’s too much done to them over the course of twenty-four hours to keep them plausible.

The DVD release features the episodes as they aired, with the exception of the alternate ending included on the final disc. Other than that, there are no special features to be found with the exception of an introduction to the series, also put on the last disc. You tell me how that makes sense?

For all my criticism, though, 24 was a good, suspenseful series that managed to pull off a season-long plot halfway decently. The fact that it had so much going against it, to begin with, really makes its success remarkable.  I enjoyed watching it the way I enjoy watching suspenseful action-packed films that I have to suspend my disbelief for. I wouldn’t suggest trying to watch the whole thing in one sitting. I spread it out over a few weeks and it was much easier to tolerate that way, even though I was still picking up on the plot holes.



Disc One

12:00 Midnight – 1:00 AM
1:00 AM – 2:00 AM
2:00 AM – 3:00 AM
3:00 AM – 4:00 AM

Disc Two

4:00 AM – 5:00 AM
5:00 AM – 6:00 AM
6:00 AM – 7:00 AM
7:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Disc Three

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
11:00 AM – 12:00 NOON

Disc Four

12:00 NOON – 1:00 PM
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Disc Five

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Disc Six

8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
10:00 PM – 11:00 PM
11:00 PM – Midnight

Special Features:

• Alternate Ending (available with commentary by Executive Producer Joel Surnow)
• Introduction to Season One with Kiefer Sutherland