Friday, March 26, 2010

24 is cancelled

Fox says the show is too expensive to make. I for one am going to miss it. Yes, it’s implausible, they’ve gone through every villain except Glenn Beck, and can get anywhere in Manhattan and Los Angeles in only ten minutes. But it was also rollicking fun. And I marvel at how they can keep the suspense up hour after hour. Plus, they always seem to come up with new twists. I’m sure this season we’re going to discover that Dana Walsh is a man. Jack Bauer isn’t that masculine.

There is some initial talk of a 24 movie but that’s still a ways away and I wonder if theater owners would balk at a movie lasting 24 hours.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of this season. I hope that when Jack saves the world yet again that at least this time someone says thank you and maybe buys him a goddamn appetizer at the Olive Garden.

21 comments :

Spanky Mcfarlane said...

Maybe if they had called it "23" it wouldn't have cost so much to produce.

Meredith said...

Ow, Ken! I adore Katee Sackhoff and don't think she's masculine at all. Her character on Battlestar Galactica was, to some degree, but different show. She just didn't get a very good storyline this time.

AlaskaRay said...

>>There is some initial talk of a 24 movie but that’s still a ways away and I wonder if theater owners would balk at a movie lasting 24 hours.<<

I think Avatar lasted 24 hours, but it was a great 24 hours.

Ray

24-Was-a-day-too-long said...

I'm probably the only one in the free world who didn't watch at least a few episodes of "24." A friend lent me the first season DVDs and I knew all the "twists" by the end of the first hour--kinda takes the joy out of watching a long series.

Rob said...

I'd like to see Jack Bauer eat or pee at least once before the series ends. Or explain how he gets away without doing either.

Simon H. said...

AlaskaRay: No, it only SEEMED like it lasted 24 hours. If James Cameron could ever write a halfway decent script he would truly be the king of cinema, and not just its best technical innovator.

D. McEwan said...

"they’ve gone through every villain except Glenn Beck"

Could that be perhaps because the showrunner agrees with Glen Beck? This show was always slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. It's been out of date ever since George Bush left office. And even if they made it a more reasonable "12" you'd still never get me to watch it. Mind you, I didn't care if it stayed on or not. No one tried to force me to watch it, so thems what enjoyed it were always welcome to it.

"24-Was-a-day-too-long said...
I'm probably the only one in the free world who didn't watch at least a few episodes of '24.' A friend lent me the first season DVDs and I knew all the 'twists' by the end of the first hour--"


Sound like you watched at least one episode. I got you beat. I have never watched even one episode.

But like I say, viewing was voluntary. If NBC saves it, enjoy. I won't watch, but let those that like it have it.

Alice said...

This is off topic, but you might enjoy this medley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i7u3fl-hP8&feature=player_embedded

Tim W. said...

"Sound like you watched at least one episode. I got you beat. I have never watched even one episode."

Same here. I heard good things about it about halfway through the first season, saw no point in starting halfway through, and figured I'd eventually watch it on DVD. Same goes for Sopranos and Lost. Someday. Someday...

And Ken, it wouldn't be a 24 hour movie, but 12 two hour movies. A franchise! Isn't that what everyone is looking for these days?

Pat Reeder said...

I can understand why it's being canceled. My viewing of it exactly tracks the ratings. I watched the first couple of seasons all the way through. Then it began to annoy me that it would start off really exciting but start turning ludicrous somewhere around hour 5. So I'd watch the first few hours and bail when the ridiculousness factor rose too high. When that started creeping up to around hour 3, I lost interest entirely and haven't watched the last two seasons at all. I have a feeling the same thing happened about 14 million times all across America.

nutballgazette said...

I thought a few weeks ago that NBC was looking at picking up 24?

It could star Keith Olbermann and Rachael Maddow saving the world from Glen Beck and Sarah Palin.

Rory L. Aronsky said...

I thought a few weeks ago that NBC was looking at picking up 24?

They passed. Too expensive for a network on the level of "Save the Children" donations:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i82424a74b1dd9119bfc568e09f434cfa

Rory L. Aronsky said...

Crap. Here's the link:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i82424a74b1dd9119bfc568e09f434cfa

And just in case the link is a wash again (because I'm so good at tags), here's the pertinent part of that article:

"Producers did sniff around at other networks, namely NBC, with 20th TV offering to lower its license fee to $3.5 million to keep the show going. NBC ran the numbers and passed."

blogward said...

I work at talkbackTHAMES in the UK who make X-Factor, etc, but the network just cancelled the 27-year running cop show "The Bill". Too early to tell the whole story yet, but ITV say it's a creative decision so as not to worry shareholders. Ha!

WV: stong = dunno, but a great word.

Buttermilk Sky said...

No show is "too expensive" if the ratings are good enough. Maybe the extra expense was incurred by Kiefer Sutherland's frequent, uh, absences.

Unknown said...

Yeah there you go-real good move casting a substance abuser as a hero. I knew this show was done ages ago and especially after Keifer Sutherland paid for a cushy jail because he could and he HAD to.

A real life complaint filed with the FBI:

www.myspace.com/370392338

Trinity Moses said...

"...I wonder if theater owners would balk at a movie lasting 24 hours."

When I saw that line, I was sure someone in the comments would make an Andy Warhol joke. Now the apparent fact that I am the only one here to make that connection just makes me feel old.

Brian said...

It was fun and added a little kick to Monday. I think the most unbelievable one when after being in a Chinese prison for 20 months, jack comes back and immediatly starts kicking A.
Brian

Alex N said...

We've watched the show since the beginning, and some of the seasons were amazing. Even some of the bad years still had some really good episodes My biggest problem with the show had less to do with the torture issue and more to do with what could quite possibly be the WORST job applicant screening ever. Every year there was a mole in CTU, and with Dana Walsh, they have a mole and someone trying to hide from her white trash past. Ultimately, we'll miss the most important character on the show: Chloe.

Anonymous said...

He had time to recuperate from the effects of Chinese prison when he was being released. Figure a train or chopper ride form the faraway secret prison, then a ten hour plane ride to LA.

Actually, if you chop out the commercials, and the Previously on 24 segments, you are down to an 18 hour movie. Take out the useless B storylines, and you are down to 12 hours. sn't this what Nck of Time did with Johnny Depp?

Unknown said...

Ah, 24. The show that taught all America that torture is ok. Good Riddance!