A Very Long Day

Just finished watching the first season of the television series of 24. I was totally captivated and blown away by the series. 24 is the number of hours in a day and each season is to capture a 24 hour period in the life of John Bauer, director of Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). Thus each episode is one hour long and is shown in 'real time' i.e. as if things are running as it is in real life. With the availability of the whole season on DVDs, I am able to watch the whole season continuously and I am amazed at the continuity and excitement of Bauer's really long day. This season was first shown in November 2001.

The storyline is intriguing as there are lots of twist and turns as viewers tried to identify who the traitors are in the CTU. (spoiler). The first season is about an assassination attempt on presidential candidate, David Palmer and Jack Bauer's attempt to stop them. Bauer's wife and daughter were kidnapped by the assassins who turned out to be connected to what Palmer and Bauer did in Kosovo 2 years ago.

Aside from the plot twists, the series also deals with family dynamic issues. Jack Bauer's family with a workaholic father with post traumatic shock (after the Kosovo incident), David Palmer's family with a rape, murder, cover up and an ambitious manipulating wife, and the Danzens' family, the man Palmer and Bauer was supposed to kill in Belgrade. It is the question of how far a man will go to protect his family

No wonder it is so popular. According to Wiki, "24 is the second longest-running espionage series in television history, behind the original Mission: Impossible series by number of episodes and The Avengers by longevity of broadcast. 24 is expected to surpass Mission: Impossible in January 2010, with the airing of its 172nd hour in the early episodes of Season 8, and will overtake The Avengers on March 20 that year."

Now to season two, heh heh