24: Season 1

This is my review of 24: Season One Special Edition. Now, just to get this out of the way as a disclaimer here at the beginning. I'm a HUGE 24 fanatic. I think it's the greatest show on television right now. That being said, I might be overrating this in some peoples' eyes. But I'm giving you my honest opinion. Okay, so there are three versions of 24: Season One on DVD. Since this was the third version to come out, I thought I'd spend the bulk of this review explaining the differences between this and the other versions. This version has new and unique packaging, as well as a good amount of extras including commentary for the premiere and finale, as well as a 7th disk completely devoted to extras (in line with every other season of the show since). Many of these extras were created specifically for this version. I will agree with the other reviewers about the packaging. On the outside, it's definitely unique. A metal box, with a little clock on the bottom that says 24, and a button on the inside that resets it to 0 and counts up to 24 hours. Love that. The housing for the DVDs, not so much. All the other 24 DVDs have cases that protect the disks, but here for some reason they decided to use a cardboard book with sleeves. First of all, this book is somewhat difficult to remove from the metal case which can be annoying. Also, it's not very good protection for the disks. None of my disks were scratched, but a lot of them were smudged from the cardboard. As a result, many of them skipped or froze in parts. Most of them worked fine after a cleaning though, and I was generally okay with it. It's not as big of an issue as some previous reviewers made it out to be, in my opinion. As for the extras. They could be better, and there could be more of them, but I enjoyed them regardless. The commentary for the premiere, with Stephen Hopkins and Peter Levy was a snoozefest. Hopkins was boring, and the other guy was talking so softly I couldn't even hear him. They really only said stuff I already knew anyway. The finale's commentary is much better because it was Leslie Hope, who played Teri Bauer in the series. You could tell she was having a great time just watching the show and commenting about it, which was nice and definitely fun. The extras on Disk 7 were good as well. Most of the deleted scenes weren't that great; there's a reason why they didn't make the final cut. But some of them were very good. In particular, I enjoyed Carl "Chats" with Barry. That was golden. As the previous reviewer said, the alternate ending was not good. But, what I really enjoyed was watching it with Joel Surnow's commentary. He shed some light on the whole thing, explaining how they didn't like this ending, but explained the entire thinking process behind it. It definitely told me a lot about 24 behind the scenes, the way the writers think, and their entire creative process. That was further explained in the included documentary "The Genesis of 24". This was very enjoyable in my opinion, but it could've been longer. Still, definitely worth watching. Finally, "The Rookie", which is probably the best thing on these extras. I had never seen these before or even knew what they were. It turns out "The Rookie" is an online spin-off of 24 that's more comedic but still has some cool action. Not much in the way of suspense though. Still, these are a lot of fun. Definitely worth watching. Although, they're available for free online. Now that I've covered everything that's different about this set, I'll take a quick minute to run through the meat and potatoes of this DVD set, the first season of 24. Season One was one of my favorite seasons, which says a lot because I love every season. The storylines are awesome, it's unbelievably suspenseful, the action is great, the characters are all very likable, the acting is wonderful, the writing is wonderful, this is in my opinion the best show on television. That doesn't mean it's flawless though. I've had at least one major problem with every season of 24 so far. For Season One, like most people, it was the Teri amnesia storyline. I think it made no sense and it was pretty boring. It dragged down that point of the season a little bit, that is until the awesome climax of it. Despite that, in my opinion this is the best series on television. But, seeing it on DVD is even better. For some reason, it just seems like it's on a whole different level, watching on DVD. It's probably because there's no commercials to take you out of the excitement. But I can very easily watch 5 or 6 episodes in one sitting and have a great time just watching it unfold. No other show has given me that feeling, at least not on such a high level as 24. Overall, I give this DVD 5 stars. Now, most reviewers knocked off a star for the packaging, but honestly I don't think it's a big enough problem to knock off a whole star. Maybe a half star, but it'd still round up to 5, so that's where I'm keeping it. Besides, the extras make up for the packaging headaches in my opinion, so this is about equal to the other versions of Season One. Life is full of trade-offs. Honestly, as for which version I'd reccommend, I'd just go with the cheapest one. I got this for $19.99 during the recent sale. Whichever version of Season One happens to be cheaper when you're buying, I'd say go with that version, because I wouldn't say one version is definitely superior to another. They're just, different, and they have different advantages and unfortunate disadvantages. Overall, amazing DVD though. 5/5.

I'm undergoing a self-inflicted 24 marathon. I have the first 4 seasons on DVD and if things go as planned I'll have Seasons 5 and 6 on my DVD shelf by the end of the month. I did not pick up "24" when it originally aired in 2001, although I had very much wanted to. In fact I didn't get to regularly watching it until Season 5 and after a few episodes was hooked. The shows' premise, that of watching a plot to assassinate a black Presidential candidate on the day of the California primary is most definitely ambitious, and somehow the producers of the show managed to make it work spectacularly. To attempt an in-depth review of the whole of Season 1 of "24" would take up several pages of Amazon's review board, so I'll condense. Jack Bauer(Kiefer Sutherland) is in charge of the LA branch of a government anti-terrorist outfit called CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit). His unit receives word from an outside source that an unnamed group has hired assassins to make an attempt on the life of Senator David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert, whom anyone who hasn't watched "24" will immediately recognize as the guy on the Allstate Insurance commercials) who is a leading candidate in the Democratic Presidental Primary to be held that day. Jack, along with the help of coworkers who may or may not be working against him, must race against time to reveal the plot against Palmer's life, as well as find and protect his wife and daughter, whom the assassins are using as bargaining chips to make Bauer do much of their dirty work for them. This is a very adrenaline packed program and the show is arranged so that each episode ends on the cusp of some cliffhanger type moment. That said, I think if the average person had a day anywhere near as convoluted as Jack or his family has they'd be ready for a lifetime supply of lithium and instant membership to their local mental health institute. The particulars of the plot change without warning and characters you thought were good turn out to be bad...and sometimes good again. There are some particular things I learned from watching this season of "24", some of which hold true for following seasons. -When Jack Bauer says "I give you my word" to anyone, that person is going to die a painful death, albeit probably not at Jack's hand -Jack is very proficient at making suspects talk -Kim Bauer, Jack's daughter, makes a great hostage. Easy on the eyes, probably smells nice, and manages to look good even when she hasn't showered in 24 hours. And she has a real knack for becoming a hostage multiple times just in a single season! -If you're nice to Kim Bauer and can make her laugh, even a little bit, she'll date you. -Ryan Chappelle, Director of CTU, is a perpetual dork. -Short term amnesia is a serious life-threatening issue for any good TV character. It would sure come in handy for days when I want to call in sick to work but can't. "Sorry boss, I have amnesia. I can't remember how to do my job" -CTU field agents are like the red shirts from "Star Trek". There are an endless supply of them and they always die. -No matter how far away a target is the CTU Tactical Team on their helicopter has an ETA of 15 minutes. And they will always appear *after* Jack has already neutralized all the hostiles. -Dennis Hopper does a great impression of Christopher Walken doing an impression of Boris Badenov doing an impression of a Serbian accent. -Dennis Hopper is amazingly buoyant. -CTU has more moles than a fallow farm field -Shooting a tranq dart in your bosses' leg is always a great idea when you're looking to get ahead on an investigation. I'll remember this next time I'm bucking for promotion at my job. -Jack Bauer is like an updated Dirty Harry. Love him or hate him, he gets the job done and very efficiently. All kidding aside this is a real action-packed, adrenaline pumping series to watch and you'll find yourself unable to stop watching the next episode, even when you know it'll cost you a couple of hours of good sleep you need for work the next day. I heartily recommend "24" Season 1 as a great start to a fantastic continuing series!

24 is the most engaging television experience ever put on the air. I saw my first episode of 24 in July of 2001. One of my friends worked for a marketing agency and FOX television was one of their major clients. In order to prepare their staff to develop marketing plans for the upcoming FOX television season, employees were asked to screen tapes they were given of the upcoming pilots/season premiers. I watched the tape of the 24 pilot 2 ½ months before it was set to premiere and knew then that it was going to be a smash. Any of you who currently watch the series can imagine how rough those months were considering the anticipation you are left with at the end of each show. 24 is a show you get sucked into. Unfortunately, it is hard to get sucked in mid-season or even mid series as several show elements rely on information acquired from previous episodes. Many loyal viewers such as myself have become slaves to the series, and find it difficult to relate all the background knowledge you pickup from the series to other potential viewers who find this knowledge gap to be an unacceptable hurdle that prevents them from enjoying the series to the same extent and on the levels as you. This DVD set changes the rules and gives loyal fans and other would-be 24 viewers the chance to enjoy the first season for the first time, or all over again. For those unfamiliar with the show's concept here is a brief description of how this and every other season of 24 works... ...24 episodes are aired each 1 hour long comprising an entire season that will chronicle the happenings of a single 24 hour day - hence the title 24. Everything occurs in real-time as the show follows several different plot lines that cross and converge throughout the day often employing split screen effects to allow the viewer to experience several different events as they happen simultaneously. The plot centers around the day of Federal Agent Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland - who won a Golden Globe for Season 1) as he attempts to foil a terrorist plot to assassinate a Presidential candidate, and the lives of those persons who will eventually cross paths with Bauer's investigation... ...Needless to say this method of storytelling provides gut-wrenching plot twists and perplexing character developments that will have you developing your own conspiracy theories throughout the viewing. Each hour of the series leaves you anticipating the next. This lull in the action otherwise known as, 10:00pm Tuesday Night - 9:00pm the next Tuesday, has now been dealt with for all you new viewers w/ this DVD set. I'm not going to waste your time remarking about extra added features, bonus footage, and the alternate ending that though enjoyable, not to mention, intriguing, do not represent the core of this set. The action, suspense, drama, and humility present in 24 represents television at its best. Owning this set is a testament to my love of the series, and my intention on sharing it with those not fortunate enough to have gotten sucked in as early as I was. Season 2 began a few weeks back, and I am back to a celebrated Tuesday night tradition. This set is a steal when considering the hours of enjoyment you will have watching it and the seasons of 24 yet to come on FOX. I am by no means an avid TV viewer, as I only watch about 6-10 hours of TV a week (that includes the hour of news I watch each morning), but I make sure that at least 1 hour of that is reserved for 24. Treat yourself to some quality archived television by checking out this DVD set. You will thank me later. If you still have your doubts, see if you can pick up the first episode of season 1 at your local video store, or a taped copy from one of the millions of viewers. If my words have not motivated you to own this DVD set, those 60 minutes will be all the convincing you will need.

24 is a terrific TV series, no doubt about that. Sadly though, being a series also is its biggest problem, a series that needs to have its viewers glued to the screen for an entire season. Meaning, a lot needs to happen in these 24 hours. A great storyline built on a terrific idea. Just too much of it. Too many turns to keep us waiting for what happens next. A few less twists and episodes and I'd have given it six stars. You probably know all about it: A presidential candidate is targeted by terrorists. A special agent, Jack Bauer, tries to save both the senator and his own family which has been taken hostage by the same terrorists in order to force him to do their dirty work. Great acting, good solid camerawork, good storyline (at least in the beginning). Somewhere in the middle things start to feel too constructed. A few examples: The gangsters appear to have superhuman intelligence on their side, whereas CTU bathes in blunders. Of course you can also call it luck when the bad guys are able to recapture Kim, Jack's daughter, for the upteenth time when she is escorted from jail by the police. Funny enough, a few hours earlier, the same super gangsters were unable to find her after her car exploded a few miles down the road with a huge cloud of smoke attracting anybody's attention, except that of the talented terrorists. Of course there has to be a traitor amongst the good guys. This time it's the agent's best friend, the one he trusts the most (oh no, not again...) She turns into a deadly terrorist in the end. But her previous actions somehow never seemed to seriously interfere with Jack's work. I had the feeling that the screenwriter just turned her into a baddy at the last minute, adding constructed clues into the last four episodes to deliver the "necessary" tension. Sorry, but way over the top if you ask me. Other obvious mistakes: Jack's wife, after having been rescued, is being left to walk around as she pleases in the building of the Counter Terrorist Unit(she is a civilian)... a few hours earlier she said that often she does't exactly know what her husband is doing for most of the time. PLEASE! Jack, when hunting a suspect, often risks too much by unneccesarily breaking his own cover. This is most evident in the scene where he, together with a female police officer, chases a suspect in and around a warehouse in the dark. When he enters the unsecured building, he doesn't hide in the shadows but stays in the open. The officer is shot, Jack makes it through. A few scenes later, the police office building. This obviously is the dumbest bunch of cops around, the way they let the ganster escape. But they have to be, the gangster needs to pull us into a next episode. The list goes on and on. Now you're probably asking, why then five stars? Because of the idea, the acting and the basic construction behind the storyline. It's amazing. Even with all the flaws. You want to know what happens next - or what the screenwriters have come up with. Best acting by Kiefer Sutherland as Jack, Dennis Haysbert as Senator Palmer and Sarah Clarke as Nina Myers. The dvd set is o.k. Sharp most of the time with occasional bad mastering in large close-ups, grey walls etc. and no chapters.... O.k. for discs released in 2002 but you'd think Fox would have settled that problem by now.

Writing for a TV is a skill, and not one that many have. Having to maintain pace, coherence and continuity within sharply limited six or seven-minute segments is a remarkably hard thing to do. That the writers of 24 succeed, and have done so over several years, and more in a context that imposes even more limits --the action in each episode takes place in real time of the hour, so that each TV tear ultimately is composed of twenty-four consecutive episodes, all making up one full day-- is even more noteworthy. And they DO maintain the dramatic interest at a fairly high level. That's a notable acvhievement. In some ways, Season One remains the best of the series, although later years introduce some compelling characters. But as good as the writing is, it's still good only in the context of television, where the general level of dramatic (and comedic) writing is terrible. In part, that is because network writers are, as a group, limited in their knowledge of so many of the subjects they write about. Worse, they all, or almost all, have a tendency to use the mindless cliches of TV land, when faced with the need to develop a situation. A case in point: Law Enforcement personnel are trained NEVER to give up their weapons in a hostage confrontation, for obvious reasons --drop your weapon and you have effectively become a hostage yourself-- but in 24 that happens all the time. CTU is, on the face of it, the most incompetent organization ever: Over the course of several seasons, it has twice been attacked, each time with horrific casualties; there have been at least half-a-dozen moles acting within the unit, and on two occasions, lose a much-needed witness to a shooting, once by the widow of a slain CTU agent, who finds her husband's gun in his desk while cleaning it out, and once by a teenage girl, a victim of a sexual predator, who kills him with a gun in his apartment after he is captured by CTU and while he is preparing to lead them to the other perpetrators. Both scenes are preposterous: No organization would leave a weapon, and a loaded one at that, among an employee's effects, and no competent law enforcement would fail to immediately search for weapons upon securing a crime scene. In addition, CTU is always losing a witness or suspect they're holding or transporting to ambush, to thr point where you can almost bet with certainty that if a bad guy is captured a few episodes before the last, he will escape, somehow. But that's how the writers advance a story. Does it take away from the overall effects of the drama? It depends on who you are, I suppose. Most people --as evidenced by the show's popularity-- are undismayed by such things. Even I can overlook them, or at least suspend my displeasure, and enjoy the narrative skill and the fairly good acting --Kiefer Sutherland's performance, overall is excellent, and Mary Lynn Rajskub, who does not appear in Season One, is a treasure. Contrasting 24 with another popular and long-running series from roughly the same period, Lost, 24 is much better written, far more cohesive and, for the most part, more believable. I would advise that, if you buy or rent the series, that you draw it out and not view too many episodes at once. Things get rather breathless if you do. Dspite its flaws, 24, for a network TV drama, is a fine effort, and makes for an enjoyable evening.

I never saw the series on the air. I knew what it was about but also knew I could never make the commitment to see it every week. Okay, here is the DVD set, lets take a chance. I popped in the first DVD already knowing that this about an elite anti-terrorist unit in LA and that the show plays in real time. I promised myself I would watch no more than one a day. Sorry no way. You absolutely cannot just watch one. I watched all 4 on the first disk in one evening. This is the equivalent of a book that you "can't put down." First there is the main plot, an assination plot against a presidential candidate. Then there are the numerous subplots all woven together with almost perfect synchronicity. Each episode is unbelievably action packed and contains at least one major surprise. Few full length motions pictures contain as much excitement as as many thrills as one 40-odd minute episode of 24. You'll find yourself counting the minutes, as "I'll be there in 15 minutes." then look at the clock and see that his arival will be at the end of the episode, then practically holding your breath at the interim scenes. The real time element is so different and innovative I wasn't sure that it would make all the much difference from a normally plotted show or movie but Oh my does it ever add an edge to it that accounts for its "I can't only watch one" addictability. I was very impressed with that element even if it not exactly perfect. I have a hard timebelieving that Jack could drive across LA in 7 minutes even after midnight, but who cares. it flows and it will keep you glued to the set. You won't want to miss a second. Ther story will rope you in and if you watch episode #1 you can almost walk away from it and say I'll watch #2 tomorrow. Once you get into #2 your only hope will be to force yourself to limit it to one disk ( 4 episodes ) in one sitting. Production values are superb for a TV series. Acting and writing are all top notch. I can find little to fault the show. The DVD is fine, good even. It has a few minor faults but nothing serious. Picture and sound quality are quite acceptable for a TV series and they presented it in wide format - kudos to the producer for that. Another reviewer commented on the set up of the disks, no chapter breaks, no previews and the like. The previews are not big deal to me since they'll only make it harder to walk away from a disk. I dont even mind the chapter breaks since it keeps the player on the time line. I have no problem with that at all. I would have liked to have to option of showing the "previously on 24" slice. But the lack of it os no reason to reject owning this set. The set is a must for fans, but if you've ever heard of the show and are curious, the price is right on the set.

This is an innovative series. The entire 24 episodes chronicle just 24 hours in the life of one man. That man is Jack Bauer, a leader of the Counter Terrorism Unit. The 24 hours involved are the day of the California presidential primary. He learns of a plot to assassinate the front runner and is assigned to work the case. The plotters know their business. They kidnap his family to ease their way but they don't count on Bauer being who he is. They also don't count on the candidate being the man he is. It's an intense and emotional roller coaster packed with adrenalin rushes and lots of action. There are characters you loathe who turn out better than expected and others you trust who turn out to be dirtbags. Nothing is predictable except that waiting for the next season is tough. Episode synopses appear below: 12:00AM-1:00AM - The episode starts with Counter Terrorism learning of a plot against a presidential candidate. There is reason to believe that elements within the unit are involved. Agent Jack Bauer is assigned to get to the bottom of it. His methods are ruthless and to the point. They are also effective. There is an hour to get the job done. The clock is ticking but Bauer has other things on his mind as well. His daughter has sneaked out of the house and is up to teenage foolishness of her own. His estranged wife is left to deal with the situation and that makes nobody happy. As the episode ends, the situation is even more tense all around. There is corruption within the agency, the candidate is worried about a skeleton from his own closet, a 747 has been blown up and the daughter has gotten in over her head. 1:00 AM - 2:00 AM - The dirt in the Agency is worse than feared and the plot to kill the presidential candidate has escalated to a whole new level. That means more security but, because the senator has some skeletons in his own closet, he has ducked his security detail. The danger is growing. Its also growing for the wayward daughter who is in with a really bad crowd. She is in danger and so is her friend. The boys she is with have plans for using her somehow, we don't know how, but it will be bad...almost as bad as the turncoat agent. 2:00 AM - 3:00 AM - The Creeps who took Bauer's daughter have a connection with the rogue elements in the Agency. The girls learn something about how brutal life can be. So does the senator. His opposition is playing dirty and is prepared to spread lies(?) about the senator's family. The senator's attempts at damage control make him even more vulnerable. That's not good because the bad guys are out for his blood. The bad guys include some bad gals as well and they are double crossers. Since the Agency has its own problems with loyalty, Jack doesn't know who he can trust. Actually, he does...nobody. 3:00 AM - 4:00 AM - Jack's daughter has been recaptured by the urban scum who are in league with the assassins. Her friend has been left for dead but the scum are having second thoughts about making sure. A couple of worried parents are heading in the same direction but they are stopped for a traffic violation. The distraught father makes the mistake of mouthing off to the officer and that results in their being delayed from finding the girl. Jack has a lead and gets out of headquarters just before it goes into lockdown. The guy running the lockdown is dirty but it is unclear whether he is dirty regarding the assassination plot. Jack's lead pans out but a cop is killed in the process and the suspect is clams up. Jack does learn one important thing. His daughter's disappearance and the assassination plot are linked. 4:00 AM - 5:00 AM - The dirty agency supervisor is probably just a routine corrupt official and not a part of the assassination plot. This is good because he actually lets Bauer talk to the suspect. The suspect knows about the daughter and he is up to his eyeballs in the plot. Jack's daughter has been transferred to a professional bad guy. There is a contact set up. Bauer has to spring the suspect from the jail in order to make the contact. This hacks off the local police even more. It pays off with a bit of information but not enough to reach the goal. Meanwhile, the candidate has learned some devastating things about his son which may be true...even though they come from a reporter. 5:00 AM - 6:00 AM - Jack finally meets up with his wife at the hospital. He figures that the other daughter may be the subject of an attempt to get rid of witnesses. The girl is in critical condition. Candidate Palmer turns out to be an honest, if misguided, politician. The dirt on his family is true and everyone knows about it except him. The wife is more interested in ambition than silly things like love, family and spouse. The kidnappers get serious with Jack's daughter. They get him away from the hospital and have him under surveillance. Worse, the father of the other girl is not who he seems to be and he now has mom off on a wild goose chase. 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM - The threat of hiving his daughter killed has forced Jack back to HQ. The terrorists want him to replace the ID card they are cracking the code on with a fake. They are afraid he is getting too close. They also force him to get access to the big breakfast with the candidate. His assistant gets suspicious and the only way to get out is to kidnap her. Meanwhile, the wife still has her own problems. She manages to escape the kidnapper but she calls the Agency asking for help. The Agency send some more kidnappers. The place is riddled with them. This screws up everyone's escape attempts. The candidate wants to do the right thing and come clean. He is about the only honest person in this mess but his wife's ambitions may lead him astray. 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM - The rat at CTU headquarters is finally identified. She was suckered into it with the promise that "nobody will get hurt." Now, the assassination is about to go down and she won't talk until she talks to a lawyer. That seems like a recipe for assassination and murder. The Secret Service has been apprised of the threat. Now they think that Bauer is the real enemy and are looking for him. Bauer is looking for a way out of a lose-lose situation. It gets uglier and uglier. 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM - The assassination plot has been foiled and Jack Bauer is in custody but nobody is exactly sure what happened. Jack's family is still threatened and so, for that matter, is the candidate. Jack knows that the only way for his family to survive is for him to escape and he is driven to desperate measures to do so. The rat at HQ is still not talking and possesses needed information but takes drastic measures to keep that information from coming out. Meanwhile the wife and daughter have to take some drastic actions themselves to plan a possible escape. Again, the candidate seems to be the most honest person around but his ambitious wife stirs up even more trouble on that front as well. 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM - The day isn't getting any better. Jack is still a fugitive and his family is still being held captive by the terrorists seeking to assassinate the senator running for president. He manages to elude the police but the mole in the agency dies before giving up any information. A new hard case is sent out to take over the Counter Terrorism Unit and cuts the feet out from under those still trying to help him. They do get their first real lead on the power setting up the hit. It looks like they find the money man and Jack is out for blood. 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM - Jack has the money man. Now he has to sweat the information he needs out of him. The guys who planned and executed the kidnapping and assassination attempt have lost the trust of the ones who have hired them. The men behind the scenes have a contingency plan and say that both will be dead by the end of the day. It seems like the real bad guys made have a history with Jack from an operation in Serbia. Candidate Palmer has some connection as well. He has his own problems to deal with. His wife is making plans behind his back with his fired chief of staff. She is willing to take part in dirty deals to further her ambitions but her husband is not. When his suspect dies, Jack's only hope is to make it to a meeting with the money man's contact. That reunites Jack with the man who was posing as the father of his daughter's friend. 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Jack's prisoner is forced to take him to where the wife and daughter are being held and Jack finally gets reunited with them. The hard case sent to take over the CTU is busy busting the chops of Jack's friends and trying to find out where he is. She is playing agents off against each other in the hope that one of them will break. This puts Jack's whole operation at risk since he is cut off without support. Jack is forced to call his replacement to ask for help. She doesn't trust him and she is suspicious so Jack starts the rescue with his wife, daughter and one of the teen scumbags who has had a change of heart (and hormones). The candidate is trying to protect the doctor who violated his confidences. He doesn't like the guy but suspects that those with political motives will try to kill him to shut him up. The day from hell is only half over. 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM - The big escape attempt has bogged down. Jack's vehicle was destroyed and they have to make their way on foot. It's a game of cat and mouse as Bauer and his family try to avoid being captured by the assassination team while they wait for rescue to arrive. Meanwhile, Presidential candidate Palmer has his world torn down around him. Though he strives to be honest at every turn, he finds more and more corruption within his own staff and family. The puppet masters are trying to get enough leverage on him to force him to continue on with his candidacy. They want him in. The ones wanting his assassination want to prevent that just as much and a second assassin is on the way. 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM - Jack is in custody and his family is seemingly safe but things are not as they appear. Someone is still out to get them even if it is just to make sure there are no loose threads...but there may be something more to it than that. CTU is aware that there are more threats against the candidate but the new team leader is more interested in her career than anything else. She thinks that torpedoing Bauer is a smart career move. The big threat from Serbia is methodically wiping out the first team that failed and is setting up for another attempt. The candidate has been pressured into continuing the campaign but his son is finally developing a conscience and wants to come clean. Connections are starting to be made with Yugoslavia and the candidate thinks this whole affair has been orchestrated by Bauer as vengeance for a failed operation in Serbia that he had something mysterious to do with. To make matters worse, there is a mole within the campaign organization. 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM - Jack is still under a cloud and his family is being interrogated at a safe house when Senator Palmer shows up and demands to speak with him. After pulling some strings, he gets his way. He thinks Jack is part of the big plot. Very quickly though, they both come to the realization that the hit is not motivated by politics. It is revenge for an operation in Yugoslavia several years before. They come to believe that they and their families are all still in danger. They are right. There is one other person who can help, a former operative. He proves useful but he's on the hit list as well. They body count starts increasing and the Senator pulls some string to get Jack reinstated and running the investigation. 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM - The CTU team finally begins to get a few breaks. They find the identity of at least a few of the assassination team. When they warn the senator and his staff is briefed, one of them comes forward as having had contact with one of the shooters. She is willing to cooperate. She will set up one of the shooters. She better hurry because another shooter is closing in on Jack's family. The safe house is not as safe as they had hoped and mom has to take things into her own hands again...with seemingly tragic results. Just to keep the tension ratcheted up, Jack has reason to suspect there is another mole in the CTU but there is no way to be sure. It going to be even harder to figure out since his security clearance has been downgraded. The senator's son has his own vendetta and sets off on his own tangent. This is going to further confuse everything. 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM - The car crash has left Jack's wife and daughter separated and each believing the wrong thing about the other. The daughter thinks the mother has been kidnapped and the mother has amnesia and doesn't remember who she is. The daughter doesn't trust anyone except for the young punk that helped to kidnap her to begin with. This does not sit well with the punk's girlfriend. CTU is using the candidate's staffer to try and plant a bug on one of the assassins. The nervous woman understandably has a difficult time maintaining the act. The woman scorned has more on her mind than just helping the cops. That thwarts all the plans for the setup. The daughter has problems with being "the woman scorned" as well. The only ray of hope is that Jack manages to set up a meeting with somebody involved in the plot but that's for next time. 5:00 PM - 6:00PM - When one of the assassins becomes a casualty, most chances of rounding up the rest of the ring are thwarted until a phone call gets them an opportunity to meet with one of the others. This will involve Jack posing as the hurt assassin and hoping that the other won't recognize him. Unfortunately, one of his back up team has a score to settle with Jack personally. The brass are keeping the information about Jack's family away from him. The daughter is now being held by a minor league bad guy and the mother still has amnesia and doesn't remember who she is. The candidate's wife is still worried more about her own ambitions than about anything else including her husband, family, truth or justice. She gets caught by her husband's sting and he decides he cannot trust her. 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM - The bad guy set up for a contact is dead but Jack does get some information to lead him to another point he thinks is critical. He just doesn't know why it's critical. He heads that way and is shepherded by his boss. He still thinks someone is dirty in the agency and the agency still hasn't told him that there has been an attempt on his wife and daughter and that they are missing. The wife is starting to come out of her amnesia and is taken to her house by an old flame. The bad guys are casing the place looking for another try. Meanwhile, the daughter has gotten herself into another bad situation when she looks up the thug who kidnapped her. Another thug then holds them both while he tries to conduct a drug deal and rip off his source. It is going to get even uglier for her. The senator finally makes his big speech and leaves everyone speechless and some crooks livid. I think I might even vote for this guy and hope his honesty is infectious. Jack makes his way to the next site but the bad guys realize he's there. He still doesn't know what, if anything, he has found. 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM - Jack finally figures out that in addition to the revenge motive, there is a political motive to the assassination attempts as well. The coordinates he finds leads to a secret prisoner and Jack is taken into custody by the defense department which runs the place. Jack convinces the warden that an attempt will be made to do something at 7:20. He learns that a secret prisoner will be transferred at that time but that nobody knows who the prisoner is. When the prisoner arrives, it turns out to be somebody Jack saw die in Serbia several years ago. He is the patriarch of the Serbians who are trying to kill him, his family and the senator. He knows they are going to make another try. The daughter has been picked up by the police who think she is a run of the mill druggie and don't believe her wild stories. The mother is being taken to CTU. The senator learns that honesty really does pay off and that his wife is even more power mad than he believed possible. 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM - The terrorists make an attempt on the secret prison and they manage to capture the place, proving along the way why one should not negotiate with terrorists; they don't keep up their end of the deal. Now, CTU must find a way to rescue them. Jack's wife is back at CTU being a nuisance because she is being given the mushroom treatment. The daughter is still rotting in jail but she manages to get some leverage by actually standing up for herself. The senator sweeps the primaries and his wife is not any more trustworthy than before but he has some new problems. One of his interns has the hots for him. At least he is standing strong and still acting as an honest a decent man. Meanwhile, back at the hellhole, the terrorists kill everyone but Jack and manage to escape. They are about to kill him as well but he has a bargaining chip. Then the daughter gets caught again. 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM - The terrorists have Jack and they have his daughter. They want them both dead but they also want one of their own back. They try to arrange a trade but the political animals at the agency figure it's better to lose Jack than to face possible embarrassment. They write him off. This hacks off some of his team members who contact the senator through back channels to see if he can put some pressure on the agency to go through with a trade. His wife has schemes of her own. She wants the White House and has her own ambitions. Since their marriage is troubled, she looks for leverage. The old harridan tries to set him up with a staffer to gain some leverage but, so far, he is still squeaky clean. 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM - The terrorists are nothing if not persistent. They have Jack's daughter again and are threatening to kill her unless Jack does a few things for them. They want him to get the senator to unlock their funds, and they want him to kill the senator. It looks like the senator is going to succumb to the setup his wife has prepared for him. He doesn't and he finds even less reason to trust his wife. He does trust Jack but Secret Service does not. Jack comes through though and saves the senator again. Keeping the terrorists in the dark though puts up a terrible obstacle: the candidate's wife. She fears that saving Jack's daughter will endanger her own political ambitions. They have more problems. There is still a mole inside the agency. It is one of the biggest surprises of the season. 11:00 PM - 12:00 AM - The terrorists not longer have Jack's daughter but he does not know that. The mole sets Jack up for death by telling him that his daughter has been killed. That puts Jack into revenge mode and the terrorists are going to be toast. That still leaves the problem of the mole. The mole has its own hostage but does not manage to escape Jack's wrath. His hardest decision is the one not to kill it. The mole should have been killed because it killed the hostage. The candidate has his own problem as well. That is his wife. Being the honest man he is, he solves the problem and the day from hell is over.

I have to admit that when I heard about 24's format -- the entire season's output focusing on the events of one day -- I was skeptical. No matter how intricate or exciting the storyline was, surely television audiences would not be patient enough to watch the hour-by-hour account of one federal agent's mission to prevent the assasination of a presidential candidate on the day of the California Democratic primary. Unsure about this concept, I tuned in to the first episode in the fall of 2001...and became an instant fan of 24. I watched about 22 episodes on first run...missing only a couple due to outside obligations or cable TV outages. Now that I own the boxed set of Season One, I have seen the entire series and can now write a few words about it. Although it is very much an action-suspense thriller (closer to Tom Clancy than to Ian Fleming), 24's tale of vendetta-driven terrorists plotting to kill Sen. David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert)on the day of the California primary is also the intimate story of the implosion of three families. First, the Bauer family. When we first see Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), the setting is almost dully domestic -- he's playing a game of chess with his teenage daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert). But shortly before he gets a call from one of his fellow agents in the Counter Terrorist Unit, we see the domestic tranquility is belied by some tension. Kim is openly rude to her mother, Teri (Leslie Hope) and will soon sneak out to go partying with her friend Janet....which will be one of the worst choices she's ever made. And as we watch the series unfold, we'll learn about the straining effects of Jack's job on the marriage and of Jack's affair with fellow CTU agent Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke). The second family implosion involves the Palmer family. Just as it seems everything is going perfectly for Sen. Palmer and his picture perfect family, we see as 24 unfolds that all is not well here, either. Skeletons from the Palmer children's past are surfacing on the very day that David Palmer seems poised to win his party's nomination for the Presidency, and he is forced to see how far his ambitious wife Sherry (Penny Jerald Johnson) will go to keep ugly family secrets out of the public eye. And finally, there is the Drazen clan. Serb nationalists who supported Milosevic's iron-fisted rule, they were targeted by American forces and lost several family members as a result of a covert operation to take out the Drazen patriarch. Now they are bent on revenge and will do anything and kill anyone to get it. Yes, 24 does have its flaws (the travails of wayward Kim and Teri's amnesia are a bit over-the-top for some viewers), but overall this is a fine piece of television drama.