Wednesday, January 25, 2006
24 Rocks
Earlier, I wrote that 24 is my second favorite show on TV after The Shield. Well, yesterday I changed my mind. 24 is just leaps and bounds ahead of The Shield, and any other show for that matter.
I'm never home for 24 because I have class when it's on. So I TiVo it. Usually, I watch it when I get home from class on Mondays because I can't wait to find out what happened. This week, I had a case due Tuesday afternoon, which I put off until the last minute, of course. So I had to skip 24 to work on the case. When I got home from class on Tuesday, The Shield was just beginning. Since I was TiVo-ing it too, I figured I'd watch 24 and then either go to bed or watch The Shield.
24 was fantastic as usual. I actually found myself yelling at the TV to not let the show end. (Spoiler alert - if you haven't seen 24 and are planning on it, just skip this and the next paragraph.) During the episode, an assassin sneaks into the CTU building thanks to the help of a CTU agent. His mission? To kill Jack. (Silly man, NOBODY can kill Jack Bauer.) Jack, of course, thwarts the attempt on his life. And with 90 seconds left in the show, Jack heads off to interrogate the suspect.
For those who aren't familiar with 24, Jack is quite an interrogator. He usually ends up torturing the person to get the info he wants. All I could think was, "There's 90 seconds left. How can he possibly torture this guy enough before the show ends?" I literally said aloud, "Shit, please don't end it here." Well, Jack made quick work of his interrogation only to find out that the President's Chief of Staff is trying to kill him. Okay, I know that's a bit of a stretch, but I don't care.
So after watching 24, I was WAY too pumped up to go to bed. I decided to watch The Shield. It was a mistake. The Shield is a GREAT show. I can't stress enough how much I like it. But it just can't hold a candle to 24. The Shield is one of those shows that has an over-arching story that carries you through all the episodes of the season. Sure, they have cases that they solve every episode, but they usually only bring you further along the story-arch.
This season, Vic Mackey is being investigated by an Internal Affairs (IAD) cop played by Forest Whitaker. (I should say right now that I've never liked Forest Whitaker. He's always annoyed me. I don't know if it's the lazy eye or the fact that someone fatter and uglier than me is a major star in Hollywood. Either way, I think he's sucked since Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Anyway.) The story is slowly developing with one of Vic's friends/co-workers getting busted and wearing a wire to bust Vic. It's a slow set-up, but I'm sure it'll pick up.
But that only shows how great 24 is. In the first 10 minutes of the show, ex-President David Palmer (a major star for the show's first four seasons) is assassinated. Then another major star is killed off. And of course, Jack has to come out of hiding to kill a bunch of bad people. It's a pulse-pounding, mile-a-minute thrill ride.
(And yes, I'm trying to get my name and quote onto the Fox commercials. You know the ones that say Stacked is Pam Anderson's best work since Barb Wire and that it's the best comedy since Seinfeld. And then you look at the name in tiny print and it says "The Dow from The Dow Is Up." I want that. I need that. Get the word out.)
Anyway, barring a return of Kim Bauer to 24 or a stunning death to a strike team member on The Shield, I have to apologize for my earlier post where I said that The Shield was better than 24. I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried. (And believe me, I don't need to try hard to be wrong about something.)
I'm never home for 24 because I have class when it's on. So I TiVo it. Usually, I watch it when I get home from class on Mondays because I can't wait to find out what happened. This week, I had a case due Tuesday afternoon, which I put off until the last minute, of course. So I had to skip 24 to work on the case. When I got home from class on Tuesday, The Shield was just beginning. Since I was TiVo-ing it too, I figured I'd watch 24 and then either go to bed or watch The Shield.
24 was fantastic as usual. I actually found myself yelling at the TV to not let the show end. (Spoiler alert - if you haven't seen 24 and are planning on it, just skip this and the next paragraph.) During the episode, an assassin sneaks into the CTU building thanks to the help of a CTU agent. His mission? To kill Jack. (Silly man, NOBODY can kill Jack Bauer.) Jack, of course, thwarts the attempt on his life. And with 90 seconds left in the show, Jack heads off to interrogate the suspect.
For those who aren't familiar with 24, Jack is quite an interrogator. He usually ends up torturing the person to get the info he wants. All I could think was, "There's 90 seconds left. How can he possibly torture this guy enough before the show ends?" I literally said aloud, "Shit, please don't end it here." Well, Jack made quick work of his interrogation only to find out that the President's Chief of Staff is trying to kill him. Okay, I know that's a bit of a stretch, but I don't care.
So after watching 24, I was WAY too pumped up to go to bed. I decided to watch The Shield. It was a mistake. The Shield is a GREAT show. I can't stress enough how much I like it. But it just can't hold a candle to 24. The Shield is one of those shows that has an over-arching story that carries you through all the episodes of the season. Sure, they have cases that they solve every episode, but they usually only bring you further along the story-arch.
This season, Vic Mackey is being investigated by an Internal Affairs (IAD) cop played by Forest Whitaker. (I should say right now that I've never liked Forest Whitaker. He's always annoyed me. I don't know if it's the lazy eye or the fact that someone fatter and uglier than me is a major star in Hollywood. Either way, I think he's sucked since Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Anyway.) The story is slowly developing with one of Vic's friends/co-workers getting busted and wearing a wire to bust Vic. It's a slow set-up, but I'm sure it'll pick up.
But that only shows how great 24 is. In the first 10 minutes of the show, ex-President David Palmer (a major star for the show's first four seasons) is assassinated. Then another major star is killed off. And of course, Jack has to come out of hiding to kill a bunch of bad people. It's a pulse-pounding, mile-a-minute thrill ride.
(And yes, I'm trying to get my name and quote onto the Fox commercials. You know the ones that say Stacked is Pam Anderson's best work since Barb Wire and that it's the best comedy since Seinfeld. And then you look at the name in tiny print and it says "The Dow from The Dow Is Up." I want that. I need that. Get the word out.)
Anyway, barring a return of Kim Bauer to 24 or a stunning death to a strike team member on The Shield, I have to apologize for my earlier post where I said that The Shield was better than 24. I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried. (And believe me, I don't need to try hard to be wrong about something.)
