Reinventing '24'

Wall Street Journal ^ | 2.1.08 | REBECCA DANA

[BurbankKarl]

During its first five years on television, the terror-thriller "24" built a huge fan base by creating the first true superhero of the post-Sept. 11 era: special agent Jack Bauer. Ruggedly handsome and righteously defiant, Jack was willing to do anything to defend his country.

That "anything" has always included torture. Jack has snipped off fingers, poisoned associates, shot through kneecaps and faked executions, all in the pursuit of national security.

Against the real-life backdrop of global terrorist attacks, "24" at its peak fulfilled the fantasies of an insecure nation. It became one of the most important franchises for News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting Co., with 17 million viewers tuning in some weeks and millions returning to watch on DVD

But those who ride the tide of the times can also get upended by them. As public opinion about the Iraq War turned south, the show's depiction of torture came to be seen as glorifying the practice in the wake of real-world reports of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques used on detainees.

Ratings dropped by a third over the course of last year's sixth season. Producers would later experience trouble casting roles, once some of the most desirable in television, because the actors disapproved of the show's depiction of torture. "The fear and wish-fulfillment the show represented after 9/11 ended up boomeranging against us," says the show's head writer, Howard Gordon. "We were suddenly facing a blowback from current events."

Last spring, Fox executives asked producers to come up with a plan for what to do with their onetime crown jewel. The producers decided to take the radical -- and rarely attempted -- step of reinventing the show. While some fans complained "24" had grown too formulaic,...

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

To summarize, decline of “24” = Bush’s fault

[bshomoic]

I am surprised it lasted past season 3. The show has gotten worse and worse, and I no longer watch except if I happen to be flipping through the channels when it is on.

[BurbankKarl]

Yes, it doesnt look like this next season, whenever it airs, will be a good one. Its Bush’s fault, Jack Bauer is bad, CTU was bad....we need a lady to clean up the house.

[Vanbasten]

It’s sad to see the wrangling going on behind the scenes. 24 is a great show. I pray that the next season won’t be politically correct. After all, this is just fiction. Should fiction be swayed by reality? I think not. Lest it lose it’s creativity.

I notice movies concerning the Iraq war disregard reality entirely. I guess if it leans right in some fictional sense, it is considered inherently evil.

[ozzymandus]

Hollywood is too faggy to make “24” anymore? I doubt that, I’d just say last season was so far out the writers can’t top it.

[durasell]

Jack’s much more fashionable brother Eddie will enter the picture.

[Yaelle]

I suppose 24 is doomed because we have not been attacked again. After 9/11, it was all about "putting a boot up their butts," but now it's about kneeling and polishing the terrorists' boots. Huckabee wants to give them all defense lawyers and The Dems want Al Qaeda to win in Iran.

Maybe Jack Bauer will get the job of replacing all the old bulbs in CTU's basement to compact fluorescents.

[montag813]

Here, the technical crew keeps a billboard with hand-drawn pictures of Vice President Cheney with fangs and one Photoshopped image of President Bush eating a kitten. Mr. Gordon keeps on his desk a copy of his wife's book, co-written with prominent Hollywood environmental activist Laurie David, about the dangers of global warming.

"24" can go to hell. I was a loyal fan for years, but I will never again watch this show, with such a vile group of characters running it.

[over3Owithabrain]

Oh my God - one lousy show that wasn’t a leftist wet dream and they have to destroy it. This country is finished, done, toast.

[durasell]

Who is “they?”

[pepsionice]

These are my five reinventions of “24”:

1. Put the “24” team on a plane going from Sydney, Australia to California...and then crash land it on a mysterious land where fog comes and goes...killing folks. Make sure there are some shady characters on the island....and toss in some polar bears for effect.

2. Send Jack to France...to capture some French Muslim terrorist, and then assign him to some clumsy French detective named Clouseau...who hinders and hampers Jack every step of the way.

3. Assign Jack to the Democratic National Convention scenario where some right-wing radical is going to bomb the place...and suddenly Jack realizes that interrogating and hurting prisoners is totally wrong and disrespectful. The end of the episodes will feature some convention hall blowing up and Jack getting all weepy-eyed that he did the right thing in the end...not harming the prisoner.

4. Drop Jack in the middle of the Yukon province on a supposed vacation...but then bring in some Canadian mafia guys...some Yukon Jihad dudes....some rowdy Canadian mounties...and an American Indian guy named “Billy Jack”.

5. Bring Jack to Ripley, Mississippi to find out the villian who spray-painted “I luv Janey” on the side of the city water-tower. Have four left-handed Pentecostal members tossed off the tower an hour before Jack arrives, and toss in some Jehovah witness folks who mysteriously zap each other with taser weapons...just for fun.

I think these could really help rebuild “24”, and maybe keep it on for another year or two.

[durasell]

How about just not having him speak as if he’s ordering at a drive-thru window and asking for a “side of protocol” and heavy on the “presidential directives.”

[max americana]

Oh for F’s sake...

I agree with most here. The central theme of the article is torture’ and that the ratings went down because fans don’t want torture?

The hypocrisy is that this is up HBO’s alley. 24’ is a right wing show which doesn’t bend over to the lefties in Hollywood and that’s what makes the show great.

What’s tiring is that now that we’re winning (when did we lose anyways) in Iraq, the show could lose it’s “us vs the world” mentality, and the writing might suffer as well.

bring on the torture scenes!

[Anima Mundi]

24 declined because the writing turned awful. I don’t hold any of these politically correct views and found I could barely keep interested last year. These folks sure do overestimate their influence and importance. Seems they don’t realize that it is just a T.V. show which will not encourage torture any more than Gunsmoke encouraged duels.

[WillRain]

Actually, unless they have moved on, the creative minds behind 24 at the top levels are quite conservative.

[pa_dweller]

3. Assign Jack to the Democratic National Convention scenario where some right-wing radical is going to bomb the place...and suddenly Jack realizes that interrogating and hurting prisoners is totally wrong and disrespectful. The end of the episodes will feature some convention hall blowing up and Jack getting all weepy-eyed that he did the right thing in the end...not harming the prisoner.

I like that one. Seriously though, three turnoffs last season were: Killing Curtis; the 'green mentality'; the last episode where James Cromwell's character supposedly dies but we never see a body so maybe he'll come back like William Devane's character.

I'm through.

[WillRain]

I was just about to tell you how much I loved #3 when I read this:

5. Bring Jack to Ripley, Mississippi to find out the villian who spray-painted “I luv Janey” on the side of the city water-tower. Have four left-handed Pentecostal members tossed off the tower an hour before Jack arrives, and toss in some Jehovah witness folks who mysteriously zap each other with taser weapons...just for fun

Dude! I actually LIVE in Ripley and I'll have you to know they tore the old water tower down already!!!

:D

Seriously - that was a coolness to see it come up like that! But I'd really rather have him torture Joey Langston until he gave up Billy McCoy and his cronies

[Caesar Soze]

Here, the technical crew keeps a billboard with hand-drawn pictures of Vice President Cheney with fangs and one Photoshopped image of President Bush eating a kitten. Mr. Gordon keeps on his desk a copy of his wife's book, co-written with prominent Hollywood environmental activist Laurie David, about the dangers of global warming. As part of a larger "green" movement within News Corp., "24" is aiming to be the first television show to go carbon neutral next season, limiting energy use and filming public service announcements.

Yeah, because filming self-congratulatory "public service announcements" consumes negative energy and scrubs carbon dioxide from the air. /sarc

I've never watched 24. I'd love to see a show with real military (or intelligence) professionals working as a team and upholding the ethics of their services while defending civilization against realistic threats. I guess that doesn't make for compelling fiction, but it's really exciting here in reality.

(I guess maybe The Unit comes close. And the British Spooks ("MI5" here for some reason) is also very good.)

[denydenydeny]

"At the end of the day, my sense of the show is that it promotes torture and I don't want to be a part of that," he says.

I would point out that Hollywood is currently making its third movie glorifying Che Guevara, a man who personally shot Catholic priests and homosexuals in the back of the head.

Promote this, you self-righteous hypocrite.