My preconception about 24 was that it was ridiculous, unrealistic, and thrilling. I was pleased to be wrong on just one of those preconceptions. Well, sure it's not completely realistic, but for the most part, it's easy to accept. In a show such as this, the standard is simply "Can you accept what's happening in the context of the show?" For the first season at least, that's a clear yes.
The first season managed to completely satisfy me, but also increase concerns about watching future seasons. It has that air of "Sure it worked this time, but how long can they keep this up?" It also had a bit of repetitiveness that I'm afraid will return. (Namely, Kim getting in trouble again I'm sure is a given). However, that's for future seasons, this post is about the first one.
24 is ridiculously addicting. I held off on watching this show during the school year for fear that it would interfere with my studies. That seems to be a correct assumption. I'm going to make sure I have no serious obligations when I start a season. And thank god that after each season I can simply stop without being compelled to start the new season. (I did have an immediate need to start it, but after that initial resistance, I haven't felt the urge to start watching again.)
Kiefer Sutherland, whose movie career had essentially died, experienced a career renaissance thanks to 24. He certainly played a part in that renaissance as he does a pretty good job with this role. He brings a sense of urgency to the role that matches the script. He has a way of saying something completely ridiculous, but you believe what he is saying is the truth. While we do experience the ridiculous things he says to other characters, it's not hard to buy why all these characters are following him or believing him despite the fact that they don't witness those events.
Similarly, Dennis Haybert plays a convincing president as his demeanor frequently changes from charming to furious to demanding. His attitude seems a little too unrealistic for a politician as he strives to always do the right thing, but it's always fun to see an idealized president since we're never going to get that in real life. (I'm a cynic what can I say?)
The writers are able to obtain an abnormally long string of realistic, tense episodes. I'll admit though that I cringed when Kim was captured the second time. I understand the plot need for it, but that was a bridge too far for me to accept. Also, Teri Bauer's amnesia was a stupid plot device. Amnesia is perhaps the laziest storytelling technique there is. Those are quite literally my only complaints (plot-wise), which is pretty impressive for this type of show.
Before I started, I heard some negative comments about Kim - or at least I'm aware that Kim is not exactly well-liked. Elisha Cuthbert plays her so this was kind of alarming to me. Anyway, she did a few stupid things this season, but nothing I can't forgive for just being a teenager. So far, she's still useful as a character. I also think Cuthbert does a good job so I'm preparing for the writers to ruin this character in future seasons.
I wasn't a huge fan of the twist at the end with Nina being the mole. It was somewhat predictable at a certain point late in the season when she tried to pin it on George Mason. With that said, I stopped paying attention on whether Nina was a mole or not really early on. My impression is that her actions were inconsistent with a mole most of the season, but I couldn't confirm. Meanwhile, Mason's would have been inconsistent (which I was paying attention to) so I was grateful he wasn't the mole which is probably why I wasn't bothered by the twist as much as I may have been. Plus, her being a mole did allow Teri Bauer to get killed, which kind of had to happen. You can't have nobody important die if you want to keep the tension. (Although Richard Walsh's death in episode two surprised the hell out of me.)
The script doesn't allow for a lot of personal stories outside of Jack Bauer so I'll have to give credit to two actors that impressed me. Xander Berkeley as George Mason, a crazy experienced actor with 207 credits on IMDB, was fantastic. He just hits all the right notes as a good boss whose constant brushing off of Teri pleased me. (On the flip side, it wasn't a good sign that she was as annoying as she was with perfectly valid concerns while at CTU. I'm not sure if that's the writing or the actress, but honestly I'm sort of glad I don't have to experience that anymore.)
The other actor was Carlos Bernard as Tony Almeida. He just has that perfect "Are you kidding me?" reaction to everything going on that was needed on this show. Also, he gets shit done and seems the most sensible of almost any character.
I know 24 eventually declines in quality like most other shows so I want to see if it's a product of writers leaving or losing influence. I'll do this by chronicling who writes most of the episodes in this season. This season, the two creators have a lot of influence and thus that can safely explain the success of the show.
Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, the creators, wrote the pilot and then separated writing responsibilities until the finale. Surnow moved on to writing eight other episodes with Michael Loceff, including the finale, which was a collaboration between four different writers. Cochran wrote two episodes by himself and then teamed with Howard Gordon for four other episodes, including the finale. So the creators collectively were responsible for writing 14 of the 24 episodes. The remaining 10 episodes are given to six writers. There's only one episode given to any of them within the first five episodes and none were given to any of them in the last six episodes. Most of them barely make enough of an appearance in future seasons if at all to draw any conclusion.
There are two exceptions. Chip Johannessen wrote a single episode this season and then wrote a good chunk of Season 8 episodes. The other is Virgil Williams, who wrote three episodes over the next two seasons and then left the show. Overall though, this was basically the creators' show at this point, and their respective writing partners. Any sense of decline could not be seen from any of the other writers and only by less writing by the creators.
On the directors side of the coin, Stephen Hopkins was clearly the favorite among the creators. He directed 12 episodes including both the pilot and the finale. Six other directors worked on this season, all of them receiving two episodes back-to-back. I wonder if Stephen Hopkins is a mainstay across seasons (and the other directors I suppose). It certainly explains the consistent direction (and one could argue anyway that future directors probably watched the show and could copy the direction so it's less important) Hopkins though appears to be the reason 24 was shot in the unique style it was.
Overall, it's kind of hard to believe that this show was made in 2001. It still stands up really well in 2013. I realize that wasn't a long time ago, but this comes before The Wire, Breaking Bad, and only comes after The Sopranos among the greatest shows of all time. While it's a completely different show, it's still very original even in 2013. I can't speak to how future seasons will look, but season one justifies the existence of the seven seasons to follow by itself in my opinion.
Playlist
1. Savagely Attack - CZARFACE ft. Ghostface Killah
2. Domo 23 - Tyler, the Creator
3. The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES
4. Strictly Reserved for You - Charles Bradley
5. The Way - Fastball
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