The show 24. I've got a question.

I was just wondering, are there any fans of that show on here? I don't believe I've ever seen one episode of that show, but the character of Jack Bauer intrigues me. I love the kind of character he is (I think). I mean, even if you they don't have a huge show of personality, but just enough for the character, I mostly love their skills and when they use them. I mean, some of my favorite characters are the ones like Solid Snake, James Bond, Jason Bourne, Batman, Sam Fisher and to a far lesser extent, Agent 47. Agent 47 can be excluded 'cause I don't really care too much for him, but he's still a good example of what I like in characters when it comes to their abilities.

Working for the government or on their own, skilled in hand-to-hand combat, shooting, sneaking; those kinds of things. I love that. Is this that kind of thing? And how much does Jack Bauer do hand-to-hand combat? While I love a good story that revolves around great action, I'm mostly interested in how much action is in the show, and how great it's presented. I'm not referring to things that go boom (i.e. cars that explode and that crap), not that, just an interesting plot, and when it comes time, Jack doing what he does best. Alright, thanks. I hope there are some out there that can answer this. Now that I think about it, I like Ethan Hunt too, but I rarely ever think about him.

I've never seen the show, I'm just posting to ask who Ethan Hunt is.

@believer258 said:

I've never seen the show, I'm just posting to ask who Ethan Hunt is.

Tom Cruise's name in Mission Impossible.

I'm disgusted by the fact that the show is all about exploiting Americans' new found fear of Arabs and Islam by making the good blond guy chase all kinds of bearded brownies with fake ass random ass Arabic names and bring their terrorist ass to justice.

Fuck that offensive show.

Jack Bauer is a guy who can go into a room of bad guys and be the only person who leaves alive, but he doesn't do much hand to hand stuff if I remember correctly. At least when he does, it ends quickly. Some very fake 'knock people out with a quick punch or a very short choke-hold' kinda thing.

I've only seen parts of seasons 1, 2, 3, and 5 (usually NHL playoffs would begin part way through a season). I don't seem to recall any sort of sneaking/stealth scenes but I do remember the show being great for it's drama and action, not just action. I'm pretty sure it went downhill in the later seasons but I'd say the first 3 seasons are worth watching at least.

First few seasons are alright, goes down hill after that though.

Edit: I guess what that guy said ^

Season 1-3 are good, after that they should have stopped.

It's been a loooong time since I watched, but I actually saw all seasons. I think it was pretty awesome. Definitely has some high and low seasons though, like others have mentioned. He does sneak and do some hand-to-hand every now and then, but pistol is certainly his weapon of choice from what I recall.

Based on your post though, I think you'd totally dig it. Give the first season a shot. Just keep in mind that the first season came out in 2001 so it'll probably seem hokey at times. Also, some of the side stories were total garbage.

It got old fast. The 1st and 2nd season was good, but then it just got repetitive.

@PolygonSlayer said:

Season 1-3 are good, after that they should have stopped.

Incorrect, because Season 5 is the best season....and if you don't believe me check out wikipedia or something because it won the Emmy for best drama that year and was very critically praised..HOWEVER the season after that was TERRIBLE and I stopped watching after that

@CaLe:

Don't forget, he tortures lots of dudes.

The show was really cool in the beginning but is started feeling like a M. Night Shamaylan film where you were waiting for "the twist" in the storyline. I think it just got played out iby season 6 with the whole President Logan storyline. Jack Bauer is a cool character who has the worse fuckin luck when it comes to terrorists. They just need to put John McClane and Jack Bauer in the same film or tv show and call it "A Fucked Up Day."

Jack Bauer has a doctorate in torturin'.

@PolygonSlayer said:

Season 1-3 are good, after that they should have stopped.

I stopped watching mid season three when a nuclear bomb exploded, because … yeah.

I'm disgusted by the fact that the show is all about exploiting Americans' new found fear of Arabs and Islam by making the good blond guy chase all kinds of bearded brownies with fake ass random ass Arabic names and bring their terrorist ass to justice.

Fuck that offensive show.

@AhmadMetallic said:

I'm disgusted by the fact that the show is all about exploiting Americans' new found fear of Arabs and Islam by making the good blond guy chase all kinds of bearded brownies with fake ass random ass Arabic names and bring their terrorist ass to justice.

Fuck that offensive show.

Have you actually seen a whole season of the show? Spoiler alert I guess, but usually there are white rich guys manipulating everything and those are the real bad guys in that show.

@Counterclockwork87 said:

@PolygonSlayer said:

Season 1-3 are good, after that they should have stopped.

Incorrect, because Season 5 is the best season....and if you don't believe me check out wikipedia or something because it won the Emmy for best drama that year and was very critically praised..HOWEVER the season after that was TERRIBLE and I stopped watching after that

it wasn't TERRIBLE... it just wasn't as good as it had been. was still very watchable in my opinion.

@CaLe said:

@believer258 said:

I've never seen the show, I'm just posting to ask who Ethan Hunt is.

Tom Cruise's name in Mission Impossible.

Yeah, pretty much. He's an agent for the fictional espionage agency, IMF. I'm not so sure how much I like Tom Cruise anymore, but still, I like Ethan Hunt's skills, I guess you can say.

@CaLe: @mosespippy: @LobsterVendetta: Alright, cool. Thanks for the posts.

@Bell_End: @Begilerath: @Hunkulese: It's nice that you guys are trying to say what really goes on in the show, but please don't start an argument, I'd like it if this thread wasn't locked because of an argument. Other than that, thanks for your posts.

If you like those characters, you'll love Jack Bauer. I highly recommend giving the show a shot; I would suggest starting at the beginning with Season 1. If you like it then keep going until the end of Season 5 (IMO the best season) then stop, as the quality of the show takes a nosedive in Season 6.

@Hunkulese said:

@AhmadMetallic

I'm disgusted by the fact that the show is all about exploiting Americans' new found fear of Arabs and Islam by making the good blond guy chase all kinds of bearded brownies with fake ass random ass Arabic names and bring their terrorist ass to justice.

Fuck that offensive show.

Yeah the show is all about hating Arabs and Islam. Are you high? It's a show about counter terrorism that lasted 8 years, eventually they would be using an middle eastern antagonist. Just because one season they used a bad guy that falls into your demographic the show is an outrage and offensive? What about the American, Russian, Mexican and European bad guys they used? Not to forget the middle eastern dude who worked for ctu who was a pretty heroic guy. Take your sensationalistic bull shit elsewhere.

Interesting. So you're saying that the 100 times I randomly saw the show on TV for a glimpse, where there was always a brown bearded Arab being pursued for being a mass murdering parasite, those were all coincidences?

Then I'm wrong.

I've just finished series 2 and it's great. I bet you'd like it based on what you've asked for

As others have said, from what I remember the show has less hand to hand and sneaking, although that stuff does happen occasionally, and more shootouts and "Tell me what you know!" type interrogation/breaking of guys. It was entertaining. Personally I quit the show shortly into season 6, but seasons 1-3 and 5 were quite good.

@cmblasko: I asked this question somewhat prematurely. I have to actually figure out how to watch the seasons first. I hope it's on xfinity or maybe even hulu, if not, I don't really have a way to watch it, and I'm not really willing to pay for a season. Thanks for the advice though.

@AhmadMetallic: Please stop.

@ChuckBartowski: @pyromagnestir: Alright, sweet. If I do watch it, hopefully I will like it. Thanks for the replies.

Unlike some people here I actually enjoyed season 4 a lot. Yeah it was starting to get cliched and ridiculous by that point but I still liked it a lot. Season 6 was a real shit show for sure but the last two seasons were a bit better but still couldn't live up to those early seasons.

@NTM: I said I'm wrong, that means I stopped :)

@Counterclockwork87 said:

@PolygonSlayer said:

Season 1-3 are good, after that they should have stopped.

Incorrect, because Season 5 is the best season....and if you don't believe me check out wikipedia or something because it won the Emmy for best drama that year and was very critically praised..HOWEVER the season after that was TERRIBLE and I stopped watching after that

Oh sorry, I thought we were allowed to voice our opinions here. I shall only refer to what the Emmy says next time.

*sigh*

@NTM: I know you didn't mention mention it, but Netflix has the entire series.

There was a lot of sneaking, shooting, hand-to-hand combat in the show when I watched it. A lot of tense moments from what I recall. I only watched about seasons 2-5 though and those were pretty good I thought. After that I got the notion that an already outlandish show was starting to jump the shark in it's own way and I stopped watching. That may have been the first ever show I marathoned though via DVDs. I recommend marathoning it as far as you can.

@Hunkulese said:

@AhmadMetallic

I'm disgusted by the fact that the show is all about exploiting Americans' new found fear of Arabs and Islam by making the good blond guy chase all kinds of bearded brownies with fake ass random ass Arabic names and bring their terrorist ass to justice.

Fuck that offensive show.

Yeah the show is all about hating Arabs and Islam. Are you high? It's a show about counter terrorism that lasted 8 years, eventually they would be using an middle eastern antagonist. Just because one season they used a bad guy that falls into your demographic the show is an outrage and offensive? What about the American, Russian, Mexican and European bad guys they used? Not to forget the middle eastern dude who worked for ctu who was a pretty heroic guy. Take your sensationalistic bull shit elsewhere.

Interesting. So you're saying that the 100 times I randomly saw the show on TV for a glimpse, where there was always a brown bearded Arab being pursued for being a mass murdering parasite, those were all coincidences?

Then I'm wrong.

@AhmadMetallic: You watch too much TV

24 is a decent enough show, it was semi-innovative at the time and Dennis Haysbert is an American hero, the supporting cast got worse and worse after the first season however.

You'd probably like it. There's a bit where he kills a guy with a throwing knife.

See here.

I love what they're doing with Sam Fisher's skills. They're utilizing his physical combat more, and that's what I've wanted. The only thing here that I don't necessarily like is how violent it is. I mean, I do like it kind of, but I like the way Batman does it. "No guns, no killing". Or in this case, no killing. That's not Sam's style though, obviously.

@Begilerath said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

I'm disgusted by the fact that the show is all about exploiting Americans' new found fear of Arabs and Islam by making the good blond guy chase all kinds of bearded brownies with fake ass random ass Arabic names and bring their terrorist ass to justice.

Fuck that offensive show.

Have you actually seen a whole season of the show? Spoiler alert I guess, but usually there are white rich guys manipulating everything and those are the real bad guys in that show.

Pretty much, plus the only season in which an arab dude is a bad guy is season 4. The rest of the show mainly consists of a small amount serbian dudes, russian dudes and chinese dudes, and then a vast majority of Americans doing all the real bad shit. Almost all terrorist attacks in 24 are politically motivated with presidential candidates or their associates pulling the strings and it almost always ends with Jack being branded a bad guy anyway.

Right before jack 'dies' at the end of season 7 he seeks spiritual advice from an imam too who (shocker) is portrayed as a regular dude like everyone else.

Sure the series has a lot of dumb shit in it, but there are plenty of good and bad people of all races and religions in that show.

Seriously people stop this fucking political correctness bullshit on these forums. 
 
It's a great show. I decided to go through all of the episodes when season 6 was around. I don't remember my favorite season, but up to fifth it was rock solid.

I tried watching the first season and I thought the plot was preposterous, but I don't generally like TV shows.

@NTM: I consider myself to be a pretty big fan of the show. I watched all of the seasons and enjoyed them all for the most part, even the later ones. As far as the characters go in 24, I would say they are pretty good. Most of them are fairly predictable (for example, it is always easy to know which characters are going to oppose Jack and which ones will defend him), but they all serve a purpose on the show. The show has always had a big problem when it comes to the characters, and that is the acting. For the most part, the acting overall is bad. There are a few characters every now and then that are good, and Sutherland and always good, but most of the support characters are horribly acted. I always felt that added some charm to the show in a way and made it funnier at times, but there really is no denying the acting isnt good.

Another thing I think you should know is that it really isnt a show about action. Yes there are action parts that happen, but they usually dont last very long and they dont happen every episode. Instead, the show relies a lot more on the tension that builds up as you get to milestone moments in each season. Each season pretty much follows the same basic structure, but it is kind of amazing how the show will have you sitting on the edge of your seat to see what will happen next. 24 definitely has moments at the end of episodes that will make you want to play the next episode immediately.

As far as what I would recommend to watch, I would suggest watching seasons 1-3. If you get through the first season and dont like it, then you should stop watching because every season is pretty much more of the same. However, if you enjoy season one continue to season 2 and 3. If you like seasons 1-3 then I would suggest watching seasons 4 and 5. Season 4 is all right, but season 5 is all most a must-watch season if you like the show. The show goes down hill after season 5. I would suggest finishing the show out because it is definitely worth it, but I would not say any of the final seasons are necessary to the 24 experience. However, after watching all of the 24 seasons and seeing the grand finale in the final season, I felt like all the time I spent watching the show was worth it.

@AhmadMetallic said:

@NTM: I said I'm wrong, that means I stopped :)

That's an incredibly passive-aggressive way of saying you're wrong.

Especially considering how insanely wrong you are. I can only think of one season where Arabs were the primary antagonists. And still most of the major Arab characters were portrayed as either good guys or neutral. Even the "villains" were usually sympathetic characters.

Unless they were American villains. The American villains were always scumbags.

Splinter Cell Conviction was pretty much 24 the game, so if you like that, you like the tv show.

I watched a few seasons of 24 and got really bored after awhile. The show is very formulaic and follow similar story beats each season. As far as spy shows go I think Burn Notice is way better. I like the light tone and the A-Team vibe I get from it. And while it's no less formulaic I just generally have more fun watching it than I ever did 24.

@PolygonSlayer said:

Season 1-3 are good, after that they should have stopped.

I think 1-5 was good, and 6 was good too at first, but lost all momentum after the nuke went off.

It is a decent show, but the plotting and character plausibility fall down kind of hard some times.

It tends to get written into situations that almost seem like they need to go for humor (Saints Row the Third style, because of how crazy circumstances get). But then it is always deadly serious, so its more of a..... okay I guess that moves the plot along..... kind of reaction.