02.23 | 24: Terrorism and Torture

Jack is on the phone with Erin Driscoll, head of CTU.

Jack Bauer: "Erin, we're still about five minutes away from the target area - have you set up a hard perimeter?"

Erin Driscoll: "Of course, Jack, we set up a hard perimeter wherever you go."

Jack Bauer: "Damn it, Erin, just let me do my job!"

Erin Driscoll: "What are you talking about?"

02.23 | The women of '24'

The producers of '24', in fact, seem to have an obsession with interrogating woman - capturing, questioning and, in many cases, threatening to or actually torturing them.

Sure, we have a couple of exceptions, such as Audrey Raines, Jack's pure, innocent damsel-in-distress (replacing the infamous Kim from earlier seasons of the show). But she, by lacking agency at every turn, is the exception that proves the rule.

02.23 | How '24' nearly cost a guy his girlfriend...

Blogger Vijay tells the world how '24' nearly cost him his girlfriend. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

02.22 | Moms on TV go from stressed to scary

Here's an article about how mothers are getting a bad rap on TV, including a lengthy section on Shohreh Aghdashloo's Dina Araz. [via bloggingbaby.com].

02.22 | More on those Nissan ads on Sky One...

The basic plot features our hero on a dramatic adventure involving a variety of cars. Shot in Arizona and Nevada, the landscape and the action thus mimic '24'. The cars are, of course, the four new models Nissan plans to launch over the next few months. In the final episode of '24', all 23 ads will be shown in sequence.

02.21 | 37% of Americans Believe Jack Bauer is Real

In a recent poll surveying public feeling towards national security, 37% of Americans stated that they trusted the abilities of CTU agent Jack Bauer to step in and intervene before the terrorists were able to carry out their actions.

02.18 | UK net users leading TV downloads

A typical episode of '24' was downloaded by about 100,000 people globally, said the report, and an estimated 20,000 of those were from within the UK.

From this, you could estimate that '24' fans using TEH INTARNET are costing Sky up to £800,000 of potential income a month.

UPDATE: Yesterday's Online supplement in The Guardian said that Britain is responsible for 18.5% of TV downloads worldwide. The article offers a simple solution:

TV moguls are not as worried about this sort of piracy as music and film companies because they have already been pre-paid by advertising and, if they want to stop it, all they need do is take a leaf out of Hollywood's book and do simultaneous releasing, cutting the problem off at source.

02.16 | The 24 greatest '24' moments

Television is bad now. Really bad. It has been for a long time. If you like watching a group of wealthy people have sex with each other and then talk profusely about this sex, television is great. If you like watching a group of policemen, lawyers, or doctors stand in a room and discuss something for an hour, television is great. If you like finding out what your next door neighbor (who is also a sexy stripper) will and will not eat for money, television is great. But for those of us who want something more, television is empty. It's the same stuff over and over. Car chase. Gunshots. Man down, call for backup. Tom Selleck races to the scene. Don Johnson has a nice car. Jack is gay. Boring, bland, and an exercise in futility.

'24' changed all that for me. It's the best hour on television for people who want to simultaneously feel anxiety, joy, and release. It's not a "guilty pleasure" because it's nothing to feel guilty about. The writing is great. The acting is great. The situations are COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC AND INSANE, but they know this, and they continue to turn up the volume to make things even MORE unrealistic and even MORE insane. It's twist and turns that actually matter, and even when they don't make sense or are poorly resolved the damn tension you feel from it is unreal. It makes you want to break the time space continuum to travel forward and watch the next episode immediately. BUT YOU CAN'T WATCH THE NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW OR YOU'LL BE SPOILED.

It's all hyperbole because the show works in hyperbole. It LIVES in hyperbole. It's what life would be like if we were always on the brink of death.

02.16 | Is Kiefer Sutherland trying to sell you something?

Here's a good article: Is Kiefer Sutherland trying to sell you something?

"It's tastefully done so it's really not an issue for me," says Sutherland, who also serves as an executive producer. "And it helps fund the show since we don't have to buy the cars." There have been reports of the odd creative conflict - like the time Ford proposed that Bauer cruise around LA in its new F-150 truck, which producers felt wasn't realistic for a government agent. (They settled for a "guest-starring" role for the F-150 as "a hazardous-materials vehicle.") But for the most part, relations have been affable. "Everything they've asked us to do has been pretty natural," says Jon Cassar, another executive producer. Ford only enforces one hard rule: no bad guys driving Fords.

02.10 | Debbie Schlussel hates Kiefer Sutherland - and therefore America

I think that this is the worst article about '24' I've ever read.

Fox's '24' is the most exciting show on TV, this season. Action. Adventure. And it actually tells the truth about Islamic terrorists.

They are here on our shores, pretending to be loyal Americans, and they are plotting to take over our country. With the help of plenty of complicit Muslim-Americans, working for the government and government contractors.

Poor Kiefer. Until '24', his most famous role was as one of Julia Robert’s jilted bridegrooms on his wedding day. And that wasn’t a role. It was real life. Now the only role he apparently aspires to is lover to 72 dark-eyed virgins, or at least repenter to those martyrs who aim for that role.

02.09 | Kiefer Sutherland reads out PSA on US Muslims

"Hi. My name is Kiefer Sutherland. And I play counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer on Fox's '24'. I would like to take a moment to talk to you about something that I think is very important. Now while terrorism is obviously one of the most critical challenges facing our nation and the world, it is important to recognize that the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of terrorism. So in watching 24, please, bear that in mind."

To view the disclaimer, here it is in high and low quality versions.

02.07 | Keifer Sutherland to release an album

'24' star, the none-more manly Kiefer Sutherland, is to move his grimacing skill set to the music world.

The hulking small-screen hero plans to release a record this year via his own label, Iron Clad. The record was recorded in his own studio too. Mmm... self-sufficient.

Speaking to an Aussie website, the man said: "It's a soft rock type of thing which will appeal to fans of all ages."

At least it should - should, that is - be better than Bruce Willis' cover of 'Under The Boardwalk'. Ideally it'll be in the same style as William Shanter's many efforts...