24

24 tackles something difficult — an action-filled novel-like
thriller, with action and intrigue, set in real time: 24 episodes,
a 24 hour story. The performances are quite nice, particularly
former teen-badguy star Keifer Sutherland as a grown-up good guy
federal agent. Capable and yet weary, he’s the man for the job:
in this case, precenting the planned assasination of the first
viable black presidential candidate.

This show combines the story depth that TV can have at its
best with at least some of the visual sophistication of
movies (shown most notably in the use of split-screen, used
to move between storylines, to show both sides of a conversation,
or sometimes just to show two shots of the same action for no
visible reason beyond making a cool visual.

But…

The show is so well made that it’s hard to forgive the little
stupidities, like the hackable database of “Internet passwords”
linked to phone numbers, or the rather extraordinary and
needlessly complex measures taken by an assasin in order to
commit the demonstratably-easy act of getting into the
United States.

Still, the irritations are small compared to the thrills of
the show. This one is definitely worth sampling, and it’s
best to start with the first episode, so you can invest
yourself in the story. The good news is that you have at least
two more chances to catch it before episode two rolls around:
Fox is rerunning it on Friday, and it will run on the FX cable
network on the otherwise lackluster Monday night.