I admit it. My wife and I have watched the DVDs of Seasons One and Two of "24" in the last three weeks.
I haven't lounged in front of the TV this much in a long time. And I generally maintain an attitude of smug superiority toward prime-time TV, making this a pretty humbling confession.
In our defense:
- It's July in Central Texas. Cold-climate folks are driven indoors for long stretches of virtual inactivity in mid-winter, the same happens here in mid-summer. You reach the point where leaving the house to run errands takes an effort of will and you'd better take care of all those errands in one trip: you (or, at least, I) won't want to go back out again. If there's ever a good time of year to get addicted to a cliffhanger network series, this would be it.
- It's always great to find something both of us enjoy watching together. I was lucky the Lord of the Rings films were released in the early stages of our relationship when my wife was more interested in watching movies with me than being vocal about her true viewing preferences. On the other hand, I quickly began a habit of falling asleep just as many of her favorite movies shift gears and the comedic portion of the "romantic comedy" gives way to the tragic near-miss and its eventual happy resolution. (Could we be more stereotypical?)
- It's just fun TV. The storylines waver between riveting and silly, but the intensity rarely drops. The acting and casting for the most part make up for those ventures into the ludicrous. (Not just Kiefer Sutherland. It's the supporting cast that really makes the show such quality viewing.) The whole real-time thing is well done, using split-screens to remind us of all the simultaneous crises. I think some of the annoying storylines (like random kidnappings with no connection to the central plot) are there to maintain the real-time intensity while other characters elsewhere move on to another scene. (I suppose that's when these folks go to the bathroom, grab a bite to eat, etc. -- all the things you'd surely try to do at some point in a 24-hour period.)
