A Blog
Things on TV
Anyone remember that show about a bunch of people stranded on an island and there were all these weird things going on, like a hatch and a smoke monster and some crazy cultist rednecks trying to kill them?
Well, I hope so, because Lost is back.
And I’m glad. While I like the prospect of the 16 (or however many) back-to-back episodes, this break was a killer. Maybe next year they should take the 24 route and just start the season in January.
I thought tonight’s episode of 24 was far better than last week’s. While last week we got Graeme’s plot revelation, this week had much more Jack as well as other revelations and plot advancement. I don’t have that many dumb comments or stupid questions, but here goes:
This week’s Carnival of Bauer is up, hosted by the essential accessory, The Jack Sack.
Before I get to my thoughts about this week’s 24, a note about timing:
It’s been said that in comedy, timing is everything. Timing, at least in that way, is good. But there’s also such a thing as bad timing. And after watching the first 3.5 seasons of 24 with the Civee (to get her caught up), I’d like to say that 24 (specifically, the scenes at CTU) is a treasure trove of bad timing.
Consider the following scene, for example:
[the timer clicks from 8:34:35 to 8:34:42 as we open in CTU, a random CTU employee approaches the CTU director, who is holding two phones up, one to each ear]
CTU Employee:Mr/Mrs. Director, I have this hangnail
CTU Director: What next?! (all attention goes to a big ass viewscreen on the CTU wall) OH NO! Terrorists just detonated a nuclear device on the Kentucky Nub and have assassinated the Secretary of the Interior! Well, we gotta prioritize…let’s tackle that hangnail.
Stuff like that happens all the time. And it isn’t just your CTU employees who are the victims or perpretrators. People from walks of life ranging from crackheads to relatives of the President of the United States have not realized that a national emergency trumps their little world. But at least today, Bill Buchanan tried to avoid it. His initial attempts were successful, but he caved after being repeatedly bothered by Nadia and Milo. We here at the Kingdom wish Buchanan the best in instilling in CTU a better sense of timing.
Other thoughts about this week’s episode:
Usually, after the double-two-hour season openers of 24, they take it slow with hour five. But this year, they gave us some action, some reveals and one classic Bauer beatdown.
The first edition of the Season Six Carnival of Bauer is now up.
For those of you keeping score:
24: 2
Sledge Hammer!: 1
Today begins the sixth longest (in no particular order) day of Jack Bauer’s life.
Two things were different for me with this season premiere of 24. For all the years I’ve been watching the show, this is the first time I’ve seen a season opener live. Also, it’s the first time I’ve seen the show in HD, which, I have to admit is nice.
I’m glad FOX is continuing with airing the first two hours one night with the second two the following night. It spoils viewers for the rest of the season, but it also starts things off nicely for those of us who have gone seven months without a new episode of 24. While it was seven months for us, I bet it felt longer for those stuck in a Chinese prison.
After looking promising, the prospects for the concept of “music television” are bleak again, especially if you live in Columbus.
Actually, it’s been a few months coming, as my one-time favorite channel VH1 Classic has resorted to playing Flashdance 15 times a week.
But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the recent decision by the Columbus Fox affiliate to drop The Tube as it’s secondary digital channel. Apparently, the move was made because The Tube didn’t meet some new FCC requirement where all digital secondary channels had to carry the Emergency Broadcast System and carry three hours of educational hours per week.
Now, if I want random music videos on in the background, I have to either watch VH1 Classic the three hours a day they aren’t playing a documentary about Metallica or tune into MTV before the crack of dawn.
Thanks, FCC!
So the Civee and I went to Target Saturday for no reason at all. The big surprise wasn’t that the store was practically empty. The big surprise was seeing the 24 season DVD sets on sale for $16 each. They only had a few copies of Season 1 left, so naturally I snagged one.
I’m amazed at how dark the sets are. And how Jack knows this emotion the rest of us know as “happiness.” That won’t last long.
Speaking of 24, the next day starts in January, and Fox is starting to run promos:
Looks like they’re not holding their breath with the Jack vs. Lobot confrontation. I hope Jack brought a towel.
