Is it Really a Reinvention?
Major spoiler warning for this Wall St Journal piece. But if you can bear it, there's some interesting discussion about why certain ideas for S7 storylines were brought up and then dropped.
However, I do think the article has an agenda. It's trying really hard to blame anti-Bush sentiment for the drop in ratings and it even grasps for two no-name actors who declined to take jobs on the show because of the torture depictions. Despite all the great quotes from HoGo, the piece takes some liberties with facts to prove its hypothesis. Case in point:
"The script rewrites and philosophical crises left the show so far behind schedule that when the Hollywood writers went on strike in November, Fox had no choice but to delay its premiere date."
Well, no. The show has 8 episodes in the can (for reals), which is on par with just about all drama series in this strike-ful time. Why would Fox air these 8 and then leave a gap in the way the season plays out? They didn't even like the break in the schedule caused by October baseball, which is why the show ever premiered in January in the first place. 24 was always intended to run all the way through, strike or no strike. Fox would never jeopardize one of its biggest shows when it has plenty of reality crap to run in the strike-induced schedule.
posted by Nina Myers @ 1:27 AM
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I do beleive that most fans of 24 don't think that last season's drop in ratings and the constant rewrites for Day VII was caused by Anti-Bush sentiment.
They would probably admit it was just the simple product of Day VI was just not up to par with the first five seasons.
Of course, I myself tried to find some good in that last season (Lord knows I tried), but overall, Day VI was a drop in quality (a ton of fans would say it was an absolute collapse, but that shows the differing opinions, don't it?).
Again, Day VI was all right . . . the only probem with it (I'd argue) is that it showed no development for any of the characters, with the exception that it solidified Jack's stance of "I've had enough."
Fortunately, the writers and producers were aware that most fans were disgruntled and they tried to make up for it. And for better or worse, the season was postponed indefinitely due to the Writer's Strike.
Nothing Anti-Bush so far. In fact, if that writer of that article really wanted to make an Anti-Bush article, it should have paid attention to Day V where 24 was really dealing of the possibility of a corrupt President, and that was in spring2006, months before the Democrats took back the House and the Senate.
Since Day IV 24 shown us a corrupt White House (with the exception of Wayne Palmer's brief term in office), so one could argue that 24 was hinting that the US gov't can be very much in the wrong -- it's just the few Jack Bauers of this world trying to fix it all.
But yes by Day VI, Jack has had enough of fixing the world with nothing in return -- in fact, he's paying for doing it. Every saving act of his only continues to destroy his soul furhter, and Day VII was (I'm guessing, based on what we know) his final attempt to salvage what's left of it.
Now if only the AMPTP would give in, then we could see what's actually going to happen . . . .
What a load of crap that article is. I almost subscribe to the WSJ the other day, but if thats the kind of "reporting" I can expect to read why would I both? Her premises were not backed up with facts and....ahh. The article was just ridiculous and really I feel like I wasted a few minutes of my life that I'll never get back.
I read the article and while I agreed with certain points she made, overall I have to say it was a skewed perspective. I wrote her an e-mail expressing my opinion.
And, I know it's been awhile, but for those of you who wanted the 24 sound scheme for Windows, you can download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?dlxjxidzmyt.
Per ny post, season 7 will be delayed until jan 09. The reason given fox likes to run 24 mostly in one hour episodes and not enough time for full season due to writers strike.
Very disturbing news as to plot of 24 as creator gordon trying to placate his liberal buddies by feminizing jack with soul searching female agents and bringing back tony from the dead as a terrorist to be hunted down by jack. I for one wont watch any episodes with miscast liberal carafalo.
Maybe its best no season 7 and rewrite the whole mess that is 8 episodes in the can of 24.
Hi Jen,
now that the strike is over, did you hear something about when the new series is going to air?
thnx!
Liberal, conservative, who cares??
If you've EVER considered Jack's character, especially toward the end of Day VI, then you would realize that soul-searching-whatever would be the next thing he'd try to do -- that, or commit suicide.
Because like it or not, Jack's a broken man. Not only does he no longer care about his well being, he's finally given up on his country (at least at the end of Day VI), and frankly, there's very few people who actually CARE about him. Heck, even his daughter has continually disowned him.
Now, all that aside, my frustrations with Day VII lie more with the actual philosophy of the show -- that anyone (well, besides Jack himself), anywhere, at anytime can be killed. And as much as I LOVE Tony -- look at my older posts to confirm -- he should have stayed dead.
By resurecting Agent Almeida, 24 has actually violated it's most core philosophy.
So, it's my frustrations of that, along with the departure of Joel Surnow (at least that's what's been going around -- a nicce report on that would be most helpful, Jennifer) that seriously mark the downhill slope of this show.
So as much as I don't agree with your reasoning, Doug, I do think it may just be best to stop the mess that Day VII will probably be.
Jack's worked for six days, let the man rest on the seventh.
Pheon
Surnow and gordon prevented 24 to go too far left or too far right.I was at borders sunday and in the video section theres an excellent magazine giving updated info re 24. i get the impression that gordon is running wild in season 7. with no surnow input. The perfect ending pheon to season 6 would have been jack ending his life.
The most ludicrous idea , it had to be gordons, was jack doing pennance in africa and the only reason i mentioned politics is that gordon is going out of his way to hire left wing actresses with ties to gay causes to air america. I read that this was because gordon was trying to appease his liberal friends because 24 was enjoyed by so many conservatives including rush limbaugh.
Pheon from what i read, there will be no 24 this year but Kiefer is signed for 2 more seasons and a feature 24 movie, so he will live. I disagree with you in the fact that i think gordon made 24 too political this year without surnow as a counterbalance. A better plot for season 7 would have been jack tracking down the terrorist that had his female fatale shake pres palmers hand and poison him. He indeed would have made a great villain.
You know pheon if tony is brought back then how do you know Michelle is really dead as her obituary could be faked that tony saw and she is alive in ctu protection program. Tony and michelle then are reunited at the end of season 7 if it ever makes it back onto fox.Tony turns from bad terrorist to good guy when he sees michelle. I thought season 5 was great, season 6 dismal, and season 7, all 8 episodes should be burned. Jennifer please give us the latest info you have.
Even if the Africa idea didn't sink, I'm sure Jack would have found his way to saving America once more. And ultimately, that's why the idea was scrapped -- they knew that it would have been impossible to get Jack back on American soil in a timely fashion without breaking the real-time aspect of the show.
You probably also recall that this isn't the first time Jack has been suicidal. He was on the brink of it during the beginning of Day II, after 18 months of mourning for his wife, and by the end of the day, the guy received a glimmer of hope.
Day VII would not have been the first time Jack tried to get out of CTU -- In Day IV he remarked he didn't miss CTU one bit, yet by the end of the day, we essentially saw a hero reborn out of the ashes, only to have him fake his death.
Overall, if Day VII was going to be anything interesting, you can bet that the writers would have at least got Jack out of soul-searching-redemption-what-have-you within the first couple of episodes. While action-wise they would have tanked, the drama would have come out of the character development of Jack himself, if done well.
On a side note, the character you mentioned in Day II, Max -- the terrorist who got Mandy to shake David Palmer's hand has already been used up. His character was used in PS2's "24: The Game" which took place between Days II & III. So a storyline involving him would probably never happen, Doug. Mandy, on the other hand, is still out there . . . .
Finally, on the subject of death, while records could be fudged, etc and Tony and Michelle could some how still be alive, the overall feeling I would get is that while it could be plausible, i would still feel cheated by their dramatic "deaths." One of the reason Day V was so brilliant was that Jack was after a man who was responsible for the deaths of his closest friends. To have them just come back would be, in my honest opinion, a serious insult to the longtime viewers.
But hey, "toh-may-toe/Tuh-mah-toe" -- we both reached to the conlcusion that Day VII was never really going to be that good (who knows, maybe we BOTH would have been totally wrong) . . . .
What say you, Jennifer??
Pheon
Ratings drop in day 6 was due to unbelieveably bad writing which included no press after los angeles nuked Never any explanation why chinese released jack , why audreys father didnt get her released post haste from chinese and how pres palmers brother became president.the story line was dismal It had nothing to do with anti bush, as bush supporters love 24, used to be thes best in tv.
What you dont know about season 7 is that gordon wanted to makejack bauer a twisted bad guy and fox told him think again and threw his ass out. The casting of carafalo by gordon was to stick a stick into the eyes of conservatives, his coment that she could act without being political is like theres a bridge in brooklyn for sale.
If you buy the dvds and listen to commentary , the idea is to have the viewers on a high from scene one but srason 7 opens with jack among the harry reids and pelosis, a big yawn.Jack was declared dead in ctu records and if tony is brought back then michelle will follow by necessity in the final 15 mins of day 7 i predict to draw interest in day 8.Based on season 6 i could write better episodes for 24.
With all this said pheon i truly miss 24 and i hope the info is wrong that 24 will be scrapped this yr and delayed until next year, jan 09.
I have been surfing the web to determine if any info that 24 will air in 2008. The hollywood reporter said its dead for 2008 and will return in 2009. No indication that 24 will be on this year.
this brings us to interesting question, can 24 survive an entire year off of tv and out of fans and regular viewers minds? I think that fox will have to do at least a mini season or come out with 24 movie prior to jan 09. Then there is the prob of 08 pres election which could impact on day 7 plot. I wonder if woman prez will be scrapped if obama is the dem candidate which would cause characters to be recast.
Unlike the sopranos i dont think 24 has the power to survive without a presence on fox or in the theaters in 2008. I think a perfect time to make 24 the movie to air in sept prior to 08 elections Also can this 24 blog site survive with no 24 activity as many blogs have ceased since writers strike.what do u think?
To response to the earlier post, IF Michelle came back (and I doubt it), then it would make no sense considering they're making Tony bad. Why be bad if you and your wife BOTh made it out alive?? Anyways, that's not to say it can't happen, I just feel that would be terrible writing . . . .
On The Movie: Sure, a movie bewtween seasons would be ideal, but you have to realize that there is nothing done about the movie to date. Heck, even the script is still being debated on. There's absolutely no way that the movie could possibly premeire before 2009, and any ideas for the movie would most likely end up being used for the show, a habit each member of the crew has stated they often do. (I do beleive many scenes in Day V, episode 20 were an example of this, correct me if I'm wrong).
And this blog can survive for sure (as long as Jennifer isn't too tramatized over her connection to Audrey :P )
So yeah, that's two more of my cents.
Pheon
As we have plenty of time before the next 24 we can discuss new plots or bad ones for day 7.
First bringing back tony is worse then bad and i now give you even worse but plausible plot. Michelle easiest, no one saw her die, only entry in ctu databank. Tony has post traumatic head injury from bomb attack which changed his personality , resulting in him becoming terrorist. In grande finale jack doesnt want to kill tony but has no choice until michelle appears and the shock of seeing her alive, snaps tony back into reality. Tony is found innocent of all charges due to insanity and thus on day 8 both can be reunited or a spinoff of 24 with tony and michelle.Tugs at your heartstrings but lousy writing i agree.
I think the 24 bloggers now have time to suggest new plots for day 7 as the ones in the current day 7 were abysmal.There will be a 24 tv movie to set up the jan 09 day 7.My suggestion keep both tony and michelle dead and move on.
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