An interesting discussion of man purses and such in the combox at Vox Day (satchels, anyone?) -- see the relevant post at Alpha Game Plan for more about gamma behavior. Yeah, I was reminded of Jack Bauer's various bags, the Jack Sack.

via Express:

Gotham Trailer

Post by Empire Magazine.

Fox

The trailer debuted during the broadcast of 24 last week. Hopefully it won't have that CW vibe. (As for the 2-hour premiere of 24, it was good enough to get old fans excited but it did recycle some overused tropes from earlier seasons. And couldn't they have kept Chloe a secret until the last minute?)

24 Teaser

Post by Empire Magazine.

Images

24: LIVE ANOTHER DAY

via AICN


If the show (scheduled to air in the summer) does well ratings-wise, Maybe Fox can take a cue from Strike Back for possible future seasons.

It's Official: 24 is Returning to FOX

Yahoo
AICN

It appears that they'll keep the "realtime" format but skip hours - 24 hours in 12 episodes. I think most 24 fans would be willing to see the format go. Why don't they reinvent the show as a normal one-hour drama? Some more "traditional" action/spy dramas have been successful, Strike Back being the most recent example.

Only one summer season is in the works so far. Will the soul patch, Tony Almeida return once again in the future, if this reprise is successful? I don't think they should bring Chloe back, except perhaps in a brief cameo. When the series ended, Jack was on the run again, and I wouldn't mind seeing him in hiding again, rather than starting off with him back in the good graces of the U.S. government.

Jack is Back!

For a commercial... Jack Bauer Bakes the Hell Out of Cupcakes in Killer Laptop Ad Kiefer Sutherland's latest commercial gig by David Gianatasio

24 as torture porn

A FB friend updated his status with the assertion that 24 was torture porn. Is 24 in the same league as horror movies like Hostel and Saw? I don't wish to defend 24 on this score; do people really derive pleasure from watching terrorists and villains get tortured on television? Maybe some do; I would hope that the majority of 24 viewers do not. The show may appeal to Republicans and some Democrats; the use of torture may epitomize in a way Uhmerican efficiency and pragmatism -- getting results matters above everything else, when lives are at stake. Still, some may be pleased that the bad guys are getting what they deserve through torture. In that respect, 24 may be better than those horror movies, in which the torture seems rather undeserved (even if the victims are guilty of sexual sins or of doing other bad things).

The allegation that viewers do become desensitized to that sort of violence (and torture as a policy) should be taken seriously. I believe Kiefer Sutherland has defended the depiction of torture in the past by saying that it has a dehumanizing effect on the torturer as well, whether it be Jack Bauer or Renee Walker. I do note that so far this season, torture has not really be shown, although former FBI Agent Walker did free a Russian criminal from his tracking device by cutting off his thumb. Some bloodthirsty fans did applaud that action online (see AICN, for example). Will torture be excluded the rest of the season? (So far CTU has only used interrogation with fancy machines monitoring physiological changes.)

If the torture were removed from the show, would it be the same? Could a counter-terrorist "real-time" procedural survive without this plot device to move it along? How else could intelligence be credibly shown as being collected and verified in a very short time? (Would there be much of a protest if ordinary Americans were shown snooping/doing surveillance on other Americans, whether suspicious or not? There would probably be complaints of racial profiling if 24 had some ordinary American spying on his darker-skinned neighbor who is of another religion.)

This season has been rather slow, in comparison to others, and there have been complaints both about this and the idiotic side stories. If those were removed, the story would be a bit better, and I think criticisms that the season is lacking direction is a bit unwarranted. It seems appropriate that there is chaos, rather than a single conspiracy, though perhaps the Big Bad has yet to be revealed.

Whoever wrote the script for this season of 24 doesn't understand the structure of Iran's government. No surprise--most Americans don't. Or maybe the scriptwriter does, but had to choose the Iranian president to be the peacemaker and negotiator for the sake of drama. After all, it would be a bit incredible if the supreme ayatollah was having an affair, wouldn't it?

We see that Jack is once again indispensable because management is too incompetent to do its job correctly. Why bother to reconstitute CTU if its leadership continues to be a failure? Doesn't the Federal Government have any other agents who can do the work, instead of making Jack come out of retirement?

The show paints itself into a corner because of the requirements of drama; it shouldn't be a surprise if the stories lose plausibility and become worse and worse with time.

AICN: Interesting Details Of 24’s Eighth Season!!

Just watched Season 7: Ep 10 (5:00 PM - 6:00 PM) of 24 --in the last 5 minutes or so you can watch a "growling" contest between Jack Bauer and Tony Almeida. Does that sort of masculinity still attract women?

Some interesting questions raised by this season of 24:

1. Does the President have a greater obligation to her country than to her spouse? Does she have a greater obligation to strangers in another country? If as President she can act to save her spouse, should she do so? Or is there a division of roles here--she cannot permit herself as a private citizen to make use of the tools that are available to the President?

President Taylor says that she cannot ask the American people to make sacrifices that she herself cannot make. And she is not the one who would be killing her husband, but she would be allowing her husband die (in a way that does admit of active efforts to find him and preventing this from happening). Is the First Gentleman no different from any other American citizen though?

2. Are those who are liberated obligated out of justice to do something for those who died to liberate them? Or for the liberating country as a whole? And if they didn't ask to be liberated? Who can legitimately represent the people if the country is being ruled by a tyrant, and speak for their desire to be liberated?

Thoughts about season 7 of 24

*some spoilers ahead*

1. All in all, the first 4 hours of 24 were a good start for season 7. But I think they revealed that Tony Almeida was truly working undercover too quickly. It is said that he was originally going to make an appearance at the end of the 24th hour on Day 6, after Jack left the home of Secretary Heller. That would have been bad, since usually some time passes between the 'days' of 24, and so it wouldn't make sense to show the conversation between Jack Bauer and Tony Almeida at the beginning of Day 7, unless Day 7 took place right after Day 6. Still... I think the scriptwriters could have drawn the dramatic tension with this plot point out more a bit. (And if quality of the story for the last 6 hours of Day 7 starts dropping to the level of the terrible family soap opera of Day 6, this criticism will be brought back.)

2. It is hard, at this point, to see how the writers and creators are not pushing for torture as an acceptable way to get information. In the past it has been claimed that torture dehumanizes the one doing the torturing, and that these effects on Jack Bauer are visible. What exactly was the redemption that Jack Bauer was looking for in his travels all over the world and in Africa? Was he really looking for validation from the American people by testifying in the Senate hearings? Jack may have been loathe to use torture for a few hours, after what he experienced in a Chinese prison, but he seems to be back to his old self. He may understand that he is often a tool of those in power, who do not appreciate him and are quite willing to sell him out to further 'the public interest,' but this is what Jack Bauer is, and he does whatever is necessary to stop the threat facing the country.

*Cue song using the melody for the G.I. Joe cartoon theme: Jack Bauer, "a real American hero."*

3. It seems to me that we are supposed to approve of the way CTU has done things in the past , especially when we are shown the contrast between CTU and the FBI, which follows Federal rules and procedures and respects the rights of suspects, and the results they are able to get. The FBI is ineffectual--Jack Bauer is not. Agent Walker appears to agree that extraordinary circumstnaces may require extraordinary measures. She even goes so far as to torture one suspect, Tanner, while he is in the hospital recovering from being shot by her and the consequent surgery. When her first attempt fails to elicit the information that she needs, she looks away from Tanner and begins to cry, realizing that she has taken a monstrous path. But after he laughs, mocking her ineffectiveness, she tries again and succeeds. But at what personal cost?

At least The Unit (and by implication CAG) recognizes that torture is ineffectual.

4. Can the corruption in the Federal Government be taken care of by Jack Bauer, Tony Almeida, and two individuals reconstituting CTU (Bill Buchannan and Chloe O'Brian)? And will the show ultimately take a shot at a critique of the corporatism (nay, even 'fascism') that characterizes the American political structure? The 'rule of law'--bringing those responsible to justice, and having them judged by a court--is this sufficient? As we have seen in the 24 universe, bad guys are brought down, but new ones take their place. Can the corruption really be eliminated, unless the American citizens are willing to restore republican government and protect economic freedom?

5. As for the proposed intervention by the U.S. military in the fictional African country of Sangala under the new administration of President Allison Taylor--naturally, this action is being endorsed, in the name of humanitarianism. (We have the power to stop genocide; therefore we have the moral imperative to do so. I'm not going to rewatch the episodes to get an actual quote from President Taylor.) With the threat of CIP device in the hands of agents of the Sangalan government to 'innocent American lives,' at least President Taylor does not actually say that the lives of Sangalans are of equal consideration as American lives. It would be interesting if the show actually takes a stance against American interventionism, but I think this is unlikely to happen.

Too bad Ron Paul can't make a cameo appearance in the show--what would he say about various aspects of the story?

Hey Sarge, from the wiki entry on season 7:

United States Navy SEALs helped battle terrorists at Camarillo Airport during filming of an episode on August 12-13 2008.^[18]

More Ron Paul links:
Ron Paul .com
Campaign For Liberty — Home
Daily Paul

Sarge, you can find promotional photos of s7 of 24 at Yahoo. There's this photo for Annie Wersching:

wiki
Yahoo TV

AICN: ‘Every Second You Help The Government You’re Spitting On Teri’s Grave!!’ - Herc’s Seen The First Four Hours Of 24 7!!

AICN: 24 s7 trailer

IGN: 24: Redemption - Our First Look

It's also very cool to see Jack in such a different setting - Redemption was filmed on location in South Africa, and this is a very different element for Jack to do his thing in than the Los Angeles settings we've grown accustomed to for the character. It certainly makes us curious what it would be like to follow the character through something even bigger in scope, such as the long-discussed 24 feature film.

Jack Bauer takes on Jason Bourne in the feature movie... I'd like to see Jack Bauer do more hand-to-hand combat. A chance for more MMA to be shown on screen...

IGN's 24 gallery
official website

Too bad Marisol Nichols won't be back for season 7.

Exposay gallery:

another



Looks like she is expecting... great!


PASADENA, CA - AUGUST 17: Actress Marisol Nichols arrives at the 2008 ALMA Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on August 17, 2008 in Pasadena, California. (Getty)

TOLUCA LAKE, CA - AUGUST 16: Actress Marisol Nichols poses at her Baby Shower hosted by Fisher-Price Toys at her home on August 16,2008 in Toluca Lake, California. (Getty)

In this photo released by the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre, Marisol Nichols, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, left to right, pose for photographers during the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre's 39th Anniversary Gala, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008, in Los Angeles. (AP/Rene Macura)

The lucky guy:

TOLUCA LAKE, CA - AUGUST 16: Actress Marisol Nichols and husband Taron Lexton, director pose togetherat their Baby Shower hosted by Fisher-Price Toys at their home on August 16,2008 in Toluca Lake, California. (Getty)

In this photo released by the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre, Marisol Nichols, left, gets a kiss from her husband Taron Leyton, right, during the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre's 39th Anniversary Gala, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008, in Los Angeles. (AP/Rene Macura)

Sarge, the (leaked) trailer for a certain TV movie being shown in November.

Trailer for the 24 movie

via AICN--the trailer

Jack Bauer does Rambo... that's what it reminds me of... or Tears of the Sun, or Blood Diamond, or...

AICN: Jon Voight to Menace Jack Bauer on 24!!

For Sarge, something from last week:

More Added To Cast Of Jack Bauer's TV-Movie!!