So, on Labor Day FX had a marathon of all the episodes of 24 from the second season. Since I watched the first episode on DVD a few months ago -- when Mary was sick and needed lots of TV -- I thought I'd TiVo it.
So TiVo recorded 24 hours worth of this show, and I watched it over the next week. It was fun to watch, but I noticed some interesting trends which persisted from the first season. I have learned some things about how 24 is put together, and would like to humbly present my
Formula for Fox's 24
- Never trust female characters. They're all one or more of the following:
- foreign spies
- local spies (working for the other guy at CTU)
- power-hungry maniacs who manipulate their way through life
- emotionally crippled victims
- Don't ever tell your daughter any secrets. She'll tell her scruffy-ass boyfriend, who will tell everyone else. She'll also be victimized by a variety of people in the process of trying to act on whatever it was you told her.
- The President is always readily available via cell phone.
- The System (government, law enforcement) is riddled with jerks and maniacs.
- Terrorists are always foreigners. If you're dealing with someone who doesn't look like a foreigner but is clearly a terrorist, just wait -- they'll start babbling in a foreign language soon enough.
- Guns solve most problems.
- If you shave at the beginning of the show, stubble will not be visible until the 23rd show.
- Good guys use Mac laptops, bad guys use Dell laptops. Sometimes these are reversed when the show is trying to manipulate you.
- The main character can't die. Okay, well, if he dies, he can be resurrected promptly by a nearby doctor.
- 50% of all other characters will die or will turn out to be evil, or both.
So there you go. Go make your own season.
