I’m Sick…

I’m feeling a bit under the weather at the moment, but I was perked up a little by the news that the strike is officially over! About flippin time, now lets hope they can get those last 8 episodes of Lost filmed this season.

Another show that was postponed in its “not-so-prime” was 24, with season 7 ready to roll with Jack in court before the strike cut shooting short. Now I am reading that Jack won’t be back until January ‘09!  Although according to a user on Digg, knocking out a 24 script really doesn’t take much..

Let me write a season of 24 for you right now:

Terrorist plot, Jack bauer intercepts. Plot twists, plot gets larger. CTU is infiltrated. Jack has a new wife/lover. Someone in CTU dies/humps a coworker. Plot twist again- oh snap you didn’t see that coming! More shootouts and call ins on an impossibly complicated cell phone. Jack whispers because it’s cool. Plot gets ridiculous but you’re invested so you continue to watch and hope the suffering ends. Arabic guy gets a nuke/chemical weapon and does something bad but is caught before he blows the world up. Blah, blah… Jack saves the day but suffers personal loss in the process.

There, let’s start filming.

What? I’m cut/pasting quotes from other forums now for my blog posts? Give me a break, I’m sick! Anyway, it made me laugh. Like Fat Tony once said, it’s funny because it’s true.

EDIT:- Wow, I must have touched a nerve with someone over at Fox. A little over 3 hours after my post, Joel Surnow, co-creator of 24, left the show. Read all about it here. Good luck Joel.

24 Season 7 Trailer

As Title. That 3 minute clip looks better than all of 24 hours of season 6. Click here for the DivX version. Watch it after the break:-

What I’m Watching Tonight…

Well tonight in the loosest sense, I’m kind of watching some of it now.

The final 2 hours of 24 (S06E24), that I am forcing myself through. It’s been so disappointing, but like I said last week, it is very hard to surprise the audience these days… yeah, we’re so savvy. I just choked my way through the first hour, and I am struggling with the final ep. Decided to write about it instead, much better. The words of comic book guy come to mind “Needless to say I was online within minutes, registering my disgust to the world”. Indeed.

Heroes (S01E23). How do you stop an exploding man? I guess I will find out. It took great willpower not to watch this alone this afternoon, but where’s the fun in that? So I’m waiting for people to come home so we can jump around the room together when it’s finished pretending to use our super powers. And I wonder why I don’t feel like a grown up.

I watched the first two episodes of Gavin and Stacey (S01E03), and although they didn’t make me laugh, there was something about it which made it stand out from the usual BBC Three budget drivel, so I’m sticking with it. I don’t know what night it’s on in TV land, check your local listings.  Watch a promo for it after the jump.

24 renewed for two more years

As title. No comment needed. Other than to say that for the first time ever, I fell asleep watching 24 last night. I was flagging throughout, but the inevitable happened with 10 minutes left. I watched the missing 10 minutes this morning, and I will say that my dream was better. and less predictable. even though it involved me propositioning Gisele Bundchen and being rejected. And then waking up in a cold sweat.

EDIT:-

David Fury, he of the *surely* made up surname, has come out as the third producer of last years Emmy winning drama to criticise this years lame duck plots. He was quoted in TV week saying:

It’s been a very tricky year for us; it’s been very difficult. This is year six and you try to keep the plates spinning on this show. You try to keep things interesting, find new ways to tell the story, and unfortunately we wound up repeating ourselves somewhat.

You know what, when he puts it like that I feel a little sympathy. Four out of six good seasons isn’t bad. I’m going to lay off any producers that admit to failings in their shows. As of…. next week.

24: Reloaded?

Evan Katz, one of the many exec producers of TV’s most time sensitive drama, has promised an explosive finale in 2 weeks time on Fox.

“The season finale will be explosive, literally, as we are going out with a very big bang, action- and suspense-wise.”

Add this non-cryptic statement to Howard Gordon’s quotes about ideas for next season:-

“This year could be…the last iteration of its current state.”

as well as his earlier call for a need to “reinvent” the show, and we could be seeing an all new cast with some major changes. Maybe no clock? Maybe no terrorists? Maybe an hour where Jack sneaks to the mens room for a 20 min power nap? More realistically, I can imagine a “re-imagining” of Casino royale proportions, just like I asked for a few weeks ago. Only time will tell. All I know is Milo, Miles, Chloe, R. Kelly president, Bill Buchanan, man who used to be in Ally McBeal, and all the rest are about to explode. And trust me, that is a good thing.

24: what next?

Rumours of 24’s demise have been somewhat exaggerated. Despite the promising start to season six, it quickly degenerated into a shambles, with nobody caring if the nukes exploded, or whether anybody other than Jack actually survived. For me, 24 has turned into one of those programs I watch while I’m doing other things, like laundry or basket weaving. But this week (or maybe many weeks ago) the producers decided to cut this nuke storyline short and focus on his ongoing war with the Chinese.

South Park S11E04 – Snukes

It’s about fricking time. Last night’s South Park parodied 24, and in particular this weak season 6 crap that I am currently thinking about ditching. You know what makes a good parody? When the copy brings to your attention some of the absurdities of the original that you hadn’t even thought were weird. Everything is taking place “within the hour”. The frequent product placement. The constant takeovers by other departments. It was fantastically well done. There was a serious message behind the episode, and it was about how racial profiling can stop you from spotting the real criminal when he is right under your nose. figuratively speaking of course, I’m not talking about midgets being the enemy. Anywho, the episode is on the right there, in two parts. Enjoy.

24 S06E15 – 8:00pm-9:00pm

I’m sorry did Jack just quiz a mentally challenged person, and then send him out on a mission? Did two CTU workers just passionately kiss in the office and nobody bat an eyelid? Did the president just go from coma to potential bleeding on the brain to alive and ruling the country while looking like R.Kelly in the space of 13 minutes? Did the vice-president buy the boxset for 24 season 2 and just copy Alan Dale’s plan to overthrow the president?? and to top it all off, did someone I never met before today just incur the wrath of someone I don’t care about by double-crossing them???

I haven’t been reading the credits, who is in charge of this seasons 24? I want them to know that was the worst episode I’ve ever seen. It was like wading through quicksand. With broken glass in the quicksand. I may do the unthinkable and stop watching this season. I’ve seen enough to know what will happen in the next 9 episodes. Cynical Ed says that Ricky Shroder’s character dies a hero, nukes are stopped at the last minute going in both directions, Jack catches Gredenko and Audrey is alive. Watch this space.

24 S06E13 – 6:00pm-7:00pm

Something old, something new. Ricky Shroeder was thrown into the mix as CTU agent Mike Doyle, the most Charisma-less agent I have seen since… well ever. Even when he grabbed Miles by the neck he didn’t seem like he was totally into it. Slightly more impressive was the return of Jean Smart as Martha Logan. The unsung hero of Season 5 returned in this episode and she brought the crazy back with her!

What I’m watching tonight…

Life on Mars on BBC1. Closely followed by episode two of Life on Mars on BBC4. With that mission complete, I will be on the internet to register my disgust/delight within minutes/hours. If I’m still awake I may try and squeeze in Monday nights double bill of 24. As Jack would no doubt say, “There isn’t much time!”

Rambling about my impatience..

I posted earlier last week about going legit, buying the TV I really like from iTunes and actually paying the people that matter when it comes to TV, the cast, writers and production company. But this week and the week after, two of my favourite shows will be on Sky One (yes, the actual telly) a mere 3-6 days after they air in the US. This presents me with a dilemma.

What a rambling post…

So Mondays from now until April, Prison Break, Heroes and 24 on the same night. Now it’s not so much that I’m tied onto watching them at a certain time, because I have all week. And it’s not as if I mong out in front of the TV flicking through the channels either.

I nearly went legit..

This morning I almost packed it all in with Bittorrent and went straight. There were so many fake copies of Heroes on Mininova, and it was 8am and 24 hadn’t show up yet. The only thing that stopped me? Programs don’t show up on itunes for 24 hours after they are on air. Booooo! Can someone tell the production companies that this is a stupid idea. I know they do it to protect revenue that they earn from TV, but they just lost all my revenue this morning! When I get home, I’m going to download the hi-def version of all 3 for free. Because I can. Sort it out people.