A 24 Without Jack Bauer?

Maybe it was due to the producers taking advice form overpaid Madison Avenue focus groups but would 24 still be a hit without Jack Bauer? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Given the relatively unseemly success of 24 Live Another Day back in 2014, the iconic TV show’s producers had probably been paying overpaid Madison Avenue focus groups because back in June 2015, there had been “rumors” of yet a new 24 season – but this time without Jack Bauer – because he will be replaced by someone younger. And rumor has it that he will either be a Sig Sauer wielding Justin Bieber or Nick Jonas like character. But given my recent encounter with online trolls, I dared not check out the online postings in fear of unnecessary angst. But will a 24 without Jack Bauer still work with the fans and the shows advertisers? 

Capturing the whims of the current 18 to 24 TV viewing demographic can be a risky business. Just look at the cancelled shows that barely lasted a single season put forth by Fox and others since the start of the 21^st Century. At present, TV shows that have been tailored by overpaid Madison Avenue focus groups to allegedly capture the 18-24 year old demographic are more often than not, unwatchable to anyone who were old enough to experience the Ronald Reagan Administration first hand. 

A 24 without Jack Bauer may be a day without sunshine to the dedicated fan but given the statistical likelyhood of reboots becoming an economically viable success is just too hard to ignore. Sadly, millennials with the requisite disposable income and time to watch these newfangled TV series had been described as having the dedication but not the conviction. This would likely result in half-empty convention halls when fan convention time comes around. Maybe the producers of 24 need a healthy dose of cynicism if they ever with for a reboot that would satisfy both new fans and those who have grown to love the show since the first season aired. 

24: Living For Another Franchise?

Despite the utter dearth of post 24 acting careers for the leading actors of the iconic TV series, is 24: Live Another Day just a desperate bid for actor Keifer Sutherland to start another successful franchise? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Honestly, I can’t even name that post-24 TV series by actor Keifer Sutherland that he did after 24 Day 8 without resorting to Google search but worry not 24 diehards, cause the new 24: Live Another Day – also known as 24 Day 9 – is as good as the 24 seasons that came before it and became a runaway success in the wake of the then U.S. President George W. Bush’s post 9/11 War on Terror. 

24: Live Another Day – also known as 24 Day 9 – is a limited edition TV series consisting of just twelve episodes, unlike the previous season’s 24 episodes as events allegedly happen in real time. It premiered on the American Fox TV network back in May 5, 2014 and ended back in July 14, 2014. Though it now started its “tour” across the world airing on various Fox affiliates – one just aired here in the Philippines back in September – the new season is quite a departure from the previous seasons were a season typically consisted of 24 episodes that happen in real time. Fortunately, the changes are not one of those J.J. Abrams reboots. 

The new 24: Live Another Day covers a 24 hour period that begins and ends at 11:00 A.M. but there’s a 12-hour time jump within the final episode, thus the new season is now only 12-episodes long. It takes place 4 years after 24 Day 8 / Season 8 where James Heller is now the President of the United States. Like previous seasons of 24, this one deals with the consequences of the still ongoing post 9/11 War on Terror and even though it may be sorter than the 24s that came before – 50 percent shorter in fact – it still manage to please most of the diehard 24 fans. Further reinforcing the perception that actor Keifer Sutherland is now forever type-casted as agent Jack Bauer. 

Would The TV Series 24 Be An Anachronism In The Obama Administration?

Despite the drone-strike collateral and the “out of control” US government surveillance on its own citizens is the TV series 24 already an anachronism in the Obama administration?

By: Ringo Bones

The runaway US government surveillance on ordinary citizens on US soil and the rest of the world has been since de rigueur after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and yet does your average “civil liberties enthusiast” seems to now harbor a feeling of complacency in the new Obama administration? I mean those robotic unmanned aerial drones never ever tortured a Palestinian-American who had since been granted political asylum and had been living in brooking since 1985 – unlike the Dubya Bush era “extraordinary renditions” program that tends to paint a rather broad brush at Americans adhering to the Islamic faith. So is the TV series 24 an anachronism in the current Obama administration?

Criteria used on whether American citizens and us ordinary folks from the rest of the world’s are freer now compared to at the height of the Bush administration’s extraordinary renditions program are rather sketchy at best. As a way of comparison those Roger Moore era James Bond movies – to me at least – seem to be more “anachronistic” in the time when the Berlin Wall fell back in September 1989 in comparison to the season 2 of the TV series 24 during the 2012 US Presidential Elections. But that’s just my opinion.

Should There Be A 24 Fan Convention?

Given that iconic TV series from the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s already have their own regular fan-base-established annual conventions, should 24 have one too?

By: Ringo Bones

Even though it seems that Keifer Sutherland’s post 24 / Jack Bauer career has been in the doldrums as of late – I mean his latest TV series Touch seems to have never became a next-day water-cooler discussion compared to other competing primetime TV series like Homeland and / or Last Resort. But should the fans of 24 establish an annual convention given that Keifer Sutherland’s post 24 acting career seems to be going nowhere?

Well, during the 1980s, Star Trek fans were “emboldened” by the first Star Trek motion picture made the annual Star Trek convention – which started around 1974 – one of the biggest TV series based conventions in the United States after as many as 35,000 Star Trek conventions – both official and unofficial – were happening every year throughout the 1980s. Will the same scheme work for 24?

Given that 24 never “jumped the shark” (that I know of), it may be justified for fans who are not contented on mere watching the latest complete series 24 Blu-Ray boxed sets to establish their own annual 24 fan convention. Who knows, it might become economically viable enough to compete with annual Star Trek conventions.

Herman Cain’s Failed US Presidential Bid: A Lost 24 Season?

Given that he’s probably the first African-American US Republican Party candidate with a credible shot at the White House, does Herman Cain’s failed US Presidential Campaign eerily looks like a lost season of the TV series 24?

By: Ringo Bones

Do you find it weird that real life – more often than not – tends to imitate art? But the truth may be stranger than fiction when it comes to the first African-American GOP hopeful and Godfather’s Pizza CEO named Herman Cain who – since now disgraced by a string of sexual harassment allegations that just a few months ago came out – seems to mimic the first season of 24. But is it really?

Sadly, Herman Cain’s real-life “Jack Bauer” was probably one of the needless casualties of former US President George W. Bush’s ill-advised mission to search for WMDs in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq back in March 2003. Herman Cain probably lost his “Jack Bauer” in George W. Bush’s malfeasantly-run Operation Iraqi Freedom. Who knows if Herman Cain’s real-life Jack Bauer could have saved him from sexual harassment allegations and an alleged 13-year-long extra-marital affair? We may never know.

24: A US Republican Party / GOP Platform?

Despite of being produced in the “Liberal Nexus” of America – i.e. Hollywood, is the TV series 24 nothing more than a media platform for the US Republican Party / GOP?


By: Ringo Bones


The mere fact that it airs on the FOX Network would have been the red flag that marks it as nothing more than just another media platform for the US Republican Party. Not to mention the oft-repeated salient themes of extraordinary renditions, belittling the Geneva Convention, ACLU, Amnesty International and what have you just to justify anti-terrorism goals – all of which do seem to look as if they are doing a comedy roast to every pacifist and humanitarian organizations on the face of the Earth. And yet the question remains whether the TV series 24 really serves as a RNC / GOP platform.

It does seem kind of odd that during the first season of 24, it promoted the idea of an African-American presidential candidate- then an elected president – and probably one of the first and few shows to do so. Just imagine if the actual Republican Party mimicking the “ideals” presented on 24, RNC Chairman Michael Steele would have been groomed for US Presidential Candidacy instead of being embroiled in a scandal when one of his credit cards was used in a strip joint called Voyeur Night Club that specializes in lesbian-themed S&M bondage “entertainment”.

So, does the TV series 24 truly qualify as a US Republican Party / GOP platform? Well, most of the time the series does “reiterate” the “inherent superiority” of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant values, and “liberal musicians” such as Greenday were only mentioned once during the first season. Never seen someone on the series played Veruca Salt’s “Loneliness is Worse” using an oud similar to that played by Hamza el-Din. And despite the occasional appearance of an ethnic minority or two, 24 seemed to appear “whiter” than 1995-era Friends. Unfortunately, most of the main characters were “liberal enough” to do the right thing. Something the US Republican Party circa 2010 seems incapable of – at the moment.

24: The End of Daylight Saving Time Episode

A 25-episode of 24 set on the last day of Daylight Saving Time could be very interesting, but is this project even feasible under present US network TV scheduling structure?


By: Vanessa Uy


Though the comedian Jay Leno has joked about it probably as far back as 2004, but is an episode of 24 set on the last day of Daylight Saving Time ever appeals to the TV series’ die-hard fans? Imagine a season of 24 where CTU agent Jack Bauer having the misfortune of saving the world during the longest day of the year in America – i.e. the very last day of Daylight Saving Time. When the clocks will be rolled back an hour as it strikes midnight – thus resulting in a 25-hour long “day”. Will 24’s parent network ever put up with this concept? But first, let us familiarize the uninitiated on the concept behind Daylight Saving Time.

When the concept of Daylight Saving Time was introduced back in World War I, it was meant as a measure to conserve coal being burned for electricity generation for lighting purposes. In this system, clocks are advanced one hour. So that the resulting rescheduling will allow work times to take advantage of shifting daylight hours. Even though the practice is only effective in Northern latitudes where seasonal variations cause large shifts in length of daylight hours, by World War II, the clocks were advanced by one hour in the United States both in winter and summer. In countries higher up in latitude – like England – double summer time was used; the clocks were advanced by two hours during summer and by an hour in winter.

The use of Daylight Saving Time is a matter of local determination – i.e. a single country’s decision while leaving other countries’ assigned Standard Time on the same time zone or longitude unchanged if they chose to. Because of this, it is often difficult to find out in one locality whether some other locality uses Daylight Saving Time. Airline schedules may be consulted for determining the time settings used in large cities. So, given that we are now familiar with the intricacies of Daylight Saving Time. Will a season of 24 set on the final day of Daylight Saving Time, one that is 25 episodes long due to the resulting 25 hour-long day, ever be produced?

Noting that on average, most American network TV shows are composed of 18 episodes per season. An American TV season lasts 6 months, thus making 26 episodes on a once-a-week airing per episode the absolute maximum in a scheduling season. Given that a typical year has 52 weeks. So an 18 episode per season show usually has an extra 8 weeks worth of extra scheduling slots for reruns and or specials for on-air cast interviews.

But 24 is not your typical American TV show – bar the fact that it has become the thorn in the side of the American Civil Liberties Union or ACLU for desensitizing the American people against vulgar displays of civil liberties violations on US citizens by the Bush Administration. Not to mention millions of Web-Surfers checking out Wikipedia on what is this thing called “posse comitatus” since the shows airing. 24 have been groundbreaking in the way that in the show’s typical season, it has 24 episodes. Thus having only 2 extra weeks left for the obligatory reruns and special episode slots. Which is why the shows producers typically keeps releasing 24 in DVD format, making them easily available to those who missed certain episodes.

Given these limitations and exigencies imposed by existing American network TV scheduling structures, a 25-episode season of 24 set in the final day of Daylight Saving Time might never be aired due to these problems. Which is too bad actually. Imagine what the fans of 24 will be missing, a dramatic shootout inside the atomic clock room of the US Naval Observatory because some evil genius has a grandiose plan of tampering the Observatory’s atomic clocks to wreak havoc the World Wide Web’s time-base. Truly a race against time.