I predict that Jack will be beaten upon with some regularity over the next 24 hours and that all involved will become tired and cranky.
The NY Times has an interesting look at the challenges of simulating real time:
- In "24," the details of plot, costume, makeup and character had to be kept consistent not just from scene to scene, but from episode to episode across an entire season of filming.
"It's a really different ball game," Mr. Cochran said. "In a normal television show, you can put your character on a plane in Los Angeles and, in the very next scene, he can get off the plane in New York. But in our show, he's going to be on that plane for five episodes, right? You'd better give him a parachute or be prepared to write five episodes worth of stuff on an airplane."
They took the first alternative: in the series' pilot, which last month garnered Mr. Cochran and Mr. Surnow an Emmy for dramatic writing, they had a character blow up a passenger jet and then parachute to safety.
Catching structural glitches is so critical to the show that the walls of a conference room at the production facility, a converted warehouse in Woodland Hills, Calif., are plastered with spreadsheets, tracking every character. Despite the precautions, the production team has occasionally reshot small portions of coming episodes to repair lapses in the story's logic.
On other occasions, writers had to make good on what previous dialogue, already broadcast, had promised. One character in the pilot, which covered the hour of midnight to 1 a.m., announced that he had a breakfast appointment with the candidate. "There it was, staring us in the face," Mr. Cochran said. "Something besides eating cantaloupe had to happen at breakfast."
Virgil Williams, one of the show's writers, is responsible for making sure that every element of a new script tracks. He also reviews film footage for possible inconsistencies. "Story continuity issues are like weeds," he said, describing the inexorable season as a "moving Everest."
For our review of the first season on DVD, see here.
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Article comments
1 - Sean Hackbarth
I found a plot hole. The sister of the bride (don't recall her name) is suppose to be working for CTU (never mentioned), yet she hired a private detective to so a background check on her future brother-in-law. Has she no pull in CTU? Last season, Jack got phone numbers and addresses for anyone when his daughter was missing.
2 - Eric Olsen
Sean, I read the character description of the sister and see where you got the CTU connection since it is written vaguely. But I believe what it is saying is that CTU is investigating HER background, meaning they haven't had time to come up with a character description for the website.
3 - Bill Sherman
My sense is that they're keeping coy on Kate's background info: we don't know much about the family business, for instance, and this may be a plot point several episodes down the road. (What business would interest a possible terrorist? Shipping, perhaps?)
4 - jme whyte
eric olsen.... you're a frikkin moron and no wonder the world hates you yanks..... islamdickweeds? you idiot.... words can't express... and it enrages me my country backed your war of terror.... not only is bush a joke but it's precisely people like you that understand nothing about europe, africa, south america, asia or anywhere..... idiot....
5 - Al Barger
yeah, frikken olsen... how dare you call these islamoc0cksuckers "dickweeds" just because they've killed thousands of our people...great offense to religion of peace...shouldn't have to face criticism...sputtering...dickless illiterate european...morally superior...smarter than stupid american, as you can tell by...sentence structure, punctuation...message too important for grammar...disjointed hysterical ranting that can't form sentences very convincing...to any intelligent...person...
shooting fish in barrel to mock monsieur whyte?... not sportin? ...yeah, but can't...help myself... he begging it for to have in him... it broken off
6 - Eric Olsen
Mr. (or Ms?) Whyte, afraid I have to go with Al 100% on this one - can't call terrorists "dickweeds"? Thank God your country didn't listen to your mindless appeasing dead ass - your "rage" is a good sign your country did the right thing. By the way, all terrorists are asshole fuckwads, whether Islamic or otherwise, the point wasn't their religion but their status as terrorists, dumbshit.