It was my daughter who first clued me in, although it was Rush Limbaugh who really pushed me over the edge. The reasons were many and varied.
Daughter had been waxing on about Fox's hit TV series 24 for over two years before Rush got on the bandwagon. Planned visits were always accompanied by a warning that we'd all have to watch 24 or I would simply have to leave early. Fortunately planned visits were arranged around nights that 24 was featured because, from what I had seen of this hit drama, there was entirely too much fire, bullets and mayhem in this show for my middle-aged sensibilities.
Not that I've ever been an anti-violence zealot. It's more that I was a Dancing With the Stars sort than such as high drama. Besides, too often my brain cells get crossed when I try to follow a complicated plot but that could be middle-aged crossed-synapses as well.
But I tuned in anyway.
I was hooked, lined, and sinkered the very first show.
For the first time since memory allows, I saw a show packed with entertainment and drama. The characters were imperfect but very real. There were several sub-plots going on all over the place and just to keep track of them all was an intriguing challenge. The women in the series didn't wear low-cut clothes everywhere, even when frying dangerous popping bacon. There were bullets, sure, and sudden firebombs. But the show is about a counter-terrorism unit going up against terrorists for God's sakes. The violence wasn't gratuitous is what I'm saying here and frankly other than the exciting sight effects, viewers weren't treated to constant gore and dismembered limbs.
There was one problem.





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Article comments
1 - Curtis from Roswell
If you enjoy the Blogcritics take on 24, try Dave Barry's.
Oh, and Jack Bauer's death was fake in order to fool the Chinese. If I told you any more I would have to kill you. LOL.
2 - Victor Lana
Patfish, very nice post. It shows it's never too late to become one of the 24 crowd. I've been watching from Episode One/Season One and have never even thought about not watching. I can't say that about any other show I've ever liked, except maybe Twin Peaks in the very beginning before it got all messed up.
3 - Mary K. Williams
Hey Pat:
Welcome to the party. We supply the beer and chips - but it's a BYOP (Bring your own Protocols)
Enjoy!
4 - Pat Fish
Well thanks guys. Tonight-3/6/06-I shall watch the two hour episode.
Maybe someday I'll be smart enough to write one of those hilarious parodies. For now, I'll just read them.