Καταρχάς να διευκρινίσω πως η συγκεκριμένη ανάρτηση έγινε με αφορμή την επίσημη ανακοίνωση του Fox πως η 8η σεζόν της σειράς θα είναι και η τελευταία της. Δεν είναι για το φινάλε με λίγα λόγια (γι'αυτό έκανα ξεχωριστή ανάρτηση - και λίγο καιρό αργότερα έκανα και ολόκληρο αφιέρωμα στο 24)... Με αφορμή λοιπόν το οριστικό φινάλε της πολυαγαπημένης μου σειράς, βρήκα 2 από τα καλύτερα κείμενα-αφιερώματα που διάβασα ποτέ για το 24 και με τα οποία συμφωνώ σχεδόν απόλυτα:
1. A Tribute to 24, TV's Best Thriller Ever
"With word in Variety this morning that, as expected, “24” will most likely end its run on Fox at the end of this season, I wanted to say a few words about this extraordinary, landmark TV show.
It took a genre that is best done in books and movies—the thriller—and gave us heart-pounding, adrenaline-fueled action week-in and week-out, for 24 hours, each season for eight years.
The main conceit of the show was simple and yet almost impossible to pull off well—and yet they did it, season after season.
The idea each season was to tell a thriller in real time, each hour, for 24 hours. And show creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran set their sights high—each hour was to be like a chapter in a good thriller novel, full of twists and turns, suspense and surprise, and end with a hook so you couldn’t wait to turn the page to read the next chapter. Yeah, right. Great to aspire to that, guys, and if you’re able to achieve it once or twice a season, good on you, as my friends down under would say.
But, son-of-a gun, Surnow and Cochran and showrunner Howard Gordon and their team of extraordinarily talented writers over the years actually reached the heights they set out to achieve.
Yes, there were bumps—and sometimes potholes—along the way. But even when I was frustrated with the show, screaming at the top of my lungs at the TV screen that no, that wouldn’t happen, or yelling at it “to give me a break, that’s stupid and ridiculous,” I almost always remained engaged, excited and couldn’t wait for the next hour.
And at its best—which has been often— “24” has been just spectacular. It’s a show that’s paid attention to the craft that makes great TV: faultless casting, sharp editing, visceral scoring, gritty cinematography, transfixing set design.
With all of this going for it behind-the-camera, all that’s been left is for “24” to deliver in front of the camera, and that it’s done in spades.
Taking their cue from Kiefer Sutherland’s intensity as Jack Bauer, the actors on the show have been Dustin Hoffman character-correct. By that I mean the acting has been so spot-on that almost every actor on the show has been totally believable as their character. Besides the actors themselves, credit the care in casting and the terrific way the show has been directed.
Not enough can be said about Sutherland. His value to the show? He’s Archie, Peyton and Eli all rolled-up in one. He’s Mantle, Maris and Mays. He’s Baryshnikov, Astaire and Rogers. He’s Beyonce, Gaga and Madonna.
He can sing AND dance, both forwards and backwards. He can skate on ice, thick or thin. He can handle the large heavy-duty excavator and the small sub-compact tractor. He’s big city and he’s small town. He’s as calculating as Harry Lime in “The Third Man” and as smart and resourceful as those agents Michael Caine used to play all the time in movies such as “The Ipcress File” and “The Fourth Protocol”.
To those of you who have never seen the show, I recommend you buy or rent Season 4. It’s my favorite of the series. You don’t have to have seen any of the series to fall right into it. Watch it over a weekend or two and I defy you not to come out of the experience singing the praises of “24”.
All of this being said, I’m not sad to see the series end. I am still enjoying the series, and I told Gordon just that the other day. Kudos for another terrific season.
I have some friends who say that the show has jumped the shark. I don’t agree with that assessment.
But, to be honest, there are just so many nuclear disasters from which Jack can save us. There are just so many schematics Chloe can look-up and send to Jack’s cell phone. And damnit, there are just so many “Damnits” Jack can utter.
The show is still an adrenaline rush like no other show on TV, but it’s no longer like the first time I was strapped into the ride on Space Mountain. Nor like the third time. It’s more like the 103rd time. Still a great ride, but I’m ready for the next thrill.
Sutherland still continues to involve me and amaze me. Each season he delivers an Emmy-worthy performance, and his evolution of Bauer’s character this year, with its yin-and-yang conflicts barely under the surface, is transfixing.
But I’m ready for the “24” movie. Or maybe movies. Probably like most big fans of the show, I’ve got some ideas about how Jack’s character can grow in a film. The plot I have in mind would keep the conceit of the action happening in real time, as it did in “High Noon”.
But that’s for the future. For now, the clock is still ticking on this season’s “24”. And I think during this year’s finale I’ll invite a few friends over who also have been fans of the show and I’ll open up that great vintage of Gravelly Meadow cabernet sauvignon I’ve been saving to savor on a special occasion: To the cast and crew of “24”—Thank You."
"With word in Variety this morning that, as expected, “24” will most likely end its run on Fox at the end of this season, I wanted to say a few words about this extraordinary, landmark TV show.It took a genre that is best done in books and movies—the thriller—and gave us heart-pounding, adrenaline-fueled action week-in and week-out, for 24 hours, each season for eight years.
The main conceit of the show was simple and yet almost impossible to pull off well—and yet they did it, season after season.
The idea each season was to tell a thriller in real time, each hour, for 24 hours. And show creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran set their sights high—each hour was to be like a chapter in a good thriller novel, full of twists and turns, suspense and surprise, and end with a hook so you couldn’t wait to turn the page to read the next chapter. Yeah, right. Great to aspire to that, guys, and if you’re able to achieve it once or twice a season, good on you, as my friends down under would say.
But, son-of-a gun, Surnow and Cochran and showrunner Howard Gordon and their team of extraordinarily talented writers over the years actually reached the heights they set out to achieve.Yes, there were bumps—and sometimes potholes—along the way. But even when I was frustrated with the show, screaming at the top of my lungs at the TV screen that no, that wouldn’t happen, or yelling at it “to give me a break, that’s stupid and ridiculous,” I almost always remained engaged, excited and couldn’t wait for the next hour.
And at its best—which has been often— “24” has been just spectacular. It’s a show that’s paid attention to the craft that makes great TV: faultless casting, sharp editing, visceral scoring, gritty cinematography, transfixing set design.
With all of this going for it behind-the-camera, all that’s been left is for “24” to deliver in front of the camera, and that it’s done in spades.
Taking their cue from Kiefer Sutherland’s intensity as Jack Bauer, the actors on the show have been Dustin Hoffman character-correct. By that I mean the acting has been so spot-on that almost every actor on the show has been totally believable as their character. Besides the actors themselves, credit the care in casting and the terrific way the show has been directed.Not enough can be said about Sutherland. His value to the show? He’s Archie, Peyton and Eli all rolled-up in one. He’s Mantle, Maris and Mays. He’s Baryshnikov, Astaire and Rogers. He’s Beyonce, Gaga and Madonna.
He can sing AND dance, both forwards and backwards. He can skate on ice, thick or thin. He can handle the large heavy-duty excavator and the small sub-compact tractor. He’s big city and he’s small town. He’s as calculating as Harry Lime in “The Third Man” and as smart and resourceful as those agents Michael Caine used to play all the time in movies such as “The Ipcress File” and “The Fourth Protocol”.
To those of you who have never seen the show, I recommend you buy or rent Season 4. It’s my favorite of the series. You don’t have to have seen any of the series to fall right into it. Watch it over a weekend or two and I defy you not to come out of the experience singing the praises of “24”.All of this being said, I’m not sad to see the series end. I am still enjoying the series, and I told Gordon just that the other day. Kudos for another terrific season.
I have some friends who say that the show has jumped the shark. I don’t agree with that assessment.
But, to be honest, there are just so many nuclear disasters from which Jack can save us. There are just so many schematics Chloe can look-up and send to Jack’s cell phone. And damnit, there are just so many “Damnits” Jack can utter.
The show is still an adrenaline rush like no other show on TV, but it’s no longer like the first time I was strapped into the ride on Space Mountain. Nor like the third time. It’s more like the 103rd time. Still a great ride, but I’m ready for the next thrill.Sutherland still continues to involve me and amaze me. Each season he delivers an Emmy-worthy performance, and his evolution of Bauer’s character this year, with its yin-and-yang conflicts barely under the surface, is transfixing.
But I’m ready for the “24” movie. Or maybe movies. Probably like most big fans of the show, I’ve got some ideas about how Jack’s character can grow in a film. The plot I have in mind would keep the conceit of the action happening in real time, as it did in “High Noon”.
But that’s for the future. For now, the clock is still ticking on this season’s “24”. And I think during this year’s finale I’ll invite a few friends over who also have been fans of the show and I’ll open up that great vintage of Gravelly Meadow cabernet sauvignon I’ve been saving to savor on a special occasion: To the cast and crew of “24”—Thank You."
Πηγή: TVweek.com
2. Will Clock Keep Ticking for ‘24′?
"If you have ever watched “24”, you will probably agree with me that there is no TV show like it. Since it premiered, it has been shocking its viewers and entangling them in its web of action, political controversy, surprises, conspiracies, lies and violence.Whatever opinion, whatever prejudice, or whatever standard you may have, “24” has exploited it and latched onto you so that you come along for the ride because you wonder if your assumptions and opinions will unravel themselves in the plot. Usually, the characters you hate in the beginning you end up loving. From its inception, it dropped the viewers right smack in the middle of an untrustworthy environment.
I still remember in Season One, Episode One (“12:00AM to 1:00AM”), when Jack Bauer entered the confines of CTU for the first time in the show, I immediately felt an overall suspicious tone of everyone around him; they all looked to have agendas and, just like Jack, we, the audience, didn’t know whom we could trust.
The intrigue is what kept us coming back, hour after hour. How will each character pan out in the end? Are they pulling the wool over our eyes? No other show could draw you in so effectively, into the web of deceit and conspiracy.The show has continued involving its viewers for eight seasons, and it is currently almost at the half-mark of season 8. It is an expensive show, and that is definitely evident. Yet, because it is so expensive to film, every season could be its last. As each season approaches its conclusion, the fans wait anxiously for news of a renewal for one more season. As if fear of cancellation wasn’t enough, there is also the fear, or threat, of the writers killing off the protagonist of the show, Jack Bauer.
For many seasons now, the producers of the show have gone on record expressing that they felt that in the end, Jack should die. Adding to that consensus at one point, Kiefer Sutherland himself expressed his consent of this fate for his character.Another possibility that was always tossed around throughout the years was to make a “24” movie. This brought up many questions. Would the movie be in real time? Would it be in real time only for its final hour? Would it be a series of movies? None of these questions were ever really answered or a movie confirmed, but the hope for a movie has always stayed afloat with the fans.
Finally, in the last few weeks, various websites are reporting claims that FOX is close to declaring season eight of “24” its last. FOX has not yet confirmed or denied these rumblings, yet there is a great possibility of them being true.
After some research, it has become obvious to me that this announcement should not come as a surprise. I believe they will move on with “24" but to the big screen.
Sutherland was one of the first movie stars to embrace the small screen in recent years, and what a trend he set! After “24”, more and more movie stars jumped on the television bandwagon, and television productions improved greatly. But now it is possible that Kiefer may want the big screen back, and he will be taking Jack with him.""This brings us to all the articles popping up this week claiming it is going to be the end for the show after this season. Well, to anyone who has been following the “24” news closely, there is no surprise here; this was already expected.
It is time for “24” to enter and conquer a new realm — the big screen. Yes, there will be a huge void in the TV world when the series concludes its extraordinary run, but I have no doubt that “24: The movie". will be well received, and a total success."
Πηγή: itsjustmovies.com
UPDATE 27/3/2010
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:
"For fans, the ending of “24”, along with ABC’s “Lost”, represents the departure of one of the few successful serialized action-driven shows on broadcast, leaving a suitcase-nuke-sized gap in the creative landscape. In addition to its unique real-time storytelling model, the drama pioneered the modern-day TV cliffhanger.Even its scheduling was an innovation — a returning hit that airs in midseason without repeats."
"THR: Can you tease to the rest of the season?
Gordon: We've taken a risk in the last eight episodes. It was challenging to the writers to the actors. We're taking a risk, the show has to do that. Without spoiling what's to come, it's pretty dark and complex and a place that was uncomfortable for us to write and for some of the actors to act. We really swung for the fences. Because the show is as old as it is, this season hasn't really been given its due. But our audience is hanging in there with us and I think it's been a very successful season."
LOS ANGELES TIMES:
"Although everyone on set reacted to the news emotionally, no one is perhaps sadder than the man who brought Jack Bauer to life."We've done eight years we're very proud of, and we're very excited about going into the film world with this", said Kiefer Sutherland in an interview with The Times. "It's very sad, the only thing tempering this from being all-out heartbreak is the fact that we have this sense of accomplishment. That's the only thing holding people up. Because, for me, and all these people who've been with us since the beginning, it's a very special thing and it's very sad to see it end.""
"Everyone concurs that we want the show to close in a peak form as possible", executive producer Howard Gordon said."If they said tomorrow that you have a ninth season, it's not something we'd be up for because we realize Jack's story in the real-time format has been told. Jack is a wonderful character who can live past the "24" real-time franchise. As far as doing this high wire act...this is far as we can take it.""Sutherland and Gordon said writers are working on a finale that he thinks will give the franchise a talked-about send-off.
"We began the season knowing it really could be the end", Gordon said. "We swung for the fences. We're taking some risks and what some of the characters are doing and it's going to a place that I gotta say that it's pretty challenging. My feeling is that all I had in mind is that when the second ticks down I hope people are sitting forward saying they want more. How it ends is far grayer and more complex and more "24" like than anything else."At its peak, "24" helped transform Fox into a ratings powerhouse in the early 2000s. Alongside shows like "American Idol" and "House", it vaulted the network into to the No. 1 spot among the coveted adults 18-49 demographic. "24" changed television in more ways than one.
"What I've enjoyed is that it's been part of a monumental shift in what television is compared to what it was...it became the home of drama, a phenomenal outlet for actors and writers", Sutherland said."
Known as one of the most grateful actors in the TV business, Sutherland said he is "doing everything in my power not to think about" the fact that there are only two weeks left of production.
"We’re still working, and I’m desperately trying to keep my head in that and I think everyone else is as well", he said. "I know the end will be a very difficult day, and I would love to have avoided it. It’s hard. I broke it down the other day: I've worked on "24" more than half of my professional career. We've made 196 hours of TV...close to 100 movies. That's a very successful career in itself. I think Gene Hackman and my father are the only two people who've made more stuff than that. So it would be silly for me to pretend the end of this would not have a huge impact on my life."
The series finale of "24" airs on May 24.
TV GUIDE MAGAZINE:
"After the longest eight “days” in TV history, Kiefer Sutherland and his cohorts in counterterrorism on "24" are officially calling it quits, Sutherland tells TV Guide Magazine. The show’s last episode will air May 24 with the final tick of Day 8: “After years of lightning striking in all the right places, we thought it was time to go out with our heads high.”What began as an audacious new TV concept—one super-intense day of espionage divided into 24 real-time episodes—became a pop culture landmark and the most important role of Sutherland’s career. No series better represented the post-9/11 united-we-stand mentality"
"“Jack Bauer became so much bigger than anything I ever envisioned”, Sutherland says. “At a certain point, he began showing me how to be a better man, a better person. This character became my life.”"
"Over eight sweaty seasons, Bauer survived it all: nuclear warheads, Chinese kidnappers, torture and a moody teenage daughter. But it was high production costs and a gradual slide in ratings that ultimately did him in. “The weight that created such a burden over the years for Jack became a burden of the writers, too”, says executive producer Howard Gordon. “I’m amazed we kept the story going as long as we did, but it was getting increasingly hard to do.”
Rumors of "24"’s demise had been flying for years, but it wasn’t until last summer that Sutherland accepted the inevitable. Producers had wavered on whether to return this season, and Sutherland knew it would take a near-miracle to bring back the sort of heat that first fueled the franchise. “Obviously, times have changed”, he says. “We’re no longer in the kind of climate we were in when the show started.”""For "24" fans, the big question now is: How will the series end? Season 8 finds Jack racing around New York City, trying to gain possession of nuclear rods (the final piece to a bomb) in the hands of terrorists. The remaining episodes, which Sutherland calls “among the strongest the show has ever done”, will follow Jack on his quest to avert disaster for New York City and the nation. In the midst of the escalating crisis, JB somehow finds time for romance with colleague Renee Walker (Annie Wersching). When tragedy strikes, Jack spends the rest of the season seeking vengeance. “The finale episode won’t be a cliff-hanger”, Sutherland promises. “We will know definitely where Jack stands and where he’s headed in his life. I don’t want to say too much other than it’s going to be very exciting.”
And a little sad, too. Gordon says he toyed with ideas for years about how to end "24", yet he never really counted on the emotional impact. “I woke up early to finish the final script”, he says. “It was two days late. I just couldn’t part with it. When I finally pressed send, it felt very strange. Every season, you know there’s another season coming, and another day for Jack. It moved me to think, ‘This really is it.”"
