posted
So after this season has been dragging in the ratings, producers are saying this will probably be the last incarnation of the show as we know it--meaning, presumably, no more cutting between Jack, CTU, and the White House.
So the question I'm tossing out is two fold.
First, what do you think went wrong this season?
Second, what would you do to fix it next season if you had the ear of the producers?
posted
1) Don't follow Jack Bauer every season. In fact, follow someone new every season. No one cares about CTU, or even about terror. They want to see someone doing something heroic under time pressure.
2) All the silly little last-minute reveals and betrayals are like fast food; fans enjoy them at the time, but they're not filling and they'll make you unhealthy in the long run. Concentrate on telling a good story, not a "shocking" story.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I'm guessing this is the last season of CTU, looks like most of the CTU people won't survive the next day. I'm hoping for a on the road show, no CTU, no more LA.
Posts: 796 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I would add the following qualifiers: No one inherently cares about terror. Like everything else on TV, terror is only interesting when it's, well, interesting.
I wouldn't say terror plots are bad, per se. The best episodes this season (the first four, and the one David Fury wrote where Jack finally got the nukes) were all about terror. It's an action show, and sometimes terrorism gives a good healthy jolt of action.
But I do agree that terror needn't be a requirement.
However, the worst 24 moments have always been when they've betrayed their core as an action show. Kim and the cougar, the baby at CTU, the blackmailing the people who are blackmailing people who are blackmailing people presidential plot of season 3, Jack's wife's amnesia, it all happens when the show forgets it's not just another drama series, but that it is, at its core, an action show.
I also agree with Tom that we want to see somebody do something heroic under time pressure, but I disagre that it needs to stray from Jack Bauer. Bauer's a great character and has exactly the characteristics needed to make the show work: an unrelenting drive to do what's right, no matter what the cost.
What they keep forgeting to do, lately, is put him in situations where the right answer isn't cut and dried, or where none of the answers are good answers.
See, my fear, in the "new direction" for next season, is that they're going to embrace everthing that makes the show suck, and toss everything that makes the show rock.
24 sucks when you don't care about what's happening or where the story's going or any of the people. 24 rocks when you really love everybody and are afraid something terrible could happen at any moment. That sense of impending doom is more powerful than the death of 6,000 Edgars.
24 sucks when they pitch the real time concept and just make another action show. 24 rocks when they use the real time concept as a tool to make what's happening feel more real and visceral.
24 sucks when everybody you care about is dead. 24 rocks when they give you good people to care about and then put them in situations where they have to make terrible decisions.
24 sucks when everybody says what they mean in a boring way. 24 rocks when nobody is really saying what they mean, you're never quite sure who to trust, and people aren't given scenes with each other until they have a reason to be at odds.
What they're chasing or fighting isn't as important as all of that stuff.
I remember caring deeply when they were chasing a thumb drive with a little bit of info on it a couple of seasons ago. Right now a chip could start a war, and I'm just not caring.
Posts: 1894 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Seriously - the plot is something along the lines of "Jack catches bad guy..BZZZZZZZZZ, Jack tortures bad guy, BZZZZZZZZ some more, bad guy gives up the information to lead us to the next link in the chain.
I mean, c'mon - whether or not we should be condoning torture aside, I am sick of seeing the same thing over and over!
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
It's been on the news around here that they are going to start filming in NYC for next season. I don't know if that means the entire season will be here, or just a few scenes.
Posts: 1401 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
1. Need more Jack. He's barely been in it for long stretches of this season. The show is stronger when he is the focus.
2. No more White House conspiracies or dramatics. Except for the brilliant last season, the White House scenes are usually the worst and are a drag on the show.
3. Set it someplace other than LA. NYC, Vegas, Miami can be interesting too.
4. More Cloe being Cloe.
5. An angry Jack is a good Jack. I'm tired of the new sad Jack carrying the weight of the world on his back. Better to have someone hurt and anger him and see Jack go for the revenge. Have terrorists kill Kim and see Jack single-handedly clear a terror camp.
Posts: 407 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by docmagik: What did everybody think of the end?
Worst ending ever. No cliff hanger. Season three didnt have one either but at least that was a somewhat emotional ending. As for Audrey, I never liked that character and personally I hope they kill her off(for good this time) so she doesnt cause Jack any more trouble.
Apparently the original plan for the ending was that when Jack goes outside a car was going to drive up. The door opens and Tony is sitting there. He says something like "Get in the car Jack, we have a lot to talk about." But the producers thought that might be a little hard to belive. This coming of course from the writers who had Jack hiding behind a rock to save himself from a nuclear bomb.
Posts: 243 | Registered: Aug 2005
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