Generally I mostly like 24, but there are many things that annoy me about it some of which I’ve already mentioned in a previous post in 2009. Some other things include government trained agents being unable to clear a building in adequate time or the general squabbling between CTU staff which clearly stops any real work being done.

The main reason I don’t like 24, however, is Kim Bauer. She makes me wonder how she has made it through everyday life so far as she has no common sense, people skills and pretty much just plays the ‘deer caught in the headlights’ angle. Things that have happened to Kim Bauer over the course of the show:

Day 1:

• She gets kidnapped.
• She and her friend try to escape, her friend gets hit by a car.
• She gets kidnapped by the same people again.
• She is handed over to the people that ordered the kidnapping.
• She nearly escapes, but then changes her mind.
• She has to flee the safe house with her mother as they’re being attacked by hitmen.
• She is in a car crash and separated from her mother.
• She is a witness to a drug deal.
• She is arrested for said drug deal.
• She is released from jail and immediately kidnapped by terrorists again when the police car she is travelling in gets attacked.
• She escapes the terrorists and swims through the water to safety.
• Her mother is being killed.

Day 2:

• She is being pushed to the ground by her employer, the father of the girl she is babysitting.
• She and the daughter escape the house in the mother’s car.
• They are tracked down and have to escape on foot.
• She is again tracked down and attacked by the father.
• She and the daughter reach CTU via the bus.
• She is inside CTU when it is blown up.
• She is accused of child abuse at the hospital.
• She and her boyfriend take the daughter from the hospital in the father’s car which again involves a confrontation with the father.
• They are stopped by a policeman who discovers that the mother’s dead body is in the trunk and arrests them.
• They are taken to the police station and then transferred to jail.
• She lights a fire in the police car and causes it to crash injuring the policeman and her boyfriend who had to have one of his legs amputated.
• She escapes the crashsite and runs away.
• She gets stuck in a trap left by poachers whilst escaping from a wild animal.
• She is rescued by a poacher, taken back to his hut and made to believe the bomb has exploded so she stays there with him. Once she realises he lets her go and foolishly gives her a gun.
• She thinks her father is being killed by an exploding plane.
• She leaves safety of the car she hitchhiked to reach a convenience store which, minutes after her arrival, is being held hostage.
• She has her gun being taken from her and its responsible for the death of the store owner.
• She is arrested again.
• She is released, taken back to the house of the family she was working for and is attacked by the father. Again.
• She kills the father on command from her father.

Day 3:

• She gets tied up by Gael.
• She exercises very poor judgement with the baby and social services.
• Her negligence is responsible for Saunders being killed.

Day 4:

• She doesn’t appear, yey!

This is a post I first wrote in 2010, but for some reason never finished. I think it’s probably because I never really watched much more of 24. The next season I’m expecting to watch will be season 6, but unlike Stargate, it’s a show I have to really pay attention to while watching it.

I have written about 24 before:

• 10 things I have noticed about 24
• What if… 24 was set in 1994?
• Another one to file under ‘I wish I hadn’t bought this’

Instead of incessantly tweeting my annoyance about 24 season 5 or even spoiling it for those that have yet to see it I figured I would sort of liveblog it. As I am starting this post I am on episode 4 of the longest day of my life [again]:

• Seeing it has been over a year since I’ve watched season 4 I spent quite some time on the 24 Wiki trying to remind myself. Luckily I managed to avoid all other spoilers.
• The president is dodgy, mark my words.
• Chloe really does just seem to have long-winded and repetitive personal drama stories in CTU.
• Who is she having an affair with anyway? Wasn’t there someone in a previous season?
• The phone ringtone still bugs me.
• Amazing how much time they’re having whilst launching a major assault attack on an airport.
• Oh look, Mark Sheppard is one of the hostages. Clearly something more dodgy is going on.
• I would not ever want anyone I liked to be taken to CTU for safety – it is bound to end in disaster or, worse, death.
• “I have someone on the inside who can help us.” – Of course there’s yet another mole in CTU. My guess is on Chloe’s boyfriend.
• …and I was right.
• “I need to get into your utilities volume.” Best. Chatup. Line. Ever.
• What’s the deal with all these sockets that always need to be opened?
• I keep expecting the hobbit to get emotional.
• “Jack, I’m sorry I’m being a little distant, you know, in the last 40 minutes when like ten major plot developments have happened, but I feel I need to remind the viewers that we once had a relationship and I’m all emotional right now. Also I need more screen time as my character’s kind of pointless.”
• How many black SUVs were harmed in the making of 24?
• And now for the hobbit sob story.
• I was hoping Kim would be absent for the whole season, but I guess I’m not this lucky.
• Oh no, they killed Mark Sheppard! I was really hoping he’d have a bigger role.
• So how many times has Jack been arrested now?
• I miss Sherry Palmer. The new First Lady is far too hysterical.
• Jane Espenson shoutout!
• I have never realised how much time they spend on talking about time. Say an event was to occur in x amount of time they will mention it with 5-10 minute intervals all the way up until it occurs. Such as the hospital evacuation or the Russian motorcade. Surely they’d have better things to do then constantly ask each other?!
• Edgar’s death was emotional.
• Kim Bauer – lovely annoying as always.
• Officially being inundated with well-known guest stars now – Ray Wise, Stana Katic, Lost’s Desmond.. Guess they had to replace the hobbit somehow.
• I didn’t expect Audrey to be a traitor.
• 24 would be nothing without drama in CTU every episode. Between takeovers, random testing, torture, asking each other about the time and opening up sockets I wonder how they ever get any work done.
• Ha! I knew the president was involved! I have predicted all major plot twists with the exception of the Audrey double bluff so far. Clearly I’m a pro at watching 24!
• How many times has a warrant for Jack been issued now? I just realised I wondered about that earlier, too..
• They haven’t opened a socket in a while.
• Two episodes later and they have finally opened up one again.
• How many helicopters were used in the making of this season?
• The plane landing was the first truly good moment of this season.
• Loved the final cliffhanger.

As with all other seasons of 24 I realised that I had forgotten almost all that happened before in the season. It’s only when I read through the above notes that I remembered the hobbit and that Jack was dead and Mark Sheppard. Luckily I also managed to forget about Tony and Kim, so I suppose it’s not all bad.

In retrospective I think I watched the season over too many days. I think it took me a week altogether and fewer days would have been good. I think the show also tried to cram in too much and whilst Jack was in helicopters many times, which would explain shorter journey times, he seemed to be all over the place all the time. The plane crash, whilst well done, was very over the top, as were all the things happening to Audrey. It’s also strange how the interrogation causes so much pain and then none a little while later and she can go back to work.

Inter agency problems and pretty much anything surrounding CTU was annoying and played up too much. How many times was a warrant issued for Jack’s arrest? How many people were hired and fired from CTU in this season? How many people were interrogated in this season? And why does every season have to have at least one mole in CTU? One would think they would be screening the staff better. Additionally there’s the mistrust to Jack and Chloe. Granted, they are a bit shifty at times, but they have proven to be saving the day in season 1-4 so surely they would be a bit more accepted, instead of having stone after stone after stone thrown in their way which serves no purpose other than stretching a meagre plot out over 24 episodes.

So the president did it. Ho hum. No one knew, not even Mike Novick or any of the other advisers. Now that’s the unrealistic part.

Overall the season was good in the sense that it kept me going and I wanted to watch more, but I will still only be recommending the first two seasons of the show to anyone who has never watched it before.

As a sidenote, watching The Simpsons S23E01 straight after finishing the last episode of 24 was rather fitting.

Whilst there’s plenty to watch [24] and do [#doodleblanket] I don’t like this disruption to my routine. I have no work to distract me. I am lacking conversations with people. I have too much time to think.

I’m not doing very well.

Oh, and then there’s the pain.

I’ve been watching 24 over the last few days which I’ve mentioned multiple times on Twitter. Like here and here and here and here. This isn’t the first time I’ve watched it, but despite being annoyed about many things [this list is in no way conclusive!] I’ve decided to rewatch some of it and watch the remaining seasons I’ve yet to watch.

I have season 1-4 of 24 as a DVD boxset and don’t have any real complaints with season 1-3 which feature slow menus, but are overall functional and, most importantly, have the option to play all the episodes on one disc back to back without the studio logos or piracy notices.

Season 4, however, is different. Every disc starts with the ‘Piracy is Crime’ video which is roughly one minute long and unskippable not to mention the awful music.

This is followed by the animated studio logo, some menu intro video and finally no option to play all episodes back to back. It gets worse when selecting the individual episodes though as they show an image taken from the episode. Thanks to those I knew that Debbie was going to die and Tony kidnapped before it happened. Thanks for the spoilers, FoxTVDVD.

As for season 4 itself, it’s even more annoyingly unrealistic than the previous ones. We’re meant to believe that one person organised:

• a kidnapping,
• the spreading of a virus to cause nuclear reactor meltdowns with a handy override device,
• the theft of a stealth plane,
• the crash of the Air Force One,
• the theft of the nuclear warhead codes and a warhead and, finally,
• the launch of a nuclear warhead.

All whilst managing multiple terrorist cells and a large number of replaceable henchmen.

The meltdown of the nuclear reactors across the US would have been enough to not only thwart the further attempts, but also make them pointless as none of them would have had an impact then. If he was so convinced and organised he wouldn’t have made quite so many contingency plans.

#In2009 I moved back to Reading #rdg and realised a lot about myself. I think I’m finally growing up! #

There are a few more things to mention, but they’re all a bit more detailed:

• In 2009 I spent the first half in Germany and the second half in England.
• In 2009 I worked in a variety of jobs, including a cafe [with some rubbish coworkers!] and web based support.
• In 2009 I realised that the town I’ve chosen to spend most of my adult life [Reading] is the best place to move back to. And it was the right decision.
• In 2009 I made some decisions which weren’t easy yet had to be made. At the end of the year I’m still finding myself struggle with some.
• In 2009 I reconnected with some old friends I hadn’t had much contact to in years due to moving around and job changes. It’s all been part of the ‘growing up’ process and realising what I wanted most in life. Now, months later, it’s definitely been the best decision. New friends are great, but old friends know you better.
• In 2009 I went through highs and lows with some friendships and some are continuing to be hard work. I’m grateful for some new friends helping me with those.
• In 2009 I briefly moved back into a houseshare I still consider the best one to date. I then moved out and one of them moved in with me. And the dog.
• In 2009 I somewhat mixed internet with real life even more than I had done the years before which brought and continues to bring its own problems with it. *sigh*
• In 2009 I met many great people in Reading via the Reading Tweetup [#rdgtweetup] and the Reading Twestival.
• In 2009 I attempted NaNoWriMo again. And failed. Of course that’s not the only thing that I didn’t finish/continue. Remember TwitLight? Yeah..
• In 2009 I won quite a few things, including games and vouchers!
• In 2009 @leocomerlato made me an awesome video for my birthday!
• In 2009 I was strugggling getting a new passport. I still haven’t got it!
• In 2009 I got angry with some people in the gaming community. There are several repercussions that event had for me, including wishing I had started my own site many moons ago and not wishing to interact with any communities any more. I’ve since stayed away from other gaming communities as I can’t be bothered with all the OMGinternetDRAMA any more..
• In 2009 I saw people on stilts dressed up in medieval clothes!
• In 2009 I read some books.
• In 2009 I played some games.
• In 2009 I knitted some things.
• In 2009 I took some photos.
• In 2009 I tumblred much more than I blogged!
• In 2009 I watched some TV, too. Including 24, The Apprentice and Law and Order UK. Not to mention all the shows I didn’t post about!
• In 2009 I got very angry with the German Killerspiele debate which spawned three posts. One, two and three.
• In 2009 I realised a lot about the music I’m listening to.
• In 2009 I realised just how brilliant Twitter can be. For example with setting up an iPod or random exchanges about Nutella! Not to mention all the things I’ve yet to post about that are sitting in my drafts..

And I also just realised that I really will need to blog more frequently to make these things easier. My memory isn’t all that any more!

On to twenty-ten!

1. Most repeated phrases on 24 include: “Is there a problem?” and “I’m ordering you” both followed by meaningful looks and drawn out silences.
2. Jack Bauer always seems to suffer worst at the beginning and gets better towards the end.
3. Jack Bauer and other field agents always seem to have clothes everywhere from cars to their offices..
4. No one actually seems to be doing any work, unless the camera is on them.
5. The employees in CTU work 24h and have been up for even longer with driving to the offices yet they never have cups of coffee on their desks?
6. In the same sense they don’t appear tired either. For example Wayne Palmer or Kim Bauer.
7. The ringtone of the phones annoys me greatly. However, it appears that I am the only one thinking so as @simonbarker and @INFECTEDPB503 even have it as their phone ringtone..
8. It’s not realistic to all be happening the same day. The drawn out conversations, the repeated convos, the distances they travel.. I suppose this might only been noticeable as much as I’ve been watching them back to back rather than being spread out over several months.
9. It’s a lot like Alias especially seeing how small the actual universe is with the same players reoccuring all the time and everyone and their dog being a double agent some way or another. Example: Mandy, Nina, Sherry..
10. I wouldn’t actually want them in charge, after all they make such a mess out of every situation. Just looking at Season 3:
    Prison break, including dead/beaten guards.
    Delta team members that were ambushed.
    The hotel.
    Ryan Chappelle.

Yes, it is a good show, but there are definitely flaws, too!

TV shows I have been watching in the last year:

24 – Watched S! and S2 so far. S1 annoyed me lots, like characters get introduced and are only in it for two episodes.. Loved the unexpected ending though. Will be watching S3 soon.

Alias - thought it dragged along a bit, S5 was a joke and why does she always run along corridors?!

Arrested Development - It took me a while to get into it as it’s quite a different show. It is absolutely hilarious though and I can’t wait for the film although I’m pretty sure it won’t be anywhere as good as the show.

Buffy - Been watching Buffy ever since it came out. It’s a brilliant show with excellent character development.

Carnivale - Just got that, have no idea what it’s about, but I’ve been told it’s amazing, so I’ll see!

CSI - Been watching CSI since it came out, there’s just something about the characters and the fact that after 8 seasons it still works. Plus I love story arcs.

CSI Miami - Took me a while to get into it, especially as the main guy pissed me off, but once I realised he was just there to bring a humorous element to the show I started liking it! It’s also completely over the top with some very flashy camera work, etc!

Deadwood - Only started this, well, I kinda watched episode 1 and fell asleep during it! So I’ll be watching this over the next weeks!

Death Note – This is an anime and in fact the only anime I’ve ever been able to watch, amazing story and I will need to finish it one of these days!

Doctor Who – Now I love Doctor Who. That is the new series though. Got hooked when it came back with Christopher Eccleston and this is now one of my favourite shows. Can’t wait for the new episode tonight! David Tennant is brilliant and the story arcs quite clever plus it’s just so British with references and the guest actors. BBC America is starting to show the new series from this or next weekend as well, so watch it!

Eureka - I liked this show for it’s craziness and cause it’s, well, different and quite happy, cheery. But S2 was a little disappointing and I’m not sure if S3 will be able to get better again.

Firefly - I cannot believe that Fox never gave this show a chance. This had the potential to be big. Excellent [unknown] cast, excellent universe with the western/Chinese influences, brilliant dialogue and just a new take on living in space. I’m really gutted it’s been cancelled.

Frasier - Always liked Frasier, great show mainly due to the main characters, Frasier and Niles, working so well together. And the character development is brilliant.

Futurama - Another show that I wish hadn’t been cancelled. Not all the episodes were great, but the ones that are are simply hilarious. Bit undecided on Benders Big Score so far, it dragged along a bit too much..

Gossip Girl – Started watching this as it’s got Kristen Bell in it which turns out to be just a voiceover voice! It kind of reminds me of the film ‘Cruel Intentions’ which I liked and some of the GG characters remind me of friends.

Heroes - Watched S1 and didn’t like it all that much. Will watch S2 at some point, but I don’t see what all the hype is about.

House - Never seen a single episode of it, but I’ve got S1 waiting to be watched!

It’s always sunny in Philadelphia - I don’t get it.. Got a few episodes in and it just wasn’t funny to me.

Long Way Round – Ewan McGregor and his friend Charley Boorman on their bike trip from London through Russia, Canada to New York. Absolutely brilliant stuff, I like Ewan McGregor a lot and the whole thing was sort of a mix between a travel/bike/comedy show.

Long way Down – Same thing again, but this time it’s from Scotland through Europe, Italy and Africa to South Africa. Not as good as the first one, there were too boats to catch making it all very stressed. Still good though and I can’t wait for the next one which is the ‘Long way up’ from South America up to Canada I believe.

Lost - Not seen anything past S1. The adverts pissed me off and the constant viral hyping. I liked re watching S1 back to back and I’ll be watching all of Lost in one big go once it’s all done.

MacGyver - He can make a bomb out of chewing gum, a string and a match. Enough said!

Midsomer Murders – So British, so complicated at times, idyllic villages, mass murderers, some hilarious killings, it’s just 1 1/2 hours of fun..

Moonlight - I like Jason Dohring and he’s one of the characters on there, so I had to watch it! The show is trying far too hard and I’m not sure rewriting everything people assume about vampires was such a great way to start. Jason is actually the main reason I carried on watching, his character is brilliant.

Murder, She wrote – Simply brilliant, I love Angela Lansbury and I have a real thing about murder mysteries!

One Tree Hill – Remember it used to be on TV, but I never really paid attention til I started watching it end of last year. It’s one of the few teen dramas that survived past high school as the gap between S4 and the current S5 is meant to be four years which skips all that. I didn’t think they could pull it off, but I’m surprised, it works very well and I’m loving S5. It’s like ‘Friends’, but a drama and you’ve already known the characters for years. That didn’t really make sense!

Race to Dakar - Charley Boormans solo trip to Dakar and the race. The best thing about that is the random appearances of Ewan McGregor!

Robin Hood - I kind of have a thing for BBC productions! Robin Hood is good, S2 was a bit odd, but the characters work quite well with each other.

Roswell - I liked this when it came out and recently tried watching it again, but it didn’t age well. I might carry on watching it as I always wondered what happened after S1, but I’m not sure..

Scooby Doo – Found the 25 first mysteries the other day and it’s just brilliant. Just like I remember it from being a younger!

Scrubs - The almighty Scrubs. One of the funniest shows ever to be made with some really good drama. Like S3E14 or the minor arc in S5 with the old woman. I’ve yet to watch S6 though, only seen the brilliant musical episode of that – Guy love!

Secret Diary of a call girl – Like Billie Piper, so it was obvious I’ll have to watch this! Great show, but I’m not sure how they’ll carry on in S2.

Sex and the City – Only ever really liked S2-4, but it’s still a great show all together. The film this year will be interesting..

Sleeper Cell - I don’t really know all that much about this show, but it’s received some good reviews. Watched episode 1 the other day and it was a bit too serious for me at the time, so I’ll have to be in the right mood for it.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine - Favourite Star Trek show by far, excellent characters and a great story arc from S3 onwards.

Star Trek Enterprise - Only watched S1-2 so far and it’s a bit too samey, too much that’s been done before in other Star Trek shows.

Star Trek TNG - I never managed to really get into it, but I did like some stuff. The first couple seasons are hilarious with the outfits, dramatic music, some of the later ones are great. Plus I love Wil Wheaton – Wesley Crusher.

Star Trek Voyager – Thought this was the best ST show until I watched DS9 back to back. It’s still good, but the characters don’t feel the same. Although the Borg episodes are great.

Sternenfänger - A German ‘The OC’ like show. Great music and I like some of the actors.

Strangerhood - Not technically a TV show, although you can get it on DVD! Brilliant show from the guys that made Red vs Blue using the Sims. Definitely recommend folks download this!

The Apprentice UK – More of a reality show. S1 and S2 were good, but it’s gone a bit downhill since then.

The Big Bang theory – It’s just not funny. I don’t care what anyone says, but this is seriously unfunny,

The Office UK – Reminded me far too much of my own job! Ricky Gervais and the blond guy are brilliant though!

The Office US - It’s different from the UK one, I don’t find it funny, but I watch it because I want to see where the characters are going to.

The Practice - A highly underrated show by David E. Kelley about a lawyer’s practice in Boston. While Ally McBeal is the happy version all about love, etc, the Practice is the more serious version. The first 4 seasons are very enjoyable and then it goes a bit downhill.

The Simpsons – Always been and still are brilliant. Yes, I’m one of those people that still love them.. Episodes like the Never ending story or the Wife Swap with Ricky Gervais episodes in S17 are brilliant.

The Tudors - I like the history with the Tudors, Henry VIII, Elisabeth I and so on and I feel the Tudors completely ruin it by changing the history and making it far too flashy.

Torchwood - Doctor Who spin off. I didn’t like S1 at all, but S2,especially the episodes with Martha and the finale are brilliant. The characters also work really well and they fell real.

Veronica Mars - One of my favourite shows, such a shame it was cancelled after just 3 seasons. S1 is great, S2 had a brilliant story arc and it’s great to see how far the characters have come by S3.

Weeds – Liked this show, S1 was great, S2 was brilliant and the cliffhanger at the end of S2 was brilliant. S3 was taking it all a bit too far though, she has become unlikeable and it’s all too surreal.

Personally I prefer the high tech version..

Cat

In Gaming:

• Mass Effect – Thoughts after the first completion

  People always seem to deal in extremes, best and worst.

• Mass Effect – First impressions

  Mass Effect is a game I’ve been wanting to play for almost two years now.

• Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is in the making!

  The news that made my day: Ubisoft are currently developing a sequel to the very successful game ‘Rainbow Six Vegas which was released last year.

• Mass Effect – Six days to go..

  It’s all over now, I am now completely in Mass Effect mode and cannot wait for it to come out, as I’ve mentioned before.

On TV and Films:

• TV online

  Considering I was ill for quite a while now I was unable to sort out some things in the house.

• Hitman [Updated]

  The Hitman movie that has been in planning for several years is finally released in the United States tomorrow and on the 30th in the UK.

• The Simpsons

  So many people say that the Simpsons have not been funny in many years.

In life:

• Have I become who I wanted to be?

  This is something that had me thinking for a few days now: Have I become who I wanted to be?

And everything else:

• Women on the internet and on Xbox Live

  Against popular belief women do exist on the internet.

• Cooking and some free rice

  As I was cooking dinner tonight I started to think.

And some stats for the whole on November:

• Views: 11574
• Posts: 26
• Comments: Approximately 300 including my own.

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Cat

Two months, no TV in the standard sense. To be honest I haven’t missed it in the slightest. Over the last years I have stopped watching TV a lot and only tended to watch downloaded programs or some certain programs. I guess to some extent that is the result of my 360 and spending so much time gaming instead.

So getting a TV cable was nowhere high on my list of priorities. After all, I had so many TV shows to catch up with [at the moment I'm watching Ed and I've just finished watching 24 Day 1].

Yet even with no ‘proper TV’ there were still some things I’ve missed. I’ve gladly missed out on ITV’s latest ‘I’m a celebrity.. Get me out of here’, especially considering I hardly know any of the so called celebrities. Same with all the dancing and other reality programs. At the end of the day they are all the same.

But at the same time I’ve missed pretty much all of the BBC’s own programming. Call me old fashioned, but some of their own stuff counts as the best television I have ever seen. So I came across a post on Bobby’s blog the other day in which he posted about the future of online TV. One of the things he mentions is the BBC iPlayer which allows you to legally download a majority of BBC programs of the last seven days for free. Yep, that’s right, doesn’t cost a penny. Well, apart from bandwidth that is…

Once a program is downloaded, it is accessible in the library for 30 days and once it’s been watched there are 7 more days before it expires.

Admittedly I have gone a little overboard in the last few days and downloaded a little bit more than I intended. So far I have downloaded several episodes of:

Razorlight in concert
Blue Peter from the 21.11.07
Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe [has to be one of the funniest programs on TV]
Cranford [a new BBC costume drama with Judi Dench]
Doctor Who and Doctor Who Christmas Invasion
Eastenders [yeah, I know, it's a soap...]
Film 2007 with Jonathan Ross [A brilliant man]
The Company
The Culture Show
The Sara Jane Adventures [A Doctor Who spin off]
Torchwood [Another Doctor Who spin off]
Watchdog

All of them are very good quality, very fast download [about 5-10 minutes for an episode of Doctor Who] and I can watch it when and where I want.

Now, do I really need to buy that cable?!

Cat