24 - Season 1 (DVD, 2009, 6-Disc Set)

What can I say that others haven't?

The answer is not much, but I'm such a huge fan of the show that I had to stick my opinions in.

The first wave of enthusiasm for 24 passed me by as I am never one to jump on the band wagon. A simmering interest passed me by when the box sets started coming out. Then I was off work ill and a friend had the first three series on dvd, so he lent me the first one.

BLEW MY MIND!!!

I could not just watch one episode. It was always a case of,
"I'll just watch one more......"

Never happened!

You know the formula by now. Series takes place over one day, twenty four episodes, each episode (with ads) is an hour and was an experiment to see if real time could be done on the small screen. Thrills, spills, danger, excitement, cliffhangers and yet another surprise around every corner.

You have to love this kind of stuff though. My girlfriend has just sat through the first series after I purchased it here on Amazon and although she got into it and was interested to see what happened next, the shockers in the last two episodes went by without so much as a flicker.

Twenty four episodes of pretty much the same plot was daring and it pretty much works. There are weaker moments and to be honest, even as a huge fan there were times that I found myself saying,
"For god's sake!! Not again!!"
as the plot took yet another turn to fill the obvious void.

This has been ironed out in future series, as has my other mild complaint. It's not really a complaint as the story moves at such a pace that there is probably no call for it. There is no comic relief. No down time. Now, the story is good and the plot twists are fantastic and keep you guessing. There really is no time to joke around, but sometimes you do just need a light hearted moment to bring you down and get you ready to be thrilled again.

The cast is perfect. Keifer is perfect for Jack. Even his voice is perfect for the character who has a back story bigger than the complete works of Shakespeare. Elisha Cuthbert as Kim again is totally spot on. She's the eye candy the men love, she's sexy enough, strong, feisty and also gives Kim Bauer the edge on combining all of this with being dopey and helpless enough to get herself into yet another scrape. The rest of the cast compliment each other beautifully, so much so that it really works.

On the whole, this is the ideal programme to watch if you like action, plot twists, suspense, cliffhangers and general all round goodies, baddies, goodies who may be baddies and all that.

Totally recommended, 24 is addictive with that added twist of real time.

A winner!!