We finished watching the second two hours of the new “24” (“the most critically acclaimed show on television”) last night. In my expert opinion, the show as written is simply too ludicrous to be saved. The appearance of one after another (after another after another) dumb soap-opera subplots simply overwhelms the alleged main story line and the action attendant thereto.
However, I have to admit some of the plot twists are so mind-bendingly idiotic that they’re entertaining in themselves, and they make you wonder whether the show’s creative geniuses have given up on action and suspense in favor of remaking “Dallas,” only with automatic weapons and mass casualties and bad guys with foreign accents. My favorite subplot so far involves the tight-assed Counterterrorism Unit boss, Erin Driscoll, who gets a call in the midst of a national emergency from her schizophrenic daughter Maya, who is wigging out and refusing to take her meds. She wants Erin to say she loves her, which Erin does with all the enthusiasm of a prisoner facing a firing squad. Minutes later, a neighbor calls to report that Maya has been terrorizing the neighborhood. Erin’s response is to bully a subordinate into waving off the Los Angeles police officers responding to the incident and sending a CTU medical team to deal with Maya instead. As bad as that sounds, it’s actually worse when you factor in the comic-book dialogue and very limited acting skills of all involved.
The question now is whether I’m really done with “24” for the season or whether I’ll respond the way my friend Endo did: “I’m burned out on ’24’ — UNTIL NEXT WEEK!!!”
You know, I have a lot to say about topics like Falluja, Iraq, terrorism and war, but for some reason I’m only inspired to post on trivial subjects like 24 and Mac minis.
So in keeping with that, here’s a story about Muslims getting upset with Fox and 24 for helping reinforce stereotypes for ignorant Americans:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050113/tv_nm/media_muslims_dc
…Citing a public opinion survey conducted by Cornell University last year, Ahmed said television influences viewers’ perceptions of Muslims.
“There aren’t any positive or even neutral portrayals of Muslims on TV; whenever Muslims or Arabs are portrayed it is always in a stereotypical way,” she said.
Just a minute! “24” included a positive depiction of a Muslim on Monday night! It lasted about 8 seconds. It was the woman who commented on how bad she felt when “people from home do these terrible things” (stage terrorist incidents like kidnapping the secretary of defense). If that’s not balance, I don’t know what is!
Seriously: When you think about what you see on TV, it’s hard to argue with this group’s point. I was thinking of a “Law & Order” episode that involves Muslims: Immigrants carrying out an “honor killing” of a daughter they believed had been promiscuous. And then there’s all the terrorist stuff, since “Back to the Future” and before (remember? Doc Brown was up against Libyans who wanted a nuke).