Recently in the rental shops. 'Kinell! This is a superbly done show. If you like super-taut suspense thrillers with multi-strand plotlines, crossing, double-crossing and double-double-crossing, this one is for you, despite Kiefer Sutherland’s lead role.
Sutherland plays a CIA anti-terrorist unit officer under intense pressure from all sides, who’s in charge of stopping an assassin from taking out a presidential candidate.
The story is told in real time, i.e. the story of the 24 hours leading up to the assassination attempt is told in 24 one-hour episodes, helped sometimes by the same kind of split-screen techniques used to such great effect in that Brit crime series with the shaven-headed Scottish detective – what was that called, again?) and I guaran-fucking-tee there’s no way you’ll be able to restrict yourself to just one episode at a sitting.
Totally addictive if you’re into this kind of thing, this is one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Will be my weekend entertainment then … 
Be careful, Rascal. Be very careful. I stupidly told myself last night that I would not rent the second DVD of the series until tonight, which means I only had one episode to watch. After it was over, I was frothing at the mouth with rage that I hadn’t got the second one. I was almost at the point of going out at 1:30am and breaking into the rental shop! I’m only at stage 7am-8am (16 hours still to go) and the tension is UNBEARABLE!
Season 2 DVDs are out in the US already, and season 3 is starting up in the US next week. I have a vidcap system in the US so I can schedule shows to record and then download and watch here. 24 is one of those I record if anyone is interested. I enjoyed Season 2 a lot, except for the final episode which was kinda a letdown. If you think it is frustrating watching one DVD at a time, try having to wait 1-3 weeks between episodes!!
I rented 4:00 AM to 8:00 PM and watched all 16 hours this weekend…final four tomorrow night…what an awesome show…and yes…I stupidly missed the first 4 hours…oh well…finish it all off tomorrow night and then I may go back and watch the beginning…and you can rent all 24 hours at blockfluster…
The last episode REALLY pissed me off. But not enough to keep me away from season 3…which starts Tuesday.
fox.com/24/
So each episode is a hour in real time ? How does that work when the episode is 42 minutes long ?
Almost real time. But the first episode this season will not have commercial interruptions. Courtesy of Ford, which shows a 24-hour commercial just before it begins.
The story is usually cleverly paced so nothing important happens in those three minute breaks… When they fade to or come back from commercial, they show the ‘actual time’ within the story; after coming back from commercial, the time the commercials took is added to the timer.
(WHat the…? did that make sense? Too… early…)
Sometimes it’ll go to a commercial while someone is driving somewhere and when the show comes back, they’ve arrived…but sometimes, it happens at a crucial moment, when timing is more important and then, the commercial time lapse seems to not exist…it’s kinda arbitrary…
The DVDs fade out with the clock, and then (unfade) back 4 or 5 minutes later (real time…2 seconds).
So, an episode…on DVD, takes about 45 minutes to watch.
[quote=“jeff”]
Almost real time. But the first episode this season will not have commercial interruptions. Courtesy of Ford, which shows a 24-hour commercial just before it begins.[/quote]
Even so, if it is like last year, the first episode is still only a bit more than 50 minutes long. They tack a huge ford commercial on the front and then cram more ads after, just no ads during. Makes editing the episode easy though. 
Sandman, thanks - but your warning came too late.
I tried to rent it on Friday evening but it wasn’t available anymore (perhaps that wasn’t such bad luck as else I wouldn’t have left my house at all during the weekend 
), I only got it last night but took all 6 DVDs of the first season since they rent for 7 days @ NT$480.
As you said it’s addictive and I watched the first 6 ‘hours’ (episodes) straight through, still not wanting to stop watching but at 2:30am I finally made my way into the bed.
Well, I love it. The suspension keept me glued to my seat - great series and I can’t wait to get home tonight and continue watching.
PS: Stupid questions, but is Season 1 concluded, i.e. Season 2 tackles another case, or do I need to watch all seasons to figure out what happens? If so, how many seasons will there be?
[quote=“Rascal”]
PS: Stupid questions, but is Season 1 concluded, i.e. Season 2 tackles another case, or do I need to watch all seasons to figure out what happens? If so, how many seasons will there be?[/quote]
Season 2 is a new case from season 1, but there are some plot points that depend on the first season. If you hadn’t seen season 1, you wouldn’t be lost, but miss out on some of the motivations.
Season 3 is starting tomorrow night in the US. How many seasons there are depends on whether it remains popular.
Cool, then I will know by end of the week if Mr. President-to-be will still be alive or not.
Nah, don’t say it … you don’t wanna spoil it for others, do you!?
New seasons? Jen de ma? This is the best news I’ve had all day. Has the second season been spun onto DVD’s yet? Can I kazaa-fish for them?
Can’t wait to see the final four hours tonight…
Season 2 is just out on DVD in US, will probably show up in Taiwan in a few months. You can get mpeg-1 copies of season 2 on bit torrent sites like tvtorrents.com/ (this one is good but it’s been done more than up lately). Some people stop sharing once it is out on dvd, so it may be harder to find season 2 now.
What is bittorrents? How do you use it?
Kenneth
I am having trouble to get to the URL above. Anyone else? Was it blocked from Taiwan as some sort of anti-piracy precaution or is the site down or something?
[quote=“KenTaiwan98”]What is bittorrents? How do you use it?
[/quote]
It’s a p2p program. It’s a bit more effective than Kazaa these days.
Check out this FAQ:
[quote=“Hobart”]http://www.tvtorrents.com/
I am having trouble to get to the URL above. Anyone else? Was it blocked from Taiwan as some sort of anti-piracy precaution or is the site down or something?[/quote]
The site has been up and down like a yoyo the last several days. Try again tomorrow.