Pop Culture Yay

Over the course of the next 19.2-ish hours, four people–including myself–will watch an entire season of the television “real-time” drama, 24. Care to follow along?

Scott, Mark, Kim and I are nearing the end of the first episode of “Day 1.” Disclaimer: None of us are hard-core fans, and none have seen any part of this season. So don’t expect a lot of insight or feverish character addictions. On the whole, we’re show-ignorant and somewhat dispassionate. But we enjoy the series, sometimes for the tension, sometimes for its own form of predictability. More on the latter throughout.

A word about this post. It’s going to be a work in progress, a journal entry from a day wasted–but wasted among friends. I’ll keep track of the show’s real time, our real time in watching it, and try to keep up some loftier commentary on the show and its characters. Obviously, there’s a lot known out there about the first season–its major plot turns are referenced in all the seasons to come.

Ground rules:

1. Twelve “scene skips” are allowed. Twelve pink-ribbon Post-Its represent these. Skips are chosen through simple majority rules, in case of a tie, “the wife” breaks
2. Closing credits and the rehashing of previous episodes are skipped
3. Two people have to be watching at all times
4. Those that started it must finish it–reinforcements are good only for moral and food support.
5. Unconscious “viewing” does not count toward the two-person viewing rule
6. Relay sleeping is not ideal, though the goal is simply to finish watching in 24 hours. Thus, time can be saved for a multi-hour break

(We’ve just uncovered a disturbing development–these discs don’t seem to include the “previouslies,” to borrow the term from televisionwithoutpity.com. This could mean another 30-40 minutes of total viewing time.)

Some meta-stuff (and yes, we’ll be using 24-hour time. That’s life.):

Local start time: 11:00 EDT sharp
Show start time: 00:00

Some rules for my little post here:

1. I’ll try to leave out plot-wrecking details. If you want a synopsis from Day 1, look elsewhere
2. During live updating today, this is going to be messy. I’ll try and clean it up later, once I figure out how it’s going to be organized
3. I’m finding out that unlike Melissa, I’m terrible at multi-media-tasking, and there’s no way I can keep track of the show time when they’re not showing the clock. Times listed will be local unless otherwise noted

Ah, the introduction of a favorite character.

All I’ve got to remember my (mustachioed) buddy is this thumb.

Having watched a few seasons of 24 between us, we’ve become desensitized to the violence that was a first for prime-time (?) network television. The occasional field amputations, hard drug use. The unexpected, spontaneous tire-ironing of the limbs of innocents.

Right now, midway into the third episode, we’re learning that lesbians are evil. It is Fox, after all. I’m going to try and keep track of the show’s social commentary–strange considering the violent world it illustrates, and that we love because our lives don’t involve perpetual international intrigue and straight-up good and evil (betrayal aside). Oh, male prostitutes apparently spend a lot of time on abandoned street corners. That’s a terrible business model, and explains their interest in graft. (Maybe he’s just a dealer. Or perhaps a pimp. He just suggested snuggling with somebody’s daddy. I wouldn’t suggest snuggling with Jack. But he has a heart of gold! No, just kidding. That’s a switchblade.)

Dirty politics have always taken place in subterranean garages. Especially the kind where two punks are pointlessly smashing things with a baseball bat. And we’re reminded that helping others only *&$#s you. And when drivers pass a bloodied body lying in the middle of the street, they think idiocy over injury.

Mark asks, Is that Summer from the OC?
Scott: No.

But Mark has asked twice, so let’s find out. First, pizza-ordering.

Scott still doesn’t trust somebody. Kim: Jack is wrongly trusting one of two females.
Disclosure: I know which one is being wrongly trusted due to another season. Let’s review our cumulative experience:

Kim: Parts of seasons 3 and 4, all of 5 and 6
Mark: All of season 6 and one critical scene from season 3 (a silent clock moment)
Scott: Season 6 and most of 5 (in order; completion is planned)
Pete: Most of season 2 (missed initial episodes only, but don’t recall plot), all of seasons 3, 5 and 6

Beginning of episode 4: Your sarcasm will only lead to irony.

[local: 13:33, show: 03:37] We’ve gained an hour already. The realization, by Mark: We keep thinking the math is working in our favor, but it’s not. That gain is in keeping with our original calculations.

This season appears to be pre-Ford placement deal (and before season 6’s apparent Toyota deal).

Mark wants this quote recorded from earlier (pizza was being ordered, hence the disruption): Jack: “Shoot me or help me, but you gotta decide now.”

Scott’s standing by for a fast disc swap. Mark: “Come on, come on…good work…big money.” I mock, but Scott demonstrates extreme skill popping in disc 2. And so 04:00 begins.

The folks on this show are a lot more functional at 04:00 that I think we will be.

Palmer’s daughter is Karl Rove in a tank-top. Eating Redi-whip from a can. Apparently I’ve already missed a pretty significant plot element, but so did Mark, and he’s not the one spending half his time on the computer. It’s OK–its one of the campaign-oriented plot elements, which are usually just filler to be ditched later in the season.

The crowd here is unfamiliar with Tony Almeda, and has nicknamed him “Morlo,” a combination of Morris and Milo, significant characters from the most recent season. I know that this is a bit of a miscalculation about his role, but hey.

The Mason grads I’m with are really getting a kick out of George Mason the character. This results in a frequent repeating of “George Mason” every time he’s on screen. Maybe he’ll die soon, and that will stop.

(Meta: It would seem that my work has slid toward plot goings-on. I think there will be constant shifting.)

Back to the cast of the OC. The following will appall the editors of pcy, and might get my temporary posting license revoked. I have no idea who “Summer” is, but Googling up some photos demonstrates that despite having burned through several seasons of the show on DVD, Mark is making a mis-identification. That’s not the girl featured here on 24. (But Mark, here’s a little nugget for when you bother to read this monstrosity of a post.)

Whoa, the arrival of pizza almost causes us to violate the two-viewer rule. Scott returns, so Mark can hit the restroom.

I hypothesize the “control room” model of future 24-in-24 sessions: Three T.V.s, three DVD players. A sound mixer. Three seasons running simultaneously, audio switching by a designated D.J.

[local: 14:11] I’ll eat now.

However, the Sentinel is in this one (not the faux-24 teaser film).

I’ve just accidentally confirmed a suspected plot twist while hunting for the above links. But Richard Burgi was also in The District, one of Mark’s all-time faves (after Dukes and Walker). This is primarily because it’s set in the District. He should have taken after Homicide, which was in Baltimore and a good show.

A quote folks want recorded, made to a young punk after the execution of his partner: “You’ve just been promoted.”

We’ve got some early predictions about which plot lines we might start skipping, and planning out our economy of skips. [local: 14:41] The current candidate is a political line. My thinking is those types of filler get abandoned anyway toward the final five or six episodes, so we should bear that in mind in our plans.

I think everyone remains strong at this point. There was some tension when Kim opened her Deathly Hallows box, and the excitement caused a slight delay in skipping through some credits. Kim apologizes; Mark blames Harry Potter and quotes Despair: “No single raindrop thinks it’s responsible for the flood.”

The clock noise has actually changed by disc 2–it had a metallic resonance before, now it’s more like the clock to which we’re now accustomed.

Mental-status poll (but first, on-screen suffocation):

Kim: Alert. Sitting without activity: “Tiring.”
Mark: Has hit first and lowest of the hurdles he expects. But overall OK.
Scott: Feeling pretty good. A little nervous about potential developing…chair sores.

Hm. Taurus mentioned by name, some discussion amongst us about product placement. Scott notes Lincoln SUVs, but baddies have been in Caddies. And Mark mentions some GMCs trucks. There was a Thunderbird, but it was an old one.

Proposal: next clock, Chinese fire drill.

It’s always about the dad being a terrible father. And relationships developing in unlikely circumstances. As in Speed. By the way, we’ve seen one of the quickest grave-diggings on record. Much faster than Layne and I when we were trying to start our gold mine in his backyard.

Mark: She’s got a little Bauer in her.

Mark (screaming): Again with the rock!

Kim: Kill him! Kill him!

[meta: of course, in this post, "Kim" never refers to Jack's daughter, instead always refers to Kim the viewer]

Clearly, folks are still engaged. Discussion after the fire drill (which proved simply to be a rotation of seats) is related to the plot, which is also a good sign, I think.

[local 15:31] Mark: So, what are our dinner options?
Kim: You sound like Beef. (a compatriot famed for food managment)

This show makes the gentlest of people, like Kim, a vegetarian, say terrible things. Like us all trying to convince a character to smash someone’s head in.

Rick’s numbers for survival:

Scott: 95 percent chance of him going down (5 percent). Sixty percent chance of a female character displaying emotion upon his death, despite his complicity in her potentially fatal predicament.
Mark: Slim to none.

Back at CTU: “Who could have switched it?”
Standard 24 moment: A computer technician suddenly gets a clue, but as always, too late.
Scott: “Bauer. That *&%^er.”

Scott: I wonder in which episode the beeping changed.
Mark: Wanna go back and find out?

[local: 15:41 show: 06:41] Daylight now in both of our worlds.

Jack just made a huge mistake that I alone of our group recognize (only because of my viewing of Day 3). [show: 07:00]

Scott reveals that he’s rationing his Diet Cokes.

Kim reveals that there are Red Bulls for later.

Episode 8 (07:00 to 08:00) begins with a prototype of the “previously,” in which Jack voice-overs an introduction of himself. This could save us some time down the road, and leads to an argument over “the math” between Mark and Scott.

“The math” is really about our fate as marathon viewers.

We learn some Jack background: He went to high school. No word on a diploma.

[local: 16:25] Some proposals are on the table for getting some physical movement. There are some strong options, and some creative ideas from the viewers.

The lead idea, from Kim, is to move to the downstairs TV/DVD at the next disc swap. A two-person team will prep the next disc, and we’ll transfer downstairs. Then we’ll take turns on the elliptical. Other proposals: Use laptops to take the show on the road, so to speak.

Suddenly, everyone is creative: Ripping to iPods. Taking the DVD to IHOP.

Transition complete–we’re on the third disc now, downstairs. My feet are falling asleep.

It’s always interesting that even when Jack is escaping from authorities, they behave like he really is innocent–they believe his story (which usually is the truth), but are just containing him because of some bureaucratic error. Even after he seriously injuries a handful of their generic g-men.

I think we’re about to get the first office-based official torture/interrogation (Jack’s done a bit on his own). Nina’s reasoning for not complying with Jack’s request for the kidnapping of a suspect’s son is not that it’s morally wrong or even illegal, but rather that they would get caught and should be more careful.

Bringing it back to pcy’s bread and butter: Luke’s sister Liz from Gilmore is on here for a bit. I mean, Liz isn’t really on here. Just the actor.

Now that’s a lot of blood. Scott: Kyle* ain’t going to like that. (* the bleeder’s son)

One bad guy just sealed his fate at Jax hands.

Granola bars a hit–Mark and Scott discuss how much Gu is in stock at the house.

I have a suspicion that one character’s apparent suicide was not a suicide at all, but in fact A MURDER. Though I also suspect that the implications of this are nothing compared to the killer’s overall complicity in the overarching plot.

The music in season one, by the way, is much more complex–primarily electronica–than the theme-variants used in the later days.

The inter-CTU tension lines are better during season one. There’s less sexual-tension material, and cuts through the power-struggle/territorial-b.s. while hanging onto surreptitious rouge behavior, personal loyalties and rubish security guys as themes.

Speaking of themes, looks like it’s time for a mother-daughter chat about the family’s relationships as complexified by the patriarch’s tendency to kill people and possibly cheat. Perhaps another set of skip-ables (note: we haven’t started skipping anything yet).

Nevermind what I said about the CTU goings-on. They just brought in the traditional CTU-maven figure. “Alberta Green,” an acting director of CTU. (Was Jack the director?) Naturally, she and some characters have a pre-existing history and, of course, she’s a stone-cold…well. And mentions resignations within her first two sentences. And there is stated “awkwardness” with Nina, who’s about a foot shorter than her new boss.

It’s interesting. I’d noticed in previous (previous for me, I guess, I should say “later”) seasons that race is rarely mentioned relative to President Palmer, but it’s a relatively major point for Candidate Palmer in Day 1.

[local: 18:00 show: 10:00] Mark gives a brief pep talk: “Doin’ well, team.”
And then: “So far, this is going better than I feared it would.”

Scott was about to mention that we’re less than half through, but he was shushed down by Kim and Mark.

Scott then mounts the elliptical. This will be clear in the video, to be posted later.

I’ll quietly do some math: We’ve been watching about 7 hours. Ten hours of show have gone by.

Comments were made that Rick’s survival this long is surprising. Moments later, he is beaten severely.

Mental status:
Kim: “Re-invigorated.” (Scott: You sound it.) (She really doesn’t.)
Scott: “Slightly sub-aerobic.”
Mark: “Up and down but basically pretty good.”
Me: Fine, growing a little tired of snack food.

Oops. Somebody’s secretly Serbian!

[local: 18:27 show: 10:41] Kim’s turn on the ellip. It does not respond to Scott’s WD-40, but Kim’s patented two feet/one pedal technique is interesting.

Looks like Momma B. learned a lesson, by the way. (It appears that episodes actually take about 42 minutes. 42 x 24 is…16.8 hours. That’s some secret math, by the way. The other viewers believe we have 19.2 hours total, based on the box. At 16.8 hours, we’d be done at around 04:00, assuming no nap breaks as we’d discussed before.)

Upon revealing my estimates, Mark responds with similar math, so we’re sayin’ done by 4 a.m.

No time for family moments, folks! The crowd demands departure: Scott: “If they’re still hugging when we get back from commercial, I’m going to get a stern talking-to.”

Careers, futures, suspensions, prosecutions, same-ol’ same-ol’ at CTU.

[local: 19:43 show: 12:29] We’re back upstairs for disc…four? Must be.

WHOA. Disc problems! Factory smudge 23 minutes into disc four costs us about a minute for cleaning. We seem to be back on track now, so to speak.

[local: 19:58 show: 12:51] Tentative dinner plans: Chinese? And one plot thread ends, and another’s takin’ the bus outta town. Kim proposes that we perceive this as the end of the season and call it a day.

[local: 20:29] One of pcy’s editors, Melissa, arrives for dinner after a day of making various reservations for trips to N.Y.C. and Nashville–and re-reading book six and starting her reading of book seven. Apparently, she likes motorcades.

[local: 20:39 show: 01:51] Mark questions the relationship between Major League’s Pedro Cerrano and Prez Palmer.

Dinner arrives! [local: 20:52] We’ll be having:

Mark: Chicken with black bean sauce, #708
Scott: The Best Spicy Hot Chicken, #723
Kim: Yu-shiang eggplant, #1004
Melissa: Chicken with broccoli, #706
Me: Curry chicken, #715

[local: 21:17 show: 14:43] (Note: this season doesn’t seem to use military time.)

Looks like Jax tryst is out of the bag. But who cares? Not me. Moving on. “The day’s more than half over,” according to Palms. Actually, it’s well beyond half over, thankfully. And now you’ve got a new best buddy, Sr. President!

Time for 15:00-16:00, and discussions about where we’re watching disk 5. Downstairs is a leading candidate, so 6 will be up here. Or be on the road, which is Mark’s preference. The logistics of such a process are unclear at the moment, beyond the use of the laptop. [At 15:15 (show time), Jack et al. have 8 hours, 45 minutes left in their day, which works out to be 6.1 hours in our world.]

Rix house looks just like his van, Mark notes. Mark also notes that he has “grown to like That ’70s Show tremendously.”

[show: 15:37] Tiny crossbow deployed, for no apparent reason.

Crowd, as a hero survives, saves the day (sorta): YEAH! YEAH!!!
And then pays for it, one second later: Oh! Aw.

An important lesson from ol’ Rupe a little while back: the only safe sex is no sex. Anything more than abstinence leads to kids.

Corsica to the rescue! (The Corsica pilot looks familiar. Who is that?) Kim: She’s the tech from NCIS. Copy that, Kimb!

How the hell did Jax daughter (we won’t use her name, to avoid confusion.) get into town? (I believe TWOP uses “Spawn” for her.)

I just got the bird from another viewer for commenting on how “George Mason” just doesn’t stop being funny!!! The fight song is now in full swing. There’s a drum section and a baritone. Wow.

Scott, for Jack: “I have the world’s largest radio, in my hand.”

Back to Rix love palace. Maybe it is the van. Uh-oh. The daughter calls him, the only one she trusts (Tony isn’t cool enough or sufficiently grungy): “Now, what is your address?”

The current scene [show: ?? ] is pretty much a total knock-off of the Russian-spy scene from season six. Or, vice-versa, I suppose. Though this one is a bit more tense. Probably because the floozy campaign worker is a bit more compelling than the Vice President’s blond accessory.

Brief mental state observation: Mark says to Scott: “I might need you to play the French horn at some point.” (?!?) Perhaps that will be part of the next fight song rendition.

Mental status poll time…but first, another character is being checked for OC participation. The character is Rix angry girlfriend (who I suspect of running down a character in the T-bird earlier, but maybe that’s unjustified). And Scott’s right!

I just realized that Mark invented blogging, but we won’t get into that. Nor will I link.

Here’s a violent wish (from me, personally): May that Teddy buy it. Soon. Mark: Teddy kind of amuses me. Me: He’d amuse me too–if he died.

Scott’s just made some coffee for us, which is great. I think Kim’s pretty close to slipping away into dreamland, and I’ve just passed a yawny phase.

Kim: “Uh…cloudy but recovering.”
Mark: “Little tired, little tired.”
Scott: “I have become aware of contact lenses. Which anyone who wears contacts knows is not a positive thing.”
Me: I was yawning a lot a few minutes ago, but now I’ve got a cup of coffee by my side.

After Palmer’s daughter has some type of seizure, Scott notes that: “So instead of discovering that she’s been poisoned, we find out that she’s just weak.”

IMDB request from Mark: Is George Mason (no, he didn’t laugh this time, and Scott didn’t deploy the French horn) in Matrix? (My prediction: No.) And I’m right. But Mark: “George Mason’s name is Xander? That just makes it better.” Great.

Looks like Dan’s brother has come up with a great way both to get himself killed and string out Kbauer’s series of ridiculous pickles. And it looks like the farm’s still available for Rix purchase.

[local 23:59 show: 18:28] Palmer grows a pair. Goes on T.V. Cut to cigar-smoking fat-lolcats on a leather couch, a la University Club locker room.

We have one episode left on this disc, then one disc left. Mark, mocking Scott: “When you think it’s later, it’s actually earlier.”

At 19:00ish on the show, it’s spontaneously dark.

Mark: “Hang in there, Kim! I’ll be done with the stair climber [sic] in a minute!” Kim: “All right,” in a voice that is neither “all or right,” as Mark points out. But not obviously sarcastic.

Mark is shocked that only 200-something calories have been burned on the elliptical machine, but Scott reveals an earlier reset.

Lou Diamond Phillips teams back up with Kiefer.

Mark asks for a word count on the post: 3861. And now I’m heading upstairs to set up the final disc.

[local: 01:04 show: 20:14-ish] I’m starting to dig Mason as well, but for his worn-down pluck rather than his name. But apparently the name still gets the home crowd.

Even Scott asks, as Mason checks in with the tactical team flying to Jax aid: “It’s never going to get old, is it?” Nope.

A question is raised–as Scott’s beard has grown noticeably today, will we be able to watch it grow on the time-lapse? We’ll see!

This one’s mine. Others demanded its recording (yes, it’s devolving further toward inside jokes): “You can have that tasty morsel back in your office, David.”

There is commentary from the viewers (primarily Scott and Mark): SWAT team: What the hell is Lou Diamond Phillips doing here? Dead? Edward James Olmos better not be around the corner!

Red Bull is deployed [local: 01:38 show: 21:03-ish]

And yes, the Federalist Papers were just mentioned. Right after Mason made a Bauer/Messianic reference. And yes, that is an historical inaccuracy. Thanks, MarkRanger. (He did quickly correct himself by naming some other document.) I comment.

Fellow alumnus Scott pipes up: *&^hole. Mark: “What he said.”

I have to say that the final mole is a pretty complex character. I’ll leave it at that. The mole is one of the few whose loyalty has not been questioned by the other viewers. (Who don’t seem to know who buys it at the end; I thought that was referenced in later seasons.)

“Sen. Palmer, this is George Mason.” Laughter.

Scott: “I can’t control it.” Mark: “I can’t…” [control it either? Finish sentences?] Something about giddiness. It’s Mark’s fault Scott can’t control himself. Mark will later claim that “George Mason’s humor” is all that’s keeping him up. I don’t think it’s really the character.

Is the little wife’s blue dress a reference? Palmer was in the democratic primary.

I believe that all of tonight’s bad guys stole their Ford Econolines from a certain small Southern liberal arts college.

Kim’s got her Peanuts hat down pretty low, Scott points out. But the comment sits her up.

In truth, Mason is pretty funny. Not the name. The man.

Mental status heading into the final two episodes (right?):
(In general, folks seem engaged by the action.)
Kim: “Wavering a little bit, but plowing through it. I did the head bob a couple times. I may have whiplash by 3:30.”
Mark: “Trying not to relax.” What’s keeping you up? “Probably Red Bull, a little bit of giddiness. The possibility that George Mason will do something funny*…[his] quips.”
Scott: “Cheesepufftastic.”
Me: Planning on an exciting hour and a half, Red Bull in hand.

*in Mark’s terms, this probably includes the character saying his own name.

[local: 02:31] Mark says I’ll never sit in his lap, even in a Chinese fire drill situation. (He’s just being a bit testy.)

Really, that stems from my snatching the computer away from him when he tried to visit the official 24 site! Can you believe that! I was trying to PROTECT HIM! FROM HIS OWN SELF! That’s all. (Investigation shows that three clicks at that site will reveal the secret.)

Question: Is Milo 24’s Kenny?

Mark (and Scott) make a good point, now duly noted.

[local: 02:48 show: 22:51] Final theories are being shared. Kim expects a particular death. The famous one, though she doesn’t claim special knowledge. Scott buys this theory. Mark doesn’t weigh in. The question remains: How? Who does it?

Should I collect folks’ odds on the final outcome? A final victim? A final villain? General theories? Confidence? I should have planned this out in advance. We’ve only one episode to go, as we wind up the last minutes of 22:00-23:00.

DANG! Just as I was bolding the names, the final mole reveals his/her self in the final seconds of the next-to-last episode. Were folks surprised by the twist?

Final predictions, entering last episode:
Mark: Jax going to solve the crisis, daughter survives. Most baddies…buy it.
Scott: Final showdown between Jack and mole. Wife is going get in the crossfire. Wife/unborn babe get “mown down.” Hopper escapes (”can’t die b/c he’s Dennis *&^%ing Hopper,” Mark). Scott doesn’t know about “nerdy son.”
Kim: Kind of agrees with Scott. Doesn’t know if mole will be directly in shootout. Wife going down, Hopper survives (subscribes to D. *&^%ing Hopper theory).
(I abstain, knowing, roughly, the outcome)

Surprised? Shocked? Stunned? (By mole revelation)
Kim: Somewhat, but didn’t think the viewers’ top suspect was smart enough.
Mark: Seems to concur
Scott: Seems to concur

[local: 03:00 show: 23:05-ish] Solo cups clink.

Group consensus prediction is that wife has to die (not in later seasons).

Jack double-fists in all the final episodes, it would seem. One common theory just got, well, shot down.

“Even under the watchful eye of the reluctant statesman, George Mason.” –Mark

[local: 03:22 show: 23:42] About 16 minutes left. Theories have been broken and realized, and I think all the viewers are on the same page as far as how this is going to play out. It’s just a matter of the scheduling of events.

Palmer gives the “It’s not me, it’s you” speech.

Mason deploys the understatement of the year.

And almost, almost over. Almost there. I’ll save final thoughts for the morrow. Some post-recovery interviews or something. We’ll let this post end with anticlimax. (We’re fading out on Jack, some flashbacks and whispers from the past, a convention we’ve happily done away with.) The first silent clock of all time, and the only one from Day 1.

[local: 3:37 show 00:00]

Special features anyone?

Scott: “We are not watching the special features! Shut up!”

Good night.
Morning.

Posted on July 21st, 2007 by Pete
Filed under: Uncategorized