24, The Longest Dead Series Discussion of Our Lives: Season Two

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Rites of Patches

“DOING IT ALL FOR THE NUKE-IE”

24 is a groundbreaking and important television series. Beyond the thrills, kills, twists and tragedies is a show that reached a new level of serialized storytelling and set the bar for action and suspense on network television. Lasting for 8 full seasons–192 Episodes plus a TV movie–24 is one of the longest-running shows of the past 15 years. Others, like Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, Smallville, all three CSIs and three of four Law & Orders, may have run longer, but the argument can be made that none of those shows are equally as worthy of contributing to the debatably labeled and vaguely-defined “Third Golden Age of Television Drama” that began with The Sopranos in 1999 and is now fading with the end of Breaking Bad and the impending finale of Mad Men. Perhaps 24 doesn’t quite reach the dramatic heights of those shows, or others like The Wire and Deadwood, or even The Shield, Lost or Battlestar Galactica, but it was always a strong awards and ratings contender and it was just so addicting and fun to watch.

Please join us—Patches, Zach, Jeff and MegaMix—as we take a look back at this series, discussing one season every month until the premiere of the new 12-episode miniseries 24: Live Another Day in May 2014.

This month’s discussion is focused on Season 2 of 24, which premiered in October of 2002.

It contains SPOILERS for the entire series of 24 and strong language. Parental discretion is advised. Discussion occurs in real time.

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Patches
24 premiered just two months after the 9/11 Attacks. Although 24’s first season was closer to a family drama than the espionage drama/thriller it would become, no other show on television has become more closely associated with the War on Terror.

And it makes perfect sense. When confronted with a tragedy, especially such a shocking one, it’s only natural to seek comfort and strength. As the nation grieved, those traits propelled President George W. Bush to approval ratings as high as 90%.

Seasons 1 & 2 proved that Jack Bauer had those traits as well. He loved his family, loved his country, and would do anything to protect both. Simply put, Jack Bauer was exactly the person America wanted on September 12, 2001.

Although 24 was frequently criticized by civil libertarians and Islamic organizations for perceived Islamophobia, I think 24 generally did a good job dealing with Islam and terrorism. Continue reading →

24: The Longest Dead Series Discussion of Our Lives – Season One

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Rites of Patches

“JACK BAUER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY OF THE CALIFORNIA PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY”

24 is a groundbreaking and important television series. Beyond the thrills, kills, twists and tragedies is a show that reached a new level of serialized storytelling and set the bar for action and suspense on network television. Lasting for 8 full seasons–192 Episodes plus a TV movie–24 is one of the longest-running shows of the past 15 years. Others, like Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, Smallville, all three CSIs and three of four Law & Orders, may have run longer, but the argument can be made that none of those shows are equally as worthy of contributing to the debatably labeled and vaguely-defined “Third Golden Age of Television Drama” that began with The Sopranos in 1999 and is now fading with the impending finales of Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Perhaps 24 doesn’t quite reach the dramatic heights of those shows, or others like The Wire and Deadwood, or even The Shield, Lost or Battlestar Galactica, but it was always a strong awards and ratings contender and it was just so addicting and fun to watch.

This month’s discussion is focused on season one of 24, which premiered in November of 2001.

It contains SPOILERS for the entire series of 24, and strong language. Parental discretion is advised.

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Jeff
24 was my TV series. It was the very first show I discovered on my own and watched as it aired from the first episode to the last. I took pride in the fact that I “found” it and could loan my season one DVD set to all of my friends.

The biggest selling point for the show is its real-time format. The one-episode-equals-one-hour / one-season-equals-one-day gimmick is brilliant. Real-time wasn’t exactly new to film and TV when 24 came along with several movies and TV episodes condensing time and using long takes (see the X-Files episode “Triangle” for a fun example). Even so, no 2-hour film or TV series was ever this ambitious with the real-time premise. Continue reading →

Dead Season Discussion: Knocking Over the Board in Game of Thrones Season 3 (Part 4)

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Rites of Patches

Welcome to the second installment of Dead Season Discussion, where Jeff of Slazenger1 and I discuss Season 3 of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Not only is Game of Thrones more popular than our first effort, ABC’s Last Resort, but it’s also a better program, meaning we probably won’t spend 2,000+ words discussing what we didn’t like about the show.

If the title didn’t make SEASON 3 SPOILERS obvious, then you need to start paying attention while you read. Oh, and also, book 3 spoiler alert. There are, however, NO spoilers from later in the book series, beyond what season 3 of the TV show covers.

For the final part of our Game of Thrones Season 3 analysis, we go back to the well for some more superlatives. If you haven’t read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 yet, here are the links. This time, though, there’s no theme. They’re all Reviewer’s Choice! Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Best Main Theme (Patches)
Ramin Djawadi: I have been a big fan of Ramin Djawadi’s work ever since his incredible soundtrack for EA’s 2010 Medal of Honor reboot. Although the Game of Thrones soundtracks aren’t at that level, the show’s main theme is the best theme song on television. It’s so good that I can’t watch an episode without watching the opening.

Most Blatant Ripoff of The CW’s Beauty and the Beast (Jeff)
Tyrion Lannister: The books make Tyrion sound ugly to begin with, something that couldn’t really be helped once Peter Dinklage was cast in the role. After Tyrion gets his face slashed during the Battle of Blackwater, the books frequently discuss his apparent lack of nose and general disfigurement. Rather than cause viewers to puke up lamprey pie every time they saw Tyrion, the TV team decided to go the CW route of “guy with a sexy scar.” Probably a good move. Continue reading →

Dead Season Discussion: Knocking Over the Board in Game of Thrones Season 3 (Part 3)

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Rites of Patches

For the last two days, we’ve discussed Game of Thrones’ third season. Today, we get a little deeper with our look at the best/worst performances, episodes, and scenes of the season.

Patches: Let’s move to our trademark superlatives, which aren’t really trademarked as much as we are the only people to call them “superlatives.”

BEST PERFORMANCE. Who ya got?

Jeff: I’m going to go with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister. Guy will probably never get an Emmy for this, but deserves one for the Hot Tub scene alone.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister

Patches: Coster-Waldau’s versatility and growth makes him my choice too. I’ll still give a shout-out to Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister. He absolutely OWNED this season, mostly while seated. I would watch an entire episode of him writing letters, then ripping apart anyone who interrupts him. Continue reading →

Dead Season Discussion: Knocking Over the Board in Game of Thrones Season 3 (Part 2)

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Rites of Patches

Yesterday, we looked at the season as a whole. Today, our Skype-based discussion and analysis covers the big moments of Season 3.

Patches: I spoke earlier of the book having many “big moments.” Maybe this is the time to take a closer look at those. With what should we begin?

Jeff: I think it might be best to go chronologically through the season. I’m not sure how much time we want to spend on each moment and I’m also not sure what really defines “big” moment, but the season had a few that are worth talking about. Unless you can think of something earlier, perhaps the first big shocker was Jaime Lannister losing his sword hand at the end of episode 3, “Walk of Punishment.” Continue reading →

Dead Season Discussion: Knocking Over the Board in Game of Thrones Season 3 (Part 1)

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Rites of Patches

With that, our Skype-based discussion and analysis of Season 3 as a whole begins…

Patches: Hey, dude. I’m here!

Jeff: Can we postpone for like 15 minutes, my dog is whining to go outside?

Patches: Haha. We can.

Jeff: Thanks for waiting, I’m back.

Patches: Are you ready to go now that the dog is walked, assuming that wasn’t a euphemism for something else?

Jeff: Yeah, I’m sorry it took so long, but I had to wait for him to poop. Then I had to pee. I’m ready now, I think.

Patches: I’m a teacher and it’s summer. Anything I need to do right now, I can do later tonight. Or tomorrow. Or next week… You get the idea.

Jeff: Alright, let’s start off with a general discussion of our feelings for season 3 as a whole. Do you have any general thoughts about these 10 episodes as a season of television? Continue reading →

We All Got It Coming, Kid

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Rites of Patches

(Editor’s note: Saturday afternoon I posted this on my website. By Saturday evening, a good friend of mine published a response/supplement. This is a continuation of that discussion. Erik, if there’s more to come, keep it coming.)

I can still remember the exact moment that I came to recognize my responsibility to the world. I had been raised well by two loving parents. I understood responsibility. I understood cause and effect. But I don’t think parents can teach collective guilt.

For that, my teacher was Clint Eastwood. Continue reading →

Dead Series Discussion: Last Rites for Last Resort (Part 4)

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Rites of Patches

Last September, the television show Last Resort premiered on ABC. The show starred Homicide alum Andre Braugher as the captain of the nuclear missile submarine USS Colorado, given orders to nuke Pakistan. The Colorado is attacked by American forces after Braugher’s character refuses to fire. A chain of events is set in motion that leaves Colorado in control of a nearby tropical island, attempting to expose the truth of the US government’s involvement in the attack.

Despite a favorable critical reaction, the ratings were never where they needed to be. As a result, the show was canceled after thirteen episodes. For a look back at the show, I am joined by my esteemed colleague, Jeff of Slazenger1. After Monday’s series overview, Tuesday and Wednesday’s looks at what worked for Last Resort and what didn’t, we end by handing out some awards. Hope you enjoyed our discussion and thanks for reading!

BEST PERFORMANCE
Patches: Andre Braugher, Andre Braugher, Andre Braugher. He’s, like, the best thing ever.
Jeff: There’s really only one answer to this question, right? Well I’ll let you be right and I’ll be second. I’m actually going to go with Scott Speedman as Executive Officer Sam Kendal (just over Daniel Lissing as James King). Sophie/Sam/Christine love triangle aside, Speedman believably held his own with Braugher, selling his internal conflict and giving us someone to root for who wasn’t hiding something. Continue reading →

Dead Series Discussion: Last Rites for Last Resort (Part 3)

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Rites of Patches

Despite a favorable critical reaction, the ratings were never where they needed to be. As a result, the show was canceled after thirteen episodes. For a look back at the show, I am joined by my esteemed colleague, Jeff of Slazenger1. After Monday’s series overview and yesterday’s discussion of what worked, today we look at what did not work for Last Resort.

Jeff: My list of things that didn’t work about the show (for me anyway) is definitely longer than my “praise” list, but I’ll try to keep this to a reasonable length. One of my first big problems with the show was that it never took the time to give us anything worthwhile on the mainland/US side of things. Sure we got awful Kylie stories and dead-end Christine stories, plus we got small mentions of an unstable but highly approved president, however, we never really had a sense of the other side of the major conflict of the series. Yes, the island stories featuring infighting and trouble with the locals were okay, but I don’t think we ever got a true “big bad” for the series. Curry (Jay Karnes) did a little bit, but not enough to make me think he was the villain. I think the writers dug themselves into a hole and were taking their time trying to get out of it, incorrectly assuming that these one-off stories (with consequences that were often conveniently forgotten/brushed aside by the next episode–rape riots anyone?) were going to keep us entertained until we got to the true meat of the show’s central conflict. Continue reading →

Dead Series Discussion: Last Rites for Last Resort (Part 2)

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Rites of Patches

Despite a favorable critical reaction, the ratings were never where they needed to be. As a result, the show was canceled after thirteen episodes. For a look back at the show, I am joined by my esteemed colleague, Jeff of Slazenger1. After yesterday’s series overview, today we look at what worked well for Last Resort.

Jeff: Yesterday’s “one word” answers, somewhat negative though they may be, hinted at a show that seemed like it could have been something great, but just fell short (or shot too wide). Still, there were pieces that worked somewhere in these 13 episodes, otherwise we probably would have stopped watching. When you look back on the series, what stands out to you as something, or things, Last Resort got right? What parts of the series are worthy of praise, or at least of your own personal admiration? Continue reading →

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