24-mania takes over
Well, it does in our little world. Sister-Yetunde has at least one pirate box set and watches it compulsively. Meanwhile, when I arrived in Lagos, our host was watching a different (non-pirate) series at home. I remember when 24 first appeared on UK TV years ago, and not being able to watch it. I can't quite fathom why people like it - or perhaps they like precisely what I don't like: the constant sense of background anxiety, which every now and again condenses into torrid drama. The shaky hand-helds and screen splits are also irritating and a little passe - a little too NYPD-Blue. I suspect that there's legions of people out there who dislike 24 as much as there are legions of those who like it. I also suspect that it is popular for those who believe the world is populated by invisible 'dark forces' and other superstitious bunkum. Still, Kiefer Sutherland must be laughing, igniting as it has done the fag-end of his career.
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2 comments:
I love 24, and compulsively watch every season, even if the plot is bad. (What idiot would build a Remote control system for Nuclear Power Stations and then let it fall into the hands of terrorists?) So maybe I'm just a moron like everyone else ;-)
The drama as you said builds up and releases itself in regular almost clockwork fashion. The dramatic cliff hanger endings every hour (or 42 minutes outside 24 world) are always expected but almost always not what I anticipated. There's always a final twist to make the last two episodes unbearably tense. Great popcorn television, What's wrong with that?
To me it's "Spooks" with more guns, blood and money spent on production and with less sex and swearing for the 'sensitive American audience'.
I suppose if all was equal, I'd prefer to see what the Spooks people could do with the money of 24.
My cousin stayed up ALL NIGHT Sun/Mon - this is not a figure of speech - watching 24... I'd have, too, but I had to go to work in the morning, so I gave it up at about 2a.m. 24 is addictive (to go the Nollywood way: SIZZLING, EXPLOSIVE, SCINTILLATING, ACTION-PACKED, SUSPENSEFUL, - but sadly, not very ROMANTIC) ... but an objective appraisal reveals that
1)it is simply a frog-jump from one climax/twist to another
2)the plot is often farfetched/difficult-to-swallow,
3)there's an overdose of coincidences and twists...
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