What is it about guys with the initials "J. B.?" Britain's superspy James Bond is now in his seventh decade of work. Jason Bourne had dodged both good and bad guys through a series of films. And the Godfather of Soul, James Brown is the funkiest of them all!
But then there's this guy. Jack Bauer. He had spent a full seven days handling a whole ton of stuff, as a counter terrorist agent for an organization called CTU, where he dealt with an assassination plot against a US presidential candidate, a nuclear bomb traveling around Los Angeles on a truck and a potentially lethal airborne virus being spread by a group of anti-Americans, among a host of issues. Along the way, he lost friends, co-workers, and nearly died himself multiple times in multiple ways.
On the Eighth Day, Jack Bauer didn't rest. He came to New York City.
Obviously, if this series was set in NYC for the entirety of its run, it would rank a whole lot higher on this list of The 400 Most Notable TV Shows Set in New York City. But the fact that Bauer and company brought their mayhem and destruction From LA to DC to NY does get "Day 8" posted, here.
If you somehow aren't aware the premise of "24," let me briefly explain that each hour of each season of the show is supposedly done in "real time." You are watching an hour from the 24 hour period that season is set within. I say "supposedly" because we are sneaking in commercial breaks during each episode, as the clock continues to tick, so we're missing some action (and, I can only presume, some Bauer Bathroom Breaks).
It's also notable that the original season was delayed specifically because it featured a terrorist attack on an airplane, which Fox execs felt was too close to The Events of September 11, 2001, and pushed the premiere date, back to November of that year. So to have this program shift locations to New York for its eighth season was kind of a big step.
Day 8 was notable for a couple of reasons. First, it was announced that this would be the final season of the series, so there was a lot of immediate speculation about what was going to happen to Kiefer Sutherland's lead character at the end. Would Jack Bauer survive? Sutherland had been quoted as saying that "the star of the show is the clock" and that the format would work, even without Jack Bauer, hinting that maybe there were other seasons to come, without him.
We'll come back to that thought, but let's get into the basics of the plot for Day 8. President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) is in town to meet with President Omar Hassan (Anil Kapoor) of the Islamic Republic of Kamistan, amusingly abbreviated IRK, as they were due to sign a peace treaty between the countries. They agreed to meet at the United Nations, as it represented a global effort to bring stability to the Middle East and to make the world more safe.
However there were several plots running concurrently, attempting to prevent that from happening: an assassination plot against President Hassan, to stop the treaty from being signed, Hassan's brother, who wasn't interested in their country giving up their nuclear program and wanted to continue to move radioactive materials into their labs for testing, Hassan having a poorly hidden romantic relationship with an American reporter (Jennifer Westfeldt) right under the nose of his wife and daughter, and the Russians were attempting to pull a maneuver to gain an upper hand on the US, all in the mix.
Let's also point out that Jack Bauer was officially retired and was only in town to do some physical rehabilitation from his previous day, which, of course, nearly killed him. He's a Grandpa to his young granddaughter through his own daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), and really didn't want to get involved in any official business as he was planning to return to Los Angeles with them, but every minute he got pulled deeper and deeper into the plot.
New York played a part because it's an ideal game board for playing hide and seek, and a lot more realistic than the driving around the sprawling and traffic snarled Greater Los Angeles Area to get from one place to another in a few minutes, as depicted on Days One through Six! Plus the threat of so many people in harm's way in such a small space, and the elements that represented, with the NYPD and other organizations trying to prevent both the actions of the bad actors and the panic of the population, made those scenarios seem very real in a place where an actual terrorist attack was still fresh in the minds of residents.
Bauer's organization had been discontinued previously, but here, the revitalized CTU, was brought back, featuring agent Cole Ortiz (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) in what essentially was the Bauer role for this season, facing off against the CTU honcho, Brian Hastings (Mykelti Williamson) and the return of Bauer's right hand and computer whiz Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) who is, like Jack, a little rusty as this day begins. For a couple of hours, it seemed like Prinze Jr. Was going to take on the protagonist part for this series, assuming it was going to continue.
Bauer gets to go off, maybe moreso than in any other season of this series, primarily because he isn't a government official so he doesn't have to answer directly to any higher ups for his actions, and because he has some personal vendettas to settle with people who did him very, very wrong.
By this time in the history of "24," there were clear formulas being used, which had to be part of the reason why they wanted to move the location - it had been set in Washington DC the day before (once again with President Allison Walker in the White House), and got moved to New York, and I'm sure that was all due to help offset the show's recognizable tropes. An amusing drinking game at the time was to take a shot every time Jack says "Damn it!"
No spoilers, but as it turned out, this wasn't the last day of "24." In fact, there were a couple more days to come, but not in NYC, so that's all I'll say. And one more thing: all seasons of "24" are currently available to watch on Hulu, in what could be the ultimate day-long binge.
But then there's this guy. Jack Bauer. He had spent a full seven days handling a whole ton of stuff, as a counter terrorist agent for an organization called CTU, where he dealt with an assassination plot against a US presidential candidate, a nuclear bomb traveling around Los Angeles on a truck and a potentially lethal airborne virus being spread by a group of anti-Americans, among a host of issues. Along the way, he lost friends, co-workers, and nearly died himself multiple times in multiple ways.
On the Eighth Day, Jack Bauer didn't rest. He came to New York City.
Obviously, if this series was set in NYC for the entirety of its run, it would rank a whole lot higher on this list of The 400 Most Notable TV Shows Set in New York City. But the fact that Bauer and company brought their mayhem and destruction From LA to DC to NY does get "Day 8" posted, here.
If you somehow aren't aware the premise of "24," let me briefly explain that each hour of each season of the show is supposedly done in "real time." You are watching an hour from the 24 hour period that season is set within. I say "supposedly" because we are sneaking in commercial breaks during each episode, as the clock continues to tick, so we're missing some action (and, I can only presume, some Bauer Bathroom Breaks).
It's also notable that the original season was delayed specifically because it featured a terrorist attack on an airplane, which Fox execs felt was too close to The Events of September 11, 2001, and pushed the premiere date, back to November of that year. So to have this program shift locations to New York for its eighth season was kind of a big step.
Day 8 was notable for a couple of reasons. First, it was announced that this would be the final season of the series, so there was a lot of immediate speculation about what was going to happen to Kiefer Sutherland's lead character at the end. Would Jack Bauer survive? Sutherland had been quoted as saying that "the star of the show is the clock" and that the format would work, even without Jack Bauer, hinting that maybe there were other seasons to come, without him.
We'll come back to that thought, but let's get into the basics of the plot for Day 8. President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) is in town to meet with President Omar Hassan (Anil Kapoor) of the Islamic Republic of Kamistan, amusingly abbreviated IRK, as they were due to sign a peace treaty between the countries. They agreed to meet at the United Nations, as it represented a global effort to bring stability to the Middle East and to make the world more safe.
However there were several plots running concurrently, attempting to prevent that from happening: an assassination plot against President Hassan, to stop the treaty from being signed, Hassan's brother, who wasn't interested in their country giving up their nuclear program and wanted to continue to move radioactive materials into their labs for testing, Hassan having a poorly hidden romantic relationship with an American reporter (Jennifer Westfeldt) right under the nose of his wife and daughter, and the Russians were attempting to pull a maneuver to gain an upper hand on the US, all in the mix.
Let's also point out that Jack Bauer was officially retired and was only in town to do some physical rehabilitation from his previous day, which, of course, nearly killed him. He's a Grandpa to his young granddaughter through his own daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), and really didn't want to get involved in any official business as he was planning to return to Los Angeles with them, but every minute he got pulled deeper and deeper into the plot.
New York played a part because it's an ideal game board for playing hide and seek, and a lot more realistic than the driving around the sprawling and traffic snarled Greater Los Angeles Area to get from one place to another in a few minutes, as depicted on Days One through Six! Plus the threat of so many people in harm's way in such a small space, and the elements that represented, with the NYPD and other organizations trying to prevent both the actions of the bad actors and the panic of the population, made those scenarios seem very real in a place where an actual terrorist attack was still fresh in the minds of residents.
Bauer's organization had been discontinued previously, but here, the revitalized CTU, was brought back, featuring agent Cole Ortiz (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) in what essentially was the Bauer role for this season, facing off against the CTU honcho, Brian Hastings (Mykelti Williamson) and the return of Bauer's right hand and computer whiz Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) who is, like Jack, a little rusty as this day begins. For a couple of hours, it seemed like Prinze Jr. Was going to take on the protagonist part for this series, assuming it was going to continue.
Bauer gets to go off, maybe moreso than in any other season of this series, primarily because he isn't a government official so he doesn't have to answer directly to any higher ups for his actions, and because he has some personal vendettas to settle with people who did him very, very wrong.
By this time in the history of "24," there were clear formulas being used, which had to be part of the reason why they wanted to move the location - it had been set in Washington DC the day before (once again with President Allison Walker in the White House), and got moved to New York, and I'm sure that was all due to help offset the show's recognizable tropes. An amusing drinking game at the time was to take a shot every time Jack says "Damn it!"
No spoilers, but as it turned out, this wasn't the last day of "24." In fact, there were a couple more days to come, but not in NYC, so that's all I'll say. And one more thing: all seasons of "24" are currently available to watch on Hulu, in what could be the ultimate day-long binge.