We'll see how much I can keep up doing non-movie reviews, but to start off...
It's a close tie for me as to which returning show I've been looking forward to more: 24 or The Shield. Lost definitely slipped down the list after the first half of season three left me somewhat cold compared to the first two seasons.
While Vic Mackey and crew have to wait for Dirt to finish its run on F/X, 24 is now underway and definitely off to a good start. Drudge had tipped off the nuclear aspect of the plot the week before, and somehow this has become a conversation point among the pundit class. I'm not sure why - we've dealt with nuclear attacks in pop culture before, from the 60's Cold War (Fail Safe, Dr. Strangelove) to the present (Jericho). Hell, 24 has exploded nukes before, albeit without the (presumably) widespread deaths.
If it is thought of as a more sensitive subject now because of the War on Terror, well, so be it. I think we are more at risk for this type of attack now than since the fall of the Soviet Union. And the relatively small-scale bomb attacks that serve as the lead-up to the big bomb on Day 6 seem to me to be a somewhat likely scenario at some point in our future, especially if we decide to retreat and hope for the best rather than press the attack against terrorist groups.
Having said all that, this is a fictional show, and it seems to me, fairly balanced. It has Islamic characters that are good, bad and neutral. It talks about and shows the bad side of large-scale round-ups of suspects based on ethnicity, but also shows that the round-ups do in fact identify and capture true bad guys. It has Jack Bauer willing to do horrific acts against terrorists to stop their plans, but who is also willing (or at least more willing than Curtis was) to work with them for the greater good when it is required. And so on. The complaints that this is strictly a "conservative show" seem to me to be a bit simplistic.
And speaking of Curtis, I had unfortunately heard about his demise before the show aired (although I should have suspected given that actor Roger Cross was listed as "Guest Starring" - but I don't always know which actor goes with which character). And while I can see what they were trying to do with the way he went out (he refused to work with a terrorist that had previously killed his fellow soldiers), I don't think it was executed very well on screen. I just think it was a bit of a quick turnaround for a character that I didn't see doing this kind of thing at all.
But that's a relatively minor point - I like this show too much to let that bog me down (along with the other usual 24 quirks - the bizarre Chloe - Morris - Milo love triangle thing, the fact that Jack goes from a broken-down man to unstoppable killing machine in about 15 minutes, etc.). We'll have to see if Manny Coto can keep things organized and going in Day 6 as well as they did in Day 5, and if they can avoid the mistakes made back in Day 4.
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