Happy Birthday to Penny Johnson, 52. I really should think about going back someday and watching "24" -- I've watched maybe five minutes of one episode, and never had the sense I would enjoy it at all. It sure did have a lot of actors I like, though, although (and don't tell me) I have the sense that most of them were killed off pretty quickly. She was very solid on Larry Sanders, and even better on DS9. Okay, it helped that "Kasidy Yates" is one of my favorite names. And I enjoyed seeing her show up on Castle, too. Hmmm...hey, I'm pretty sure I watched at least some of the Paper Chase TV show when it was on, and turns out she was in that, too. I wonder how many other actors there are who I've watched as regulars, or at least significant occasional characters, on four different shows?
Oh well, better get to the good stuff:
1. Scott Lemiuex on drones.
2. Kevin Drum on judicial nominations.
3. And the 80th anniversary of the first Fireside Chat was this week; Carah Ong discusses. I don't really know how important that speech was, but if there was ever a moment when confidence in the president mattered, that was it: at issue was whether citizens would trust that re-opening banks were safe. If they did not, the result could have been further runs on banks, and the continued collapse of the banking system...and then, who knows? People didn't know, in March 1933, that capitalism and democracy were the wave of the future.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
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I watched 24 on Netflix within the past year. It's enjoyable if you take it for what it is. The standard liberal critique of it as condoning torture is overblown or at least it does that no more than any other action oriented American drama. It also frequently has the military and defense contractors involved in conspiracies to drag the country into war or overthrow the government which is hardly conservative.
ReplyDeleteAs for actors you've seen in many shows... Mark Sheppard, Amy Acker, Summer Glau, etc., etc..
And, if one is a fan of Penny Johnson, she is just fantastic, and by that I mean you'll hate her character at times. I love it when an actor can make me hate a character.
DeleteAlso, I agree that the liberal critique is a bit overblown.
Amen to #3. I don't think the average American has any sense of the thread by which democracy was hanging globally in the 30s and 40s. Outside of the new world former British colonies, I think you could count the legitimate democratic nations on one hand (one finger?) in 1941.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to have a sense that democracy was a fledgling enterprise in 1789. They do not seem to appreciate its precariousness in the 20th century.
Where 24 started and where it finished were very different. In the first season, there is a great scene where Jack decides that intimidation and the threat of torture would be the best way to deal with a particular person. His actions throughout the season were presented as morally grey actions in order to convey moral ambiguity. As the show progressed, he was presented as less of a morally grey character. In A Few Good Men, Nicholson gave a famous speech about the people who do the necessary things that nobody wants to talk about, but who are, nevertheless, unquestionably good in Nicholson's mind. Jack was eventually presented as the embodiment of that. Once that happened, the show became right wing propaganda. But it didn't start out that way.
ReplyDeleteI watched the first season of 24 because I was really excited about the concept--one season is one day in 24 hours of real time.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I thought the writing was awful. The plotting was contrived, the characters weren't consistent and most of the time I was bored. The acting wasn't anything spectacular, either.
24 is a Soap with more guns and torture. It's like watching 8 3-hour C+ summer action blockbusters back-to-back-to-back-to-back...
DeleteFor some people, that's awesome. For others, that's Hell.
By restoring faith in capitalism, FDR did more to stop communism in this country than any other President.
ReplyDelete24 was fun for a while. I don't think this needs a SPOILER ALERT, but: the show is all about twists.
ReplyDeleteYou will need to suspend your disbelief about a few things though:
1) people go to the bathroom
2) cell phones don't have 18 hours of talk-time (especially not a decade ago)
3) you have to ignore the bounds of time and space, particularly with respect to driving or flying times in LA. (I think Jack made it to Visalia in 12 minutes by plane once, and people would ROUTINELY drive from the Hollywood hills to downtown in 5-10 minutes)
The bathroom this is explainable: Jack goes to the bathroom the same time viewers at home do! (ie: during commercials)
DeleteAnd I think by far the most unrealistic thing in the show was a Congressional hearing starting on time, at 8:00AM, with every committee member present.
My problem withe the depiction of torture in shows like "24" is that in 30 years or so a new generation of leaders will assume that torture is necessary and effective and won't remember why they think so. Since they'll be so sure it's necessary and effective, they won't bother to ask. But then, that's the story of the Bush administration, and I don't have "24" to blame it on for them. (Could it have been John Wayne solving social problems with an ax handle?)
ReplyDeleteBut speaking of torture, and one of the CIA's own internal critiques of the program, be sure to see:
http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2013/03/12/torture-zero-dark-thirty-and-the-need-to-confront-the-past/
Speaking of TV, it seems Chris Hayes will be replacing Ed Schultz on MSNBC, a definite step up.
ReplyDelete