The Clock Finally Stops.

The curtain has to come down on all dynasties at some point. Greatness is born... nurtured and then recognized. After ups and downs and reaching the pinnacle-- most reigning champs eventually begin their decline until finally being phased out. This May will represent the passing of the proverbial torch... as 24 calls it a day (actually-- eight days and two hours... let's not forget the two hour Redemption movie).

I remember reading the Washington Post Style Section in the fall of 2001 and discovering this new show with Kiefer Sutherland that would try to be in "real time"... I'm always intrigued when a movie, show or book plays with form-- that's why Memento and The Cloud Atlas continue to attract me years after watching and reading them. 24 seemed like a different deal. I had no idea exactly how different it would be.

1. Constant Threat to the USA-- from a presidential candidate's assassination attempt to disrupting the Middle East peace process... nothing was safe over the last eight-plus years. Eventually as a viewer you get burned out-- it becomes a "what's left?" kind of thing-- but the show had a certain internal tension you couldn't find anywhere else.

2. People can't be trusted-- there are moles everywhere. At CTU. FBI. Inside the White House. Inside your own family. In today's world of trust no one... the theory of nobody is as they seem rings true.

3. The Violence-- Season one was kind of tame... yes there was stabbing and shooting but nothing to prepare us for Jack using a hacksaw on a dead witness or the bad guys using a Deli Slicer as torture. Just a few episodes ago Jack gutted a Russian who had swallowed a cellphone chip... hey he unearthed a computer chip from a criminal in year two.

4. Imperfect people-- Jack Bauer for all of his heroic deeds is trying to patch up a broken marriage... with no control over his daughter. David Palmer despite being a straight arrow can't escape the fact he's married to a conniving Lady Macbeth wannabe. Chloe's great at saving Jack's hide but has no personality whatsoever. Tony drinks beer out of a Cubs mug. 24 gave us so many flawed heroes- making their triumphs all the more enjoyable.

5. Authority figures suck-- from CTU middle managers to White House incompetents, it's tough to have confidence. George Mason, Ryan Chappelle, Bubba from Forrest Gump, Chad Lowe, several VPs... many people out there think their boss has no clue what they're doing. Here's documented proof.

6. Twists and turns are the norm instead of the exception-- brides kill their fiancees on their Wedding Day. Amnesia and pregnancies are all in a days work. What was thought to be the location for the bombs is now just the push-off point. Jack's friend is now his enemy. The mole in CTU has really been working on a CTU project all along and is really good. You think Lost had your head spinning? Try eight days in our seat.

7. Split-screens-- for the realtime concept to work, there always needed to be multiple goings-on (I mean, do we want to see characters drive or wait in line?). The split-screen coming out of breaks acted as a refresher course--resetting the stage and letting you know where each storyline was going.

8. Jack is one worn out pin-cushion-- he's been shot multiple times, stabbed multiple times, drugged, been addicted to heroin, experienced heart attacks, died twice literally Shanghaied and had his library card revoked-- next to Kelly Taylor on 90210 no TV character's had a rougher run and still survived.

9. Bad decisions everywhere-- I could pinpoint Kim Bauer... and we know going to a furniture store at midnight to meet strangers is the beginning of a Lifetime Movie ("He Was Bad News")... but poor choices runs rampant on the program. Which ties into characters being imperfect-- instead of the chance of somebody doing the right thing, in the 24 world somebody usually tries to do the right thing when in actuality it's the worst possible thing.

10. Better to have loved and lost-- pity the woman who involves herself with Jack Bauer. His wife is killed by his former mistress (don't worry, he kills the ex-mistress in season three). The drug lord's girlfriend he has a fling with is killed (after setting a TV record for pouty lips per episode). Another girlfriend is kidnapped by the Chinese and drugged into oblivion. And yet another paramour is killed immediately after having sex with Jack. Tell me how Kate Warner (season 2) survived-please.

11. A Very Volatile Oval Office-- at the beginning of season one, Senator David Palmer is running for President...wins and is in charge during seasons two and three (despite the Cabinet voting him out in season two briefly). The season four President becomes incapacitated in a plane crash which elevates Charles Logan. Logan has to resign in season five. The new President either doesn't run or loses to Wayne Palmer (try not to laugh) who's in charge during season six before a bomb goes off at his podium. The Powers Boothe-played VP takes over yet loses to Allison Taylor before season seven. She tells Jack she's going to resign at the end of season eight. All tolled-- eight (!) chief executives over roughly fourteen years. Three invokings of the 25th Amendment (2 successful) and two non-medical resignations. One ex-President assassinated and other dead by suicide. Talk about your unstable republics.

(In real life the most presidents over a 14 year period was 7... Van Buren- Harrison- Tyler- Polk- Taylor- Fillmore- Pierce from 1840-54)

12. Disposable characters-- and you thought the Oval Office had a hot seat? Characters on 24 should have all been fitted with red shirts from Star Trek. I've seen characters introduced only to have them killed later that very hour. Screen time is fleeting on 24.

13. Can you imagine the 24 standing for days instead of hours?-- that was almost the case. FOX thought about bringing 24 back for season two with a twist-- each episode instead of covering one hour would tackle one day (pretty much what the first season of Lost did). One twist I was for... having Kim Bauer work undercover for CTU at a UCLA sorority house-- and the only way for her to find the evidence she's looking for would be to engage the other girls in a pillow fight that would last several episodes. Alas, neither came to pass.

14. Idolized-- 24 had modest ratings its first few years but got a major boost when it was moved to Monday nights and followed American Idol... for those TV snobs who scorn "reality TV" (and I'm one of them), it was a tough pill to swallow knowing that a singing contest was propping up viewership numbers of my favorite show.


15. The Haters-- from the beginning of the series there were as many people complaining about the various inaccuracies... from driving around rush hour LA to Jack having every President's number on his phone to Kim and the Mountain Lion. My response-- it's fantasy. And I'd rather be fed a diet of shooting, shouting and implausible plot points than be fed Grey's Anatomy or Two and a Half Men. Haters-- enjoy what you enjoy... and let me dine on 24.

16. Some Scenes May be Unsuitable for Some Viewers-- 24 was a boon to "Viewer Discretion": hacksawed heads, two guttings (one for a computer chip the other for a cellphone memory card), ear-biting, shock-therapy, Freddie Prinze Jr's "acting"... the show was not for the faint of heart or stomach.

17. The Community-- during season two there were about 5 to 7 of us at work who watched the show... and we would tape it for each other on a weekly basis. The "did you see it yet" was a highlight of the week-- and as a group we all watched more than a few seasons together. We'd get together for the season premieres and finales- cursing Chappelle, rooting for Tony, falling in love with Michelle, wondering why Audrey's husband calls her "Ordrey". The friends I shared the show with added heavily to my enjoyment of 24.

18. Favorite Season-- has to be #2. Jack's life is a bunch of loose threads... he's inactive from CTU, has no relationship with his daughter and owns a Grizzly Adams beard. The impossible situation (nuke going off in USA) gives him a chance at redemption... and he gets it done. The tried and true plot twists are fairly new and there aren't that many core characters who have gotten killed off yet (RIP George Mason). Although I enjoyed the first season, #2 won me lock, stock and barrel.

19. Least Enjoyable Season-- #6 without a doubt. Way to come off winning an Emmy, kids. What could have been a season of possibilities turned into the same old tricks... with CTU 90210 (Ricky Schroeder triangle)... an After School Specialesque alcoholic (Miles chugging by the dumpster)... and Jack's evil as all get out dad. Season #6 was so bad the writer's strike felt like a blessing.

20. For those scoring at home-- I go Season #2, #4 (Mia Kirshner as Mandy makes this possible), #1 (the original template), #5 (the Emmy-winning season), #8 (if this were another show I would have stopped watching), #3 (the first proof that this could be a bad show if handled wrongly) and #6.

21. Dave's dynasties-- So for those scoring at home, my #1 shows have been: Happy Days (1975-80): nothing cooler until Fonzie jumped the Shark, Richie started balding and Potsie wouldn't stop singing. Dallas (1980-85): Who Shot JR stole my imagination-- at least until they killed Bobby (it wasn't all a dream). Cheers (1985-89): I still root for Sam and Diane to get together, and still root for Kirstie Alley to disappear. Simpsons (1989-92): First great era gave me Troy McClure adn Lionel Hutz. Seinfeld (1992-98): Not that there's anything wrong with that. Simpsons (1998-2001) I still cry laughing everytime I see Frank Grimes. Yvan Eht Nioj! 24: (2001-06): Even Jack's torture can't make me look past season 6. The Office (2006-present): wins over How I Met Your Mother because I haven't met the mother yet.

22. Kiefer makeover-- the biggest winner of the show has been its lead actor... keeping the tabloid-magnet gainfully employed and giving him an iconic character-- I mean in '01 he was the guy from Young Guns and the Lost Boys. Well played, Mr. Sutherland.

23. Movie-- I don't know how they're going to transform the excitement and the format into a theatrical film... and I don't know what they can do with Jack's character after everything that has happened in 8-plus seasons nonstop ticking. Do I even have the strength to get excited about more Jack Bauer adventures? Still, I'll go watch-- I mean it can't be worse than Sex and the City, can it?

24. That damn clock and the beeping... much like the instrumental transition on Law & Order, the commercial break countdown (or silent countdown for deaths of major characters) gave viewers a little zinger into the break or into a week wondering what's coming next... and now there is no next. Except in the theaters.