Why 12 will be better than 24!
by William Walker Jr

It's been 4 years since the clock stopped ticking for Fox's hit TV series 24.  After 192 hours of explosions, poisonous gas attacks, shootouts, fist fights, torture scenes, choke-outs, and various exclamations of the word dammit!  Jack is back!  Last we saw Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer was on the run a fugitive.  That was how the eighth and final season of the action packed series ended.  For most fans it was fitting especially figuring we'd see the further exploits of Jack Bauer on the big screen.  A 24 feature film had been talked about since season 5, but alas the dream never materialized.  But fans would have reason to rejoice after Fox announced the show's return though as a mini-series.  24: Live Another Day would be only 12 episodes instead of 24.  Now my initial reaction was like what, how, why?  Especially when they said the series would still cover a full day, I was like how could you capture the full awesome of 24 with only a mere 12 episodes.  It wasn't until after I re-watched seasons 5-8 in anticipation of it's return that I realized only 12 episodes as opposed to 24 wasn't such a bad idea.  In fact I think it's a great idea and here are the 4 reasons why.

4. Jack may actually sleep: Okay that's not super cause for excitement.  But what person who watched 24 didn't wonder.  Is Jack going to go to the bathroom, heck I understand you don't want to take a power nap when terrorist are threatening to blow up the White House.  But I mean come on these people have eat, go to the bathroom, or at least sleep once in a blue.  Now you can have them do that stuff and it's not a big deal because it'll take place on the off hours.  Seeing how with the new format it's still taking place in a day just that they'll only show the most important 12 hours of the day.  Take a nap Jack you'll need your strength for this torture scene.

3. Jack is Rogue: Let's face it this is how it should be.  Not C.T.U. no problem those morons simply get in Jack's way.  Jack was always at his best when he had to go off book.  Give him a couple of guns and ear-piece and Chloe in his ear, and you knew Jack was going to get it done.  With the new show it's 4 years after C.T.U. has been shutdown.  Not only is it outside of the USA but C.T.U. is gone now I'm sure they'll be some group in their to try and hinder Bauer. But let's face it the man is going rogue the way it should be.

2.No Politics Jack: Something that struck me from my marathon of 24 watching, was how utterly annoying and distracting were the office politics of C.T.U.  Fitting into the same reason of Jack being rogue, with no C.T.U. you have no damn C.T.U. office politics.  Now I know the writers had to do it, because they needed to fill those 24 hours with something.  But GEEZ if I saw one more ridiculously contrived scenario. Like my sister's a crackhead and I have to leave from this terrorist threat to deal with her drug problem.  Or I'm being chased by an abusive Dad into the mountains on no a Mountain Lion! Who could forget the inter-office love triangle?  GOOD LORD no more! Thankfully with only 12 hours to fill instead of 24 craptacular scenarios should be a thing of the past.  This brings me to my final point.


1. No time to waste Jack: Like I said the writers only had to fill 12 hours as opposed to 24.  So we should get an action-packed tighter story.  The model for great TV has changed when you have shows like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and Hannibal.  Telling insanely good and concise stories with only 10 plus episodes it makes for better TV.  That's the model we'll now be getting with 24.  We won't have to waste time watching a side character try and hide their gambling problem.  Or spend fifteen minutes watching Jack drive from one place to the next.  With the stipulation that only the most important 12 hours are being shown, we should get a faster paced more action packed story.  And that's reason alone to rejoice in 24's return.

Well there you have the 4 reasons why I think the shortened 12 episodes instead of 24 will make 24: Live Another Day even better than a full display of 24.  Let me know what you think in the comments below agree or disagree.