’m not a fan of Kiefer Sutherland. Never have been. I don’t know what it is about him. He just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe that’s why he’s great as Jack Bauer on the hit FOX TV show 24. Just because of him, I managed to avoid the show for four years. But then a friend convinced me to give it a shot. I haven’t missed it once since then.
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By Sandra Ostapowich
H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 26
Basically, the show centers on the work of the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) headquarters in Los Angeles on a day in which a major national crisis is threatening to erupt into a major national tragedy. Each one-hour episode is one hour of that day. One thing that really stands out about 24 is the graphic nature of the show. Not all that long ago, similar violence would earn a movie an “R” rating, or at least a “PG-13” one. When they say,“Viewer Discretion Advised” at the beginning of each show, they mean it! This means that, according to the Fourth Commandment, you aren’t to watch this show without your parents’ permission or against their will. This show doesn’t pull any punches. Neither side hesitates to torture or kill their enemies, and the body count is high. In America, we’re normally safe and shielded. It’s startling, even
disturbing, to see depictions of that kind of violence in your own living room, even if it is on TV. Why are we so shocked? The show is certainly written this way intentionally, playing on all our emotions. It’s a rare feat, but the writers of the show have kept up the energy for five seasons now. I read in one place that they supposedly only write half the season’s shows ahead of time, so that the plot line can reflect real-world developments that take place during the year. They know that despite our desire to pretend otherwise, the real world is often graphic too. It’s messy, violent, vicious, cruel, and a whole list of other horrific things. Let’s face it: we live in a world that has been racked by sin, and as a result, it is a twisted shadow of what God created it to be. Everything has been corrupted, and shows like 24 remind us of how evil man has become. There’s a part of us that is
