Sunday, January 14, 2007

JUMPING THE SHARK WITH JACK
AAAAYYY!

Well here we go again, 24 is back.
Jack Bauer, the ultimate post 9/11 hero,
will use his cell phone, torture and MacGuyverian ingenuity to thwart the best efforts of Middle Eastern terrorists, the ubiquitous inner circle of treasonous civil servants in the White House and still manage to save the day... and do it all in real time.

Now I love Kiefer_Sutherland, I mean for gawdsake he is the grandson of Tommy Douglas the Father of Universal Medicare and voted most influential Canadian in history!


Kiefer is the son of uber quirky Canadian Actor Donald Sutherland and before winning an Emmy for playing Jack Bauer on 24 Kiefer was probably most famous for being dumped at the altar by Julia Roberts and being a member of the 80s cinematic brat pack.


Now suspension of disbelief is one thing but 24 expects much more than that from it's devotees...
I think that despite the ludicrous situations and knowing full well that eventually Jack will prevail, we still watch this techno whiz-bang extravanganza because all of the geeky computer stuff is seductively counterbalanced with cruel and unusual punishment for the bad guys .

So Season 6 started tonight and here we go...
despite being tortured in a Chinese Prison for 20 months Jack is transported back to the States thanks to a ludicrous deal sanctioned by his old friend the President so that Jack can to be turned over to an Arab Terrorist in exchange for information leading to the whereabouts of another Arab Terrorist who the President is going to send helicopters to locate and blow up his secret hideout that just so happens to be in the middle of suburban L.A but whatever....
((gasp))
...so within one hour (the show runs in real time which was it's inital hook) despite his hiatus in a Chinese prison Jack manages to miraculously recapture his strength, escape from a seemingly impossible scenario and set the stage for another season of mayhem and suspense.

Jumping_the_shark
is a term credited to an episode on Happy Days and
"is a metaphor that was originally used to denote the tipping point at which aTV series is deemed to have passed its peak, or has introduced plot twists that are illogical in terms of everything that has preceded them"

24 probably jumped the shark right out of the gate back in Season 1 but I have watched it regardless thanks to our hero Jack Bauer whose tenacity, techno wizardry and his predilection for dispensing brutal eye for an eye frontier justice in real time.

All of the great American (guy movie) cinematic elements are here..
Jack is an underdog, a selfless warrior who overcomes gargantuan obstacles, a Dirty Harry who is as adept with handling a .45 as he is with saving the world with a Computer or Cell Phone. Of course he gets tortured every Season with the best of them ala Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon mode or a Die Hardian Bruce Willis (you know the drill) but Jack Bauer always gets mad, back up on his feet and then he gets 'even'.

But after watching 24 tonight it occurred to me that this may have been the most ridiculous launch to date....
it is Shark Jumping at it's finest...
and I don't seem to care..
but I am acutely aware of it..
but Jumping the Shark is so much fun,
just ask the FONZ! AAYYYY!

32 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:49 am

    What do you think? Has Bloggers jumped the shark?

    I can't comment about 24, not being familiar with it.

    Nonetheless I love Kiefer Sutherland too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:25 am

    Oh great. Now you've got me all anxious about Fonzie's jump all over again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My blog jumped the shark this week.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My blog jumped the shark right out of the gate. I'd essplain it to joo but tedium might kill me today. Oh. I'm at work.

    /dead

    I have never seen 24.

    ReplyDelete
  5. gautami,
    Kiefer deserves credit for proving that we Canadians are Techno-savvy Ass kickin'Vigilantes and not the milquetoast commie wimps that are portrayed on most American TV shows.

    brian,
    AAAYYY! It always bothered me that Fonzerelli was such a petit little goofball...I mean Chochi could have mopped the floor with him.
    The shark jumping episode was one of the lowest points in TV history and proved that once you start pulling scripts out of your ass it is time to quit.

    mj,
    Community Standards will have a hard time estimating the mental anguish and long term psychological damage done to the general public by your gross men showering post...eeewww...what exactly is your mandate anywho?

    tidalgrrrl,
    essplain? Hey were you watching Scarface this weekend? You know who did an even cheesier accent than Pacino (choot dat piece of chit) was Rod Steiger in Stallone's The Spessssalist...
    OY-YOY-YOY talk about over the top!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous10:47 am

    I've never seen an episode of 24. I have, however, seen every single episode of MacGyver, does that count?

    ReplyDelete
  7. mj,
    cue Nelly:
    She's a Maneater...

    laurie,
    Yes it does..now imagine if McGyver had been tortured once too often and something inside of him snapped and despite impossible odds he went on a vengeance rampage with the complete arsenal of the US government's military/espionage machinery at his disposal to torture and kill enemies of the State with a Presidential pardon in his back pocket...and all of this takes place in real time..
    that's 24 in a nutshell.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous11:03 am

    I don't think I've ever watched a single episode of 24...

    I try to stay away fom all things Keifer. ;)

    Steve~

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous11:04 am

    Six years? SIX YEARS? Oy vey.

    No, I don't watch. I shouldn't make fun of anyone who does because I watch Top Chef.

    ReplyDelete
  10. steven novak,
    Say what?
    My word what on Earth do you have against the kief?

    laura,
    How many terrorists get tortured and killed per episode on Top Chef..
    10, 20 HA that's nuthin'!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Did you EVER jump the shark with all that mandarin gadgetry adorning your site and the moving "Would it kill you to comment?" billboard!!!

    Now all you've got to do is stop using that incessant "My word" cliche and learn the difference between its and it's.

    (Just kidding, don't blow a gasket, we all need some trademarks). Great new look!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous3:04 pm

    Lol @ Gautami, has Blogger jumped the shark?

    Hi HE. Is 24 on season six already? That's crazy, that's 144 episodes. I watched series 1, episode 1, and haven't been back I'm afraid. Did Julia Roberts really dump Kiefer Sutherland at the altar? In real life or in Pretty Woman or something?

    ReplyDelete
  13. within, whatever,
    My word & that being said
    there is no difference between its and it's so NYEH!!!

    ITS
    Possessive pronoun
    Possessive form of it.
    'This is its space ship'.

    IT'S
    Contraction of it is.
    It's coming right for us!
    It has.
    It's been a long time since I've had cheesecake.
    OKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKO OK!! I GET IT!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. benjamin,
    Dude yes in the rw..REAL LIFE!!
    I normally stop watching TV shows after the second season..but apparently 24 is the only program that my goodladywife and I view together other than The Young and the Restless...

    I don't make her watch Deadwood or Frontline and she doesn't expect me to watch The Amazing Race, ER, Desperate Housewives, Survivor, or Grey's Anatomy.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous3:45 pm

    Ya'know, HE, I keep waiting for some crazed sushi chef to hack some of these whiner wanna-be's to bits... but thing happens. Or is that what happens on Iron Chef? Maybe I'm on the wrong channel.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sounds like something you'd do in Port Phillip Bay...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous4:49 pm

    aha, a new expression for my vocabulary :-)
    And reading about the alphabet theme here, and all your attempts, and reading the alphabet meme at several others, I just got a photo idea that I find challenging to do (more about that later, much later because it is going to be a lot of work): so thanks for the inspiration.
    And now I copy and paste my comment at WW because it goes for the two of you :
    It would be mighty funny to make a list of all the names you and H.E. are giving each other, so funny, and inventive.
    And thank you for the grass-storm song :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous5:21 pm

    Whoa whoa whoa. I'll admit the plot each year is far fetched, but come on. IT'S 24!!!!!

    I thought the most ridiculous part last night came when Jack and that dude and other dude went into that house after the other house was bombed, and Jack somehow found clothes in another rooom that fit him perfectly.

    Also, it was great to see Milo back and as a regular member of CTU.

    Damn, I can't wait for another 2 hours tonight. I'm giddy with excitement.

    ReplyDelete
  19. laura e,
    One of these days something will get out of hand on that show and appendages will fly.

    stace,
    Sorry I am a little in the dark here...Port Phillip Bay is a ________?

    hildegarde,
    That would be fun but very one sided because Witsend Wartshog is more funny looking than funny...

    ilovechloe.comblogger,
    Thank heavens somebody watches it!!!
    I forgot to count how many times they said Jack Bauer last night..in the 70s we had a 'drinking' game that we played while watching the Bob Newhart Show..everytime somebody said HI BOB you had to take a sip..if you tried that during an episode of 24 with JACK BAUER you would probably pass out halfway through the show! How many chloe frowns did we get last night?

    Wasn't that deal to trade Jack the lamest thing ever..c'mon the guy has risked his life one million times for his country..get real..
    If I was Jack I would be helping the terrorists!

    ReplyDelete
  20. u luv sharks duncha?

    I aint familiar with 24 either. :(

    ** Kiefer Sutherland

    LOVE THAT GUY! In my books, he's hot ;-)

    Keshi.

    ReplyDelete
  21. keshiroo,
    I do love sharks... which is weird because I grew up in the centre of North America...prolly because they seemed so mysterious and foreign to a Prairie boy... I began studying about multicellular marine life as a child and I always wanted to specialize in Sharks and Cetaceans when I was a kid....and I also didn't want to spend 30 years of my life bobbing around in a boat chucking burley over the side or diving with two ton fish that could devour me with a flick of the tail and a twist of the head.

    Does Australia have a super post 9/11 terrorist fightin' hero on tv?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous9:07 pm

    I'm quite excited to find out what the Prez gave up to get Jack back from the Chinese. It sounds substantial.

    Could it set up the 24 movie that is coming out soon, and that is reportedly based on what happens this season on the show?

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'm amazed that nobody of any power to make change in America noticed that Dubya jumped the shark .... AGAIN .... last week. The whole friggin' scenario reminds me of a Simpsons episode where Bart touches something hot, goes "ow" and pulls away, and then does it over and over and over again...

    But hey, HE, your new banner rocks. I LOVE it.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:16 pm

    PHEW! Glad to see you ain't knocking Jack Bauer... I pretend all the bad guys are Spain... OH THE THRILL of the eye for an eye justice then YEAH BABY YEAH! WOOH!

    I'd best stop here at the risk of sounding like a lovesick teenaged freak with googly woogly eyes for Jack OH JACK Bauer Mista hero and all that, you know? Oy! ;-P

    And yeah, I am kinda back from this chaos called Spain... where IS Jack when you need him DAMMIT!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous8:07 am

    OMG Julia married Lyle Lovett!

    ReplyDelete
  26. thefollowinghappenedblogger,
    I am sooo glad that Curtis got it..what an idiot...and then I thought hey Curtis was right...
    awesome ending on Monday...can't wait to see how accurately they handle the fallout...PPFFFFTT!

    andrea,
    Good point..Dubya has been jumping the shark since day 1 and everybody is still watching his show anyway...sort of...filling the house and senate with Dems was a way of 51% of the people waking up...WHY? WHY? WHY? Is he not impeached???

    mizzy bo,
    We will send Jack to Spain to rescue you as soon as he deals with these pesky islamofascist nuke nuts...and all in real time.

    jammer,
    Yeah instead of Kief?? Celebs do weird things...unlike us 'norms'.

    ReplyDelete
  27. And it seemed so logical when Fonzi jumped the shark...

    ReplyDelete
  28. I've never watched 24.

    I didn't know Mr Medicare was his grandfather. How cool!

    Love the new look and your new banner. Nicely done. How does one change their banner anyway?

    ReplyDelete
  29. kevin c,
    That is exactly what I would have done DUH!

    anna,
    Thanks. Well you have to go to here;
    http://www.mandarindesign.com/vegasban.html
    and then insert the creations that you like and then insert them wherever tickles your fancy...I am a complete hacker (in the old sense of the word ) so if I can do it...

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous10:13 am

    cool, i never heard of "jumping the shark" before!
    i think there are a number of tv programs that did that YEEEEeAARS ago... the bold and the beautiful and days of our lives and passions and the young and the restless and... sorry- i'm repeating myself!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Just thought I'de correct something on this "Jump the Shark," thing.
    you're right when you say it refers to the TV show Happy Days, but the specific episode concerns fonzie making a motorcycle jump over GARBAGE CANS! and not sharks.
    how do I know this? because I remember seeing the episode (it was actually a two-parter, and of course the fonze survived)when it was orginally broadcast.
    Happy Days survived at least five years after that jump, so who knows?.... Jack might be around for years saving the world in 24-hour stretches.

    ReplyDelete

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