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The magic number is '24'

Time marches on for die-hard fans eagerly awaiting the fifth-season premiere Sunday night at 8 on Fox

Kiefer Sutherland stars as Jack Bauer in FOX Network's hit suspense drama "24."

BY VERNE GAY | STAFF WRITER

January 15, 2006

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The following will take place Sunday between 8 and 10p.m.

About 15 million people will tune in to the fifth-season premiere of Fox's "24," and most of these viewers - or around 3 million more than last season's average, by the way - are what might be call hardened "24-nistas." They are a passionate, dedicated, obsessive crowd who have waited anxiously for this hour to arrive. The preceding NFL playoff game is a mere obstacle to be endured before 8 p.m. Nirvana.

They have spent the past eight months dreaming about their show. They've watched and rewatched the fourth-season DVD collection. They've planned "24" parties for Sunday night. And they've studied every reported fifth-season development with dutiful and slavish attention.

They know, of course, that Counter-Terrorism Unit agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) feigned his death at the end of last season. And they know that he's been forced to adopt a new identity because weaselly President Charles Logan (Greg Itzin) sanctioned his murder to prevent a diplomatic meltdown with the Chinese (long story ... don't ask).

They know that big-time actors such as Sean Astin, Julian Sands, JoBeth Williams and Peter Weller have joined the cast for the forthcoming season. They also know that Jack has an assumed identity (Frank Flynn) and that he's now living and working in the oil patch near Bakersfield, Calif. They may even know that the White House will play a far more prominent role this season than ever before, and that Jean Smart - whom you may best remember as Charlene on "Designing Women"will be the Martha Mitchell-like first lady. Her name? Martha, naturally.

Yes, they know EVERYTHING.

Then, there will be everybody else. And (yes) they know NOTHING. They are what might be called the drive-by viewers who are wondering what all this silly fuss over "24" is about. If recent history is a guide, many will be appalled by the violence, bored silly by the intricate plot lines and utterly clueless about the elaborate mythology that surrounds the show. Most will never return. Many never do.

And so it goes with "24." Entering its fifth season, this may be the least-recognized minor classic of the medium - "The X-Files" or "Mission: Impossible" of its day that is not only revered by fans and critics, but by the TV production community as well. Imitation being the sincerest form of TV, a handful of shows based loosely or directly on "24's" real-time narrative plot device are in the production pipeline, like NBC's "Heist," about three teams of jewel thieves who rob Rodeo Drive jewelry stores while the Oscars are in progress; and ABC's "Kidnapped," about a 15-year-old kid who's snatched from his wealthy New York family.

Small potatoes

Then, there are the snubs, and they have a way of enduring, too. While "24's" audience grew slightly last season, it remains small potatoes by comparison to giants like "CSI" (26 million) or "Desperate Housewives" (23 million). "24" has never cracked the top 30 and landed only once in the top 40. Last season it ranked 39th among prime-time shows.

And despite four best drama nominations, Emmy voters have also rejected "24" four times. (The show did win in 2003 for best writing in a dramatic series.) The Golden Globes have been more on the mark. "24" won best television drama series in 2004, while Sutherland got a best dramatic actor trophy in 2002.)

How can one show be so good and yet so dissed at the same time? Howard Gordon, one of show's executive producers, along with creators Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow, says, "I'm surprised [by that] myself, and I have two theories.

"One is that may be too great a [time] commitment" because the entire season plays out in one 24-hour period. "And the price of entry is high. It's a hard show and it's not just that the commitment is hard, but not everybody likes a roller coaster. It's not an easy show to watch because it takes you to an adrenalized place and is designed to rattle your nerves. Some people don't want that level of intensity."

While recognizing that the show is an acquired taste - code for "modest ratings" - Fox's commitment to "24" has never wavered, and the show is under contract through the 2006-07 season. There have even been intermittent discussions with producers about the creation of "Law & Order" or "CSI"-type spinoffs to give the franchise - and Sutherland - a rest. These talks never went anywhere for the obvious reason that producing one roller coaster is hard enough in one season. (A movie version is under discussion, however.)

In recent seasons, the network has also rejiggered "24's" scheduling to boost its profile and audience, with some success. The show began its season in January last year as well, mostly to remove it from the annual prime-time traffic jam that happens each fall. The January start also means episodes can air in sequence, without repeats. Sunday's two-hour premiere following the NFL playoff game will then be followed by another two hours Monday night. The reasoning is that if enough viewers are drawn into the first four hours of the show - the first four hours of Bauer/Flynn's day, that is - then they'll come back for more next week, and then the week after.

Or at least that's the idea. "While ['24' is] doing well, it's not a show that people usually expect on Fox, and it's [also] an extremely violent show," says Preston Beckman, Fox's scheduling mastermind who engineered Sunday's "24" event. "For the first two years it followed 'American Idol' and was the first thing you saw coming out of ['Idol']."

Lead-ins may not matter

Beckman eventually moved "24" to Mondays at 9 p.m. Unfortunately, until "Prison Break" returns to Fox March 20, "24's" lead-in at 8 will be "Skating With Celebrities." How many celeb skating fans will stick around for Bauer & Co.? Your guess is as good as Fox's.

But lead-ins, no matter what their subject, may not matter much. Says Beckman, "24" is "about terrorism, and for a lot of people, that's not necessarily the subject matter they want to live with every week. There are people who are going to go to shows [like this] and people who are going to run away from shows" like this.

For you newbies out there who may consider running to (or away) from this, "24's" unique level of intensity - and occasionally intense silliness - is unlike anything else on television. A true original in the land of copycats, each season takes place over the course of one day, or 24 hours, and each episode, or hour of the day, begins with these portentous words: "The following takes place between 7 and 8 a.m.," and so on.