24 things you didn't know about 24

The Observer (UK) ^ | July 2, 2006 | Stephanie Merritt

[aculeus]

1 Jack Bauer has killed 112 people over the five years of the show. Season 4, during which he dispatched 44 'hostiles', was his best ever; in the first season he managed a lacklustre 10.

2 Kiefer Sutherland heard that American college students use 24 as a drinking game, downing a shot every time Jack Bauer says 'damn it'. So he changed the script in one episode to have Jack say 'damn it' 14 times in one hour.

3 Another frat-house game is to monitor Jack's flouting of the Geneva Conventions. In season 2 he shot a key suspect under interrogation in the heart before beheading him. In season 3, he executed a colleague on the president's orders.

4 Jack's entry codes for CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit) are 4393 and Q22Q17

5 For season 2, a prototype script was written in which each (non real-time) episode would span 24 hours, but execs decided to stick to the original format.

6 During season 4 an incoming call number was shown on a character's mobile phone. More than 50,000 fans dialled the number - only to find it was real and belonged to one of the crew.

7 More than 20 lead characters have died in seasons 1-5.

8 Jack Bauer has actually died twice. In season 2 he was tortured, burned and tazered to death before miraculously coming round. In season 4 he was shot dead; then Tony Almeida injected him with epinephrine and he recovered.

9 Executive Producer Evan Katz once said: 'We make a lot of it up as we go along.'

10 24 was the first TV show to embrace real-time - the clock keeps ticking during ad breaks and there are no flashbacks.

[freeangel]

Save for later

[GOP Poet]

Cool tidbits. That's pretty hilarious about rewriting the "Damn its". I wish he would have stayed with Kate Warner from Season 2--she's a beautiful actress and very much a smart aleck real life.

[Cruz]

cool post

[Darkwolf377]

"...rather than the seemingly clueless troupe of improvisers actually in Washington."

Shut up you snivelling British twit.

[Darkwolf377]

He describes his politics as 'liberal, with common sense'; his mother, actress Shirley Douglas, was the daughter of Tommy Douglas, leader of Canada's New Democratic party, 'the first socialist to come to power in North America', as Sutherland proudly describes him.

A liberal actor, now there's a shock...

[napscoordinator]

Cool tidbits. That's pretty hilarious about rewriting the "Damn its". I wish he would have stayed with Kate Warner from Season 2--she's a beautiful actress and very much a smart aleck real life.



I absolutely LOVE 24. I wish he would have stuck with the girl from the first season who turned out to be a terrorist. I loved her. Kate was ok, but I am probably the only one that can't stand that new girl that seems to linger from one season to another. It just figures they would stick with the girl I least like. Just my luck. lol.

[Darkwolf377]

'I have a very strong political outlook and that is something I'd like to take more responsibility for in my life. I don't believe in utilising certain aspects of the power I have with celebrity to push that forward, but I would like to make some films that address some of those political issues. The first film I ever directed [Last Light] dealt with the death penalty - I'm a staunch opponent - and it was a tiny, million-dollar film, but it was one of those great moments in my life that felt like you are taking advantage of an opportunity and doing something good with it; I did feel good about that.' Does he think there's more of an audience now for politically charged movies? 'I think the audience has always been there; I just don't think the material was. I really salute someone like George Clooney - there's a perfect example of someone who's really making something work.

BLECH!

[Peach]

"24" ping.

[Slings and Arrows]

25. Jack Bauer wears Chuck Norris pajamas.

[pageonetoo]

25. Jack Bauer wears Chuck Norris pajamas.

25. Jack Bauer Chuck Norris wears Chuck Norris Jack Bauer pajamas.

[Osage Orange]

8 Jack Bauer has actually died twice. In season 2 he was tortured, burned and tazered to death before miraculously coming round. In season 4 he was shot dead; then Tony Almeida injected him with epinephrine and he recovered.

He wasn't shot.....

[bmwcyle]

'damn it'

Bottoms up!

[gondramB]

>>2 Kiefer Sutherland heard that American college students use 24 as a drinking game, downing a shot every time Jack Bauer says 'damn it'. So he changed the script in one episode to have Jack say 'damn it' 14 times in one hour.<<

Great... how long before the lawsuit?

[Tijeras_Slim]

1 Jack Bauer has killed 112 people over the five years of the show. Season 4, during which he dispatched 44 'hostiles', was his best ever; in the first season he managed a lacklustre 10.

He must be using the same stuff as Barry Bonds.

[Pablo64]

I believe that number 8 is wrong. Jack was not actually shot, it was just made to look like he had been shot. They gave him some kind of drug to make his heart stop.

(Thanks to Mrs. Pablo64 for reminding me about this.)

[dinasour]

I am just watching season one on DVD for the first time.

It like being a kid in a candy store. The cliffhangers make very hard to stop.

I'm only up to about 8:00am so don't spoil it, but..

For what possible reason would anybody take a key card with all the info on the shooter into, or out of, the CTU offices.

If I am going to install secret security cameras in a super secret government agency, I am certainly going to pick the model with lots of blinky little lights.

These days, can't you afford to hire a real geek as a consultant. I have been a hacker of sorts and a professional programmer my entire life and I have never "formated a file".

Blofeld, or whatever his name is, seems to be a pretty smart cookie, and good with technology. A 10 year old could find encryption software on the internet that wouldn't be cracked by a lone hacker with a pc in anything less than a century.

For that matter, why didn't Cinderella's glass slipper turn back into gourd at midnight, just like everything else.

[JavaTheHutt]

That's pretty hilarious about rewriting the "Damn its".

that one had me laughing too. It reminded me of a skit on Saturday Night Live. Two guys are in a bar watching the Bob Newhart Show on tv and playing Hi Bob. Bob Newhart walks into the bar, see them, and begins chastising them for playing Hi Bob. While he's standing there, like a hundred people walk by and say "Hi Bob". The combination of tv Hi Bobs and real world Hi Bobs have these guys passed out drunk and laying on the floor.

[reagan_fanatic]

2 Kiefer Sutherland heard that American college students use 24 as a drinking game, downing a shot every time Jack Bauer says 'damn it'. So he changed the script in one episode to have Jack say 'damn it' 14 times in one hour.

LOL - that's great!

[pinz-n-needlez]

LOL I always wondered about the glass slipper, too. ;-)

We're going to be renting 24 from Netflix... I'll have to track down some of the old threads.

Have a Happy and Free 4th of July. Maybe we'll see a bit of snow... :-D

Pinz