Series 3 goes UK Free-to-Air

After a long wait, during which most UK fans have resorted to other means to see the third (and fourth) series, it has been announced that the third series will get it’s first Free-to-air screening on the all-new ‘Sky Three’ channel due for launch next month on Freeview (a digital television service which requires only a £50 set-top box to receive). Speculation would suggest Sky have waited this long so as not to dent the shows real pulling power which has seen thousands sign up for their Pay-TV service.

source : news.independent.co.uk
more : news.google.co.uk
discuss : forumer.com/24fans

Lights, Camera, Auction!

I’ve been contacted by one of the organisers for the ‘Lights, Camera, Auction!’ Charity Auction (due to be held 21-23, 2005 at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in LA) and asked if I could pass on the following. They have a large number of guests from ’24’ due to appear and one of the shows producers is a founding member of their board of directors. Guests from ’24’ include, Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle Dessler), Roger Cross (Curtis Manning), Greg Ellis (Micheal Amador), David Fury (Executive Producer), Howard Gordon (Executive Producer), Joseph Hodges (Production Designer), Gregory Itzin (Charles Logan), Louis Lombardi (Edgar Stiles), James Morrison (Bill Buchanan), Bill Smitrovich (Gene McLennan), Sarah Clarke (Nina Myers), Xander Berkeley (George Mason). Plus other notables from shows including Stargate: Atlantis & CSI: Miami.

For more information click the link below.

more : www.mpica.org

Kiefer, Eva & Me

“Sssssh! A nobody with a radio is telling us to please be quiet. And no flash photography. The cameras are about to roll. This is so exciting. We are a part of history. Well, not really. We know this. And we know we’re speaking in italics a lot. We can’t help ourselves. We know the difference between fact and fiction, person and persona. But still. When is this movie going to be released? We will get the DVD. Sssssh!

And . . . action! Kiefer heads down the street, toward Lafayette Square. He is dressed in gray pants and a white shirt. He walks purposefully and . . . straight.

‘Cut!’

The scene is repeated, again and again. It isn’t much of a scene. We wish something would happen. We wish Gabrielle would come running up and maybe throw her arms in the air, and a car would zoom by, and a bad guy would flop out, dead. Something. But no, it’s just Kiefer walking, which from our vantage point is really just a tiny head bobbing.”

Story from on the set of Kiefer’s new film the Sentinel, and about how he’s a ‘nice guy’

source : www.washingtonpost.com

24 goes into syndication

“’24,’ the groundbreaking,award-winning and critically-acclaimed series starring Kiefer Sutherland, will premiere in off-network syndication on local television stations throughout the U.S. beginning on October 1, 2005”

At this moment Fox are rubbing there hands, as the cash-cow comes home to milk, according to a press release sent out by Fox, the show will go into syndication after reaching 96 episodes (100 is the usual landmark for syndication, but 96 is close enough), for U.S. networks syndication is where the big money is.

source : www.prnewswire.com
more : news.google.com

Kiefer spills the beans

” … we recently caught up with the show’s star Kiefer Sutherland to hear his thoughts on the beginning of a new gaming dynasty and being the world’s most harassed secret agent. Has playing Jack Bauer changed you as a person?

Kiefer Sutherland: In a typical 24-hour day, if I sleep for about 40%, that leaves 60% over and I would say 50% of that is spent working on this show as an actor or producer. We work at such a pace and over a long period of time that it’s allowed me to notice the smaller aspects of a story.

Do you find it difficult to top your performance in each episode?

KS: I talk to the writers as a producer but also from the standpoint that I will have to play one of the characters. It’s an incredible challenge and we didn’t know if we were even going to make it out of the first season!

We were very scared about whether the idea would play with the same cast of characters in the second season. It’s a tribute to our writers that they keep getting more and more creative in trying to find the variables on a very similar theme year after year. We also cast fantastic actors that helped make the show last, and I think the fourth season is our best yet.

Jack has a troubled life. Is there any hope for him, or is he doomed?

KS: If you lost hope for him then you would lose interest in the show. The fourth season starts with him being happy, very much like the first season started off. I think he smiled more in the first two episodes than he smiled in the entire history of the show!

What impact has 24 had on TV in general?

KS: That will be up to other filmmakers to decide, but there is an awful lot of reality television that uses a lot of split screens. It was innovative when we did it.

Why do you think 24 has been such a big success?

KS: Watching a character deal with knowing something that millions of other people don’t know, yet they should, creates a lot of fear and anxiety. One constant thing I hear back from the DVD watchers is that they have to watch at least four or five episodes at a time. They’re tapping into a fear and that makes them too anxious to turn it off after one episode.”

source : www.computerandvideogames.com

U.S. DVD strikes back

As predicted by various rumours and other murmurings, the upcoming (6th of December) U.S. release of series four will carry on the well-worn tradition of the region 1 dvd getting more extras than the region 2. The U.S. DVD will include no-less than 12 episode commentaries. 7:00AM – 8:00AM commentary by Joel Surnow and Mary Lynn Rajskub
12:00PM-1:00PM commentary by Joseph Hodges and Jon Cassar
1:00PM – 2:00PM commentary by Kim Raver and Joseph Hodges
2:00PM – 3:00PM commentary by Stephen Kornish and Peter Lenkov
3:00PM – 4:00PM commentary by Evan Katz and Shannon Doherty
4:00PM – 5:00PM commentary by Nestor Serrano and Stephen Kronish
8:00PM – 9:00PM commentary by Tim Iacofano and Shohreh Aghdashloo
9:00PM – 10:00PM commentary by Roger Cross and Bryan Spicer
12:00AM – 1:00AM commentary by Jon Cassar and Sean Callery
1:00AM – 2:00AM commentary by Paul Gadd and Ken Kobett
4:00AM – 5:00AM commentary by Matt Michnovetz and Duppy Demetris
6:00AM – 7:00AM commentary by Bob Cochran and Scott Powell

Although some of the episodes selected for commentaries seem a bit odd (there are no commentaries for episodes 12 or 13, two of the best episodes of the series after the final two) and the list of participants sadly lack any of the veteran cast members from the series (Mary Lynn Rajskub who plays Chloe is the only cast member to do a commentary who didn’t make there debut on the show this year), but than it does include commentaries on the first and finale episodes.

Other extras exclusive to the US release is a Series 4/5 bridge or Series 5 prequel, which has been made during the filming of Series 5, and a Series 5 trailer. If I had the money and the ability to play U.S. discs, my copy would be on pre-order right now.

source : www.tvshowsondvd.com

Jack Bauer’s big screen plans

“One of Empire’s finest was in LA recently, where we got the chance to sit down and have a chat with one of the world’s unluckiest men. Yes, that’s right, Jack Bauer, who has had at least four unbelievably bad days at this point – or at least his alter-ego Kiefer Sutherland – took him out of his busy schedule to talk to us about the oft-discussed 24 movie. ‘We have talked about it. Our biggest problem right now is getting the writers to find enough time to write a screenplay,’ said the star … But it may not be easy distilling the series down into two hours, and making it big enough to fill cinema screens – something that Sutherland is all too aware of.

‘There are certain inherent challenges in trying to make something in real time over a two-hour period that’s going to allow enough to be engaging. I certainly believe that they’re going to accomplish that, but I don’t think that’s going to happen…well, it might happen for next year – for next year’s hiatus. We’re not sure yet, but they have been working on it.’

As Johnny Depp found out in Nick Of Time a real-time two hour film ain’t easy, but if anyone can come up with a way to do it it’s the people behind 24. With Season Five currently gearing up, it looks like a big screen outing for Bauer and pals could be just a year or two away.”

source : www.empireonline.co.uk