A couple of days ago the nominations for this year’s Emmy Awards was announced, with 24 getting 11. The most notable are for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series – Kiefer Sutherland. Here’s a full list. Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series – Kiefer Sutherland
Outstanding Cinematography For A Single – Camera Series
Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series (3 nominations)
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Dramatic Underscore)
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series
Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing For A Series
Outstanding Stunt Coordination
“… Fox has filed suit in Delhi High Court against an Indian television company in an attempt to prevent it from showing what they claim is a clone of their popular 24. Daily Variety reports that each episode of Zee Telefilms’ Time Bomb portrays an hour of the real time in the story, …
… the Indian film industry is no stranger to accusations of stealing plots and premises from Hollywood, though the American productions are merely ‘inspiration,’ according to Bollywood.
… Zee Telefilms insists that their Time Bomb and Fox’s 24 are entirely different, since the former is about a plot to assassinate an Indian prime minister whereas the latter sees Jack … trying to prevent a terrorist attack on the US president.”
In the U.S. the fourth series has had the best ratings of any series, many put this down to a much more populist pleasing storyline which neo-conservative critics have absolutely loved – although some wanted it to go further – thinking it pulled to many punches in the name of political correctness, although I quite frankly don’t see how it could have gone much further. Normally I don’t like linking to such one-sided articles but in the name of presenting both sides I will. Here’s a small clipit first.
“Phew — that was close. The creators of “24,” Fox Television’s thriller-diller starring Kiefer Sutherland as counter-terror super-agent Jack Bauer, almost put together a compelling television series rooted in the onerous reality of the war on jihad terrorism. But thanks, apparently, to a few helpful suggestions from the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), they managed to steer clear of all political and historical relevance.”
“Starting on 10 June, after Jonathan Ross, BBC One will be screening the hit series on Fridays, showiing two episodes back-to-back. See how Jack Bauer had his first worst day, in a plot involving an attempt to assassinate a Presidential candidate, comical amnesia, and Dennis Hopper escaping from prison.”
Good news for those who didn’t see the first series when it originally aired, almost four years ago now on BBC2, although it does come as a bit of a shock, since it was previously thought Sky One had all the UK rights shown up – it’s possible Sky are letting the Beeb repeat the first series to rope in more viewers for future showings on Sky.
“…I was conscious of the menacing and stereotypical image of Arabs. Although I wonder how much you can actually counteract it even when you’re aware of it. Also, I wonder how many viewers were even aware of the extremely distorted image and how it affected them. I lost count of the number of terrorist characters who killed themselves rather than be taken alive and tortured by Bauer to get whatever information he was after…
…While a viewer might be able to filter out the ‘evil Arab’ image, the acceptance of torture as a necessary strategy was more difficult to resist. Carried along by the suspense and the looming disaster, it was easy to think Bauer was justified [in his use of torture]…
…I started wondering if the show was programming viewers to have a greater tolerance for torture. The season coincided with the continuing revelations about the torture of prisoners at Abu Graib, Guantanamo Bay and … the torture deaths of two prisoners at the Bagram detention center…
…The show’s depiction of torture also was unrealistic. After breaking a few fingers, or whatever method he used, Bauer always got the information he needed. Experts say torture rarely results in reliable information because the subject will say anything to stop the abuse.
Maybe I’m thinking too much about a show that you can’t stop to think about. On the other hand, the messages of a popular television program that demands viewers suspend their sense of what’s plausible could be having more of an effect than we realize.”
“It’s a secret, last-second twist worthy of Jack Bauer: NBC is reportedly angling to poach the drama series “24” from rival FOX. FOX and 20th Century Fox TV, which produces “24,” are currently negotiating a license fee for renewal of the thriller, … The show’s current license agreement expires after this season.
… NBC has made it known that it would love to bring a fifth season of the series of the show to its airwaves. “I can tell you that NBC has not been shy about expressing their interest in ’24,’ …
… NBC’s reported interest comes despite the fact that the network and studio are both units of News Corp … which would seem to make the Peacock’s odds of wresting the series from FOX pretty slim. Even disregarding the corporate connection, it seems unlikely that FOX would let one of its better-performing series go …”
That’s from an intriuging article which claims that NBC could nick ’24’ from FOX. I don’t see it happening, but if it did I reckon it would be good for the show for so many reasons, firstly all of the fourth series has had the stench of network interference and second it might mean a return to UK terrestial screens instead of being monopolised by Sky (Pay Television Service).
Further to other recent reports and news stories I’ve posted here, It appears that a cast member has now signed on for a fifth series, in the name of spoilers I will not name that actor here, if you want to know follow the link below to the original article. Please note that the article also contains some other series four spoilers for episodes not yet shown on U.S. TV. source : www.digitalspy.co.uk
