24

This show definitely has re-written the book on intelligent and credible suspense on TV. Extremely well acted, written and directed. Truly gripping, heart-stopping suspense from one hour to the next. The show is so well done that you can easily forgive the very few plot devices that seem a little weak. When a show gets 99% of everything right, it's very hard to quibble. Keifer Sutherland has never been better as the flawed hero. "24" deserves to be a model on which all future TV suspense thrillers can be compared to. A+++

I haven't watched every single TV show out there but I've watched more than a fair share (GoT, The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Breaking Bad, House, The Shield, Dexter, Lost, Justified, Prison Break, Mad Men, Walking Dead, House of Cards and a few others) and this reamins my favorite of them all. Great premise, top acting, superb action scenes, etc. The only flaw is they started recycling plots and storylines at one point but that was after years of incredible quality. Must-watch.

A creative and revolutionary television program that could best be described as "High Noon" for the 21st Century X and Y generational groups starved for cinema-like ideas and executions. "24" (representing the number of hours in a day) runs an hour a week, in real time, and advances to a staggering climax as an anti-terrorist specialist (Kiefer Sutherland) races against the clock to save the day. Assassination attempts, germ warfare and anti-American enemies are constant obstacles for Sutherland, daughter Elisha Cuthbert, president Dennis Haysbert and an innumerable cast of others. Regulars come and go, guest stars make lasting impressions and cliff-hanger sequences will leave you gasping for air and possibly grasping your chest to calm your heart down. So many things happen over the course of one day on this show (you would not believe everything that goes on over such a short period of time) that it is sometimes hard to remember everything and at times many situations are trivial anyway (there is so much time to fill that it is near impossible to make every minute count). Sutherland and Haysbert (who made their names on the big screen) are top-flight performers and they prove to be the biggest assets. Excellent direction and good scripts (for the most part) have lingering effects on the audience as the clock ticks and tocks to a mind-numbing finale each season. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I didn't watch "24" during its original, first-season run, so I can't comment on how it played, week after week; but, I did watch all 24 episodes on DVD, over a four day period. WOW! From beginning to end, this show is the most riveting and suspenseful thing ever captured on film. It is a masterwork of deceit, and its success is in the fact that it never allows the viewer to relax for a second. You are never sure who you can trust. Certainly one of, if not the best 24 hours of television, ever! Highly recommended!

Years from now we'll look back on this as a classic!