I was kind of surprised when I heard that Fox TV was canceling the show "24". Not surprised at the cancellation, the end comes for all TV shows eventually, but by the fact that the announcement kind of came and went without a lot of hoopla. Over the years the show has drawn solid ratings and lots of rabid fans (of which I am NOT one) so I expected more screaming and yelling when the announcement was made.
To make sure I hadn't missed anything I went online and snooped around looking for outraged fan sites, petitions to "force" Fox to change its mind, blogs filled with threats and dire predictions for the network. Didn't really find any of it. And that got me to thinking.
The official reasons for the cancellation are pretty standard. Ratings down by 16%, creative fatigue among the writers, a five million dollars per episode cost for the network. It really didn't take much to make out the writing on the wall. But I wonder if there isn't something else going on here too.
You see Jack Bauer, the hero of the show, is really a Bush era figure. Bauer takes Barry Goldwater's comment that "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" to, well, an extreme. He snapped necks and tortured people all in the defense of the Red, White and Blue. He will do, in his own words, "...whatever it takes..." to achieve his goals. Along the way a lot of Americans made him a hero and the show won Emmys, Golden Globes and Screen Actor's Guild awards. Yet somehow after a relatively short run (8 seasons technically although they are short seasons by traditional standards) the glitter seems to have worn off.
I wonder if it's because we've changed our point of view on the kind of "at any costs" patriotism that Bauer represents. The idea that the American Ideals of freedom and justice under the law can be defended by such means no longer feels right to a growing percentage of the population. There is a growing concern about where the dividing line is between the good guys and the bad guys. I have to wonder if that's not the final nail in the coffin for the series. The hardcore fans are still there but the middle and casual fans are starting to feel like maybe they need a new neighborhood.
For fans of the show there is some good news. Fox will continue the series through the end of the season eight "day" so you won't get story line interruptus. And the word is that series star Kiefer Sutherland is definitely interested about moving the concept to the big screen. So a "24" movie may be on the horizon.
Meanwhile we'll have to find someone else to protect democracy.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
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