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Hot Topic: Meet the Bauers
Nothing brings a family together like a bunch of purloined suitcase nukes. Or so we gather from 24 this season, which apparently has split the fan base over whether it was a good idea to reveal the Big Bad from this and last season to be Jack Bauer’s own brother: the sniveling Graem—played by one of TV’s most reliable go-to villains, former ER irritant Paul McCrane. (Think maybe Jack can arrange for a helicopter to fall on this creep as well?)
As usual, I’m willing to go along for the ride, trusting it won’t take us into Kim Bauer-meets-the-cougar territory. This storyline is just the latest of many risks taken by this show, which has ruthlessly killed off favorite characters (starting with the death of Jack’s wife Teri at the end of the first season) and brought Jack back from the dead, both literally and figuratively, prompting allegations of shark-jumping almost from the start. To which I say, and always have said: Phooey!
I loved the way they revealed Graem’s identity last week, almost matter-of-factly dropping it into the middle of the episode instead of making it a climactic twist. Since then, though, I admit I’ve squirmed a bit. Watching Jack bully Graem, making him cry (yes, it was all an act), reminds us of Jack’s leanings toward torture, and you can’t help but wonder what playtime was like in this family’s back yard during the boys’ formative years. (When they played war games, I bet things actually blew up.) If it turns out that sibling rivalry and resentment is all that’s behind Graem’s apocalyptic evil streak, that’s a bit of a stretch even for us loyalists. I’m sure mine weren’t the only eyes rolling as Graem turned the tables on Jack and their father (a well-cast James Cromwell), holding them prisoner once Dad threatened to bring CTU into the mess Graem created. I keep expecting Graem to strike Dr. Evil poses.
Still, this Oedipal conflict between Jack and his long-estranged family gives Kiefer Sutherland something new and potentially meaty to play. Six years in, there’s something to be said for that. While I never sweat the details when it comes to enjoying 24, I’ve been trying to figure out just what the family business (BXJ?) is. The way I look at it: The Bauer family has profited from munitions and war, while Jack opted out to fight those who would use the weapons of terror. Graem’s manipulation of the missing nukes has set his father on a crusade to protect his wayward son, which puts him in conflict with Jack, his noble and ever-suffering prodigal son.
I’m still taking a wait-and-see attitude before making a final judgment call on this story. It’s not like it’s the only thing going on in the world of 24.
This week, Peter MacNicol rivaled McCrane’s Graem in the villainy sweepstakes, promoting his fascist Homeland Security agenda so ruthlessly he forced his most vocal critic, Karen Hayes, to rather improbably step down. When she tendered her resignation, telling the new President Palmer, “You know what to do, sir,” I didn't buy it. Nothing in Wayne Palmer’s demeanor, or in DB Woodside’s recessive characterization so far, has convinced me that he’s anything but a puppet where Tom Lennox’s paranoid assault on Constitutional and civil rights are concerned. Time will tell. Gotta say, though, the conflict in the presidential bunker is still more interesting than anything going on at CTU right now. (Maybe that will change in a few hours, when Karen’s military transport reunites her with Bill Buchanan.)
While I’m mildly griping, I should note my dismay in the way the Walid-undercover-in-detention story played out. I assume there’s more to this situation than meets the eye, that there was some reason we spent those hours in the Muslim detention facility other than to learn that, in Chloe’s words, “These guys aren’t terrorists, they’re spectators.” If the point was to underscore the perils and inexcusable wrongs of racial profiling and internment of the innocent, how we only make the situation worse with such dehumanizing treatment, we get it already. If this was just an elongated red herring, 24 should know better.
Moving on, with cautious optimism. Because this week was the first time in quite a while when the clock struck the end of the hour that neither my mind nor pulse was racing.
Still, 24 was an hour well spent compared to the waste of time that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has become. Romantic comedy? Puh-leeze! Danny and Jordan being locked out on the roof was the last straw. Not charming. Not funny. Not interesting. If watching the collapse of an Aaron Sorkin show wasn’t part of my job description, that would have been my last hour in this show’s company. I don’t believe these characters. I barely feel I know them. The only person in the show I have any empathy with right now is exasperated boss man Jack Rudolph (confidently played by Steven Weber), who looks askance at all of these shenanigans as if he’d rather be anywhere else and with anyone else. I know exactly how he feels.
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Jan 30, 2007 11:41 AM
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Jack's wife, killed at the end of Season 1 was Teri NOT Nina. Nina Myers
was her killer.
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Jan 30, 2007 11:50 AM
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Thanks. I knew that. (Fixed it.) The perils of filing on the fly without a safety net.
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Jan 30, 2007 12:49 PM
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While I don’t watch 24 (a bit too violent for my timid tastes), I must agree about the debacle that is Studio 60. What an embarrassment this must be for NBC and everyone involved. It has to be the biggest disappointment of the television season and will definitely be a blemish on Aaron Sorkin’s career.
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Jan 30, 2007 12:54 PM
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I disagree that James Cromwell was well cast. While I think he is a terrific actor, I cannot see him as Jack and Graem's father. I just kept thinking their mother must have been a midget!
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Jan 30, 2007 1:11 PM
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Jack's father, I can see. But Graem is clearly a genetic (and human) aberration. I was thinking more of the quality of actor rather than just his physicality. James Cromwell is worthy of 24. I hope this season turns out to be worthy of him.
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Jan 30, 2007 2:34 PM
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Great reviews of both 24 and Studio 60. I especially agree about the boringness of CTU this season (Milo and Nadia can't hold a candle to Tony and Michelle). I don't know why I keep watching Studio 60 (as it's not my job), it must be the train wreck effect.
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Jan 30, 2007 2:41 PM
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While CTU still hasn't settled into the groove of season's past, I'm kind of digging the Nadia storyline. It was something different and interesting. Usually CTU is all about personal bickering (look at eps. 1-4), but this storyline had a little more depth and subtlety to it. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I hope they draw that out a bit so we can see how the racial profiling affects Nadia throughout the day. Now, if they make her evil, then well...let's just hope they don't go down that road.
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Jan 30, 2007 2:45 PM
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I agree with you on all points on 24.
Matt, I have watched Studio 60 since the beginning. I have tried (and tried) to get into it. Steven Weber's character was the only interesting one last night. That episode was the last straw.
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Jan 30, 2007 4:29 PM
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I'm loving 24. I came close to not being able to suspend disbelief in the very beginning, but they got me now. I have to admit having similar thought on the height of Poppa Bauer to Baby Bauers. Maybe they smoked when they were 5.
I gave up on Studio 60 a few episodes ago. In the beginning it held such promise. What happened?
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Jan 30, 2007 5:02 PM
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I like Studio 60. I think it's a show that if given a chance will grow into something
really good. I hope they renew it.
I personally wasn't thrilled about the casting of Jack's father. It didn't do it for me.
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Jan 30, 2007 5:43 PM
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I first want to say, I love your columns Mr. Roush. As a hugh TV couch potato, I wait for them each week.
The problem some people have with the height of the actors playing the Bauers doesn't bother me. My husband is 6'3" while both his parents were 5'5".
I, too, am willing to go along for the ride because even when some story lines don't meet my fancy (if I were a screen writer I'd probably have the best show on TV...just ask me), the overall story of Jack Bauer's very bad days are better TV than most other shows.
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Jan 30, 2007 5:58 PM
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I am so pleased to see people starting to realize Studio 60 was all Sorkin-style over Sorkin-substance! I have been disappointed in the show since day one, and I keep watching it in hopes of seeing a glimmer of a reason why Sorkin developed this show (beyond the payday). I loved Sports Night! I loved West Wing right to the end, when many others had abandoned it. Although Sorkin was not involved by then, I felt his spirit remained. Where has his spirit been in Studio 60?
The only area in which I disagree with you, Matt, is in Webber's character. In a cast of two-dimensional characters, his is the one-dimensional one!
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Jan 30, 2007 10:54 PM
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Gord, I think it's Weber who's theo one-dimensional one. I don't have a strong dislike for him but I think he's a pretty mediocre actor overall.
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Jan 31, 2007 4:02 AM
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Funny, I said something very similar about Studio 60 in a Ask Matt question all the way back in October and you snapped my head off defending it.
Not that I'm bitter or anything. (I kid, I kid)
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Jan 31, 2007 10:26 AM
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