Thoughts on 24

I'll try and bit more logical in this post, as my HDTV theory ran into some deserved ridiculing.

But before I write the longer 24 roundup with Mike Zordan, which you can read over at TTO tomorrow, along with all our other roundups, here are a couple of quick rants.

1) John McCain is an absolute sellout and hypocrite. Politically, the guy manages to get shit done. While dealing with political policy, he seems to stand on principle. I applaud him for standing up to our President on issues regarding prisoner torture. I also appreciate his willingness to work with Democrats...you'd think they have cooties or something. BUT...what the hell is with his 24 cameo?!?!

Supposedly, the senator is a big fan of the show and was visiting, and they offered him a walk-on role. Thanks to Mike for placing the cameo at 12:32 ( in show time) during the show.

So here's my beef. I give you a quote from McCain's own website. It is an "op-ed" he wrote with Sen. Joe Lieberman in 1999 [emphasis added]:

..neither the executives nor the lobbyists sent in their place have had any genuine response to the growing chorus of concerns about the harmful influence of the entertainment media's romanticized and sanitized vision of violence, about its part in the toxic mix that is turning too many of our kids into killers.

I disagree that the media portrayal of violence has increased violence among children, but I can respect the opinion of those that do. But not if they go appear on a show that offers a very very unsanitary version of violence. Three characters died on last night's episode of 24: One by suicide, two by guns. One was a coldblooded murder by a terrorist who promised to spare his victim's life only minutes earlier. And that was on the low end of body counts in a 24 episode. You should have seen the season premiere.

How can McCain issue screeds against the violent media, then appear on their shows? Can anyone defend this hypocrisy?

2) Whew...that first one was a long rant. Second point deals with my concerns for the rest of the season. It was revealed in the show that the strike on America is a second resort for Terrorist Ivan. His first goal was to attack "tyrranical" Russia. But now, he's content to just wing it and attack the U.S.? This doesn't strike me as a credible plotline to extend over a season. People who are desperate make mistakes...this isn't a criminal genius here...its a spurned terrorist who's anxious to revenge Walt Cummings' idiocy. There's no anti-U.S. modus operandi...Im just not feeling the Terrorist Ivan plotline.