Be Awesome 2011

“24” For Better or Worse

When I was a freshman in high school, I took a miserable electronics course with a teacher who looked like a troll and sounded like Tom Waits on helium. During lectures I fell asleep. In the lab I was competent, but slow paced, and the combination of a never-ending rainstorm and the tinny sounds of Steely Dan made freshman electronics a hotbed of hostility.

Later that quarter, still raining, the teacher decided to show us 24. The guy was a big fan of Jack Bauer’s techniques before the torture memos even surfaced, and I was intrigued, albeit for different reasons. In 2005, network dramas were an embarrassment, and my TV watching habits were limited to Arrested Development. And while I’d known of 24 since it came on, I was surprised to see how effectively it played out. So I started watching the DVDs, but things went downhill fast.

Here for your enjoyment is a list of what made 24 good, and what killed it.

Better: Kiefer Sutherland

I could list pros and cons with any number of actors on this show, but since Kiefer Sutherland is the main star, he gets extra points for embodying a character that you want to root for, but just as often hate. Jack Bauer’s frequent wrongheadedness makes him human, and in the hands of a lesser actor could have gone very badly.

Worse: Kim

Notice I didn’t say Elisha Cuthbert, because the problem with the character should be blamed first and foremost on the writers. “Kidnapping the Hero’s Daughter” is a secondary plot familiar to people who anyone who’s seen a lot of 80s and 90s action movies, but her gratuitous involvement was forced, dragged down the main plots, and made the show overall less rewatchable.

Better: Diversity

While there have been plenty of shows about terrorism, 24 was able to show all different kinds– the first season centered around a personal vendetta, the second an attempt to fabricate a Middle Eastern War. Season three stands out to me especially. By fast forwarding three years, introducing a whole group of new and genuinely interesting characters, and introducing a biological threat that built on earlier seasons, the series became ripe for an expanded universe (including a prequel game that could just as well have been another season). Unfortunately, even these seasons fell prey to…

Worse: Soap Opera Antics

Because of the real-time nature of the show, B and C plots often focused on personal conflicts that paled in comparison to the real action. When the writers realized this, they created even more sprawling, overblown scenarios that didn’t matter. Most of this revolved around the White House and David Palmer in particular, but notable exceptions include Terri Bauer’s amnesia, Kim’s babysitting gig, and all of Chloe’s family problems.

Worse: Success

In the end, success killed 24. With each successive season, the show became better known hand transformed into ridiculous political argument for gross human rights abuses. I mean, I love Breaking Bad but I’m not gonna go cook meth. This was made all the more glaring when the show recycled plots and upped the ante, losing viewers in the process.

In the end it was their loss; after the fourth season Lost went from enjoyable trifle to breakout hit, and ultimately expanded the possibilities of network drama. Like 24, Lost was written to be watched only once, but their better successors didn’t make that mistake.

Background Music returns in two days, see you then!

2011 Was a Good Year to be Awesome

Flying Cats

Classy as Hell

SoulDecision – “Faded”

When: 8:00 PM, 31 December 2000
Where: My living room
Who: Several family members
Weather: Cold, clear

“Canuck funksters SoulDecision resembled a boy band, with their male-model looks, wholesome sexuality, and shitty, shitty name, but they actually wrote their own songs and played their own instruments, which made them an anomaly in Lou Pearlman’s heyday. NOW! Volume 5 compiles “Faded,” one of the compilation’s few pleasant surprises.”

–Nathan Rabin

SoulDecision is one of the few mainstream pop-acts to be fawned over by AV Clubbers for two reasons: One, they make their own music and two, the music is good. So this hidden gem was an appropriate dance number for the close of the 20th century.

In Pasadena, you go out on New Years’ Eve, eat a ton of food, shoot silly string everywhere and either camp out on the street or go home. I’ve done both (we’ll get back to that in about nine years), but this time it was just home after some particularly energizing shrimp tempura. I danced my ass off, and none of that Dance Dance Revolution jumping masquerading as dance. I was really into it. I have a picture of it somewhere, my spiky hair and pilot’s jacket, but I don’t know where.

Next: We in Pasadena were also very proud to know that the new millennium started in 2001, starting with Daft Punk!

Mick Harvey – “Bonnie and Clyde”

When: 11 November 2000
Where: Southbound on El Molino Avenue in my dad’s car
Who: My parents
Weather: Cool, clear

If you’ve been following this series, it may have occurred to you that I had not reached my Intoxicated Man phase, so how did this get in here? The answer of course is my father. We were on the way to my Bubby’s for thanksgiving during a set by Nic Harcourt of KCRW when this came on. My mom, who was listening to her own radio, took off her headphones and asked if we were listening to the same station as her. We weren’t. But one day, Mick Harvey would return.

Next: The 20th century comes to a satisfying end, that is, if I can find my old photos.

Nelly Furtado – “I’m Like a Bird”

When: Early November, 2000
Where: My bubby’s house in Monterey Park
Who: Nobody
Weather: Cool, clear

When I first saw the video for “I’m Like a Bird” on Nickelodeon, I wasn’t crazy enthused (that thing with the tree made me kind of nauseous), but I understood what people might have seen in her. She did fairly well, then she took a hard left, making weird, posturing statements and trying to be all skanky and her whole career went to hell. I don’t really have anything to add to this, it just makes you wonder.

Madison Avenue – “Don’t Call Me Baby”

Embedding disabled by request.

When: 15 October 2000
Where: The 10 westbound through Ontario.
Who: My mother and bubby
Weather: Warm, dry

Two days ago, I mentioned my carpool mate Elizabeth; at the time this was her favorite song, but for our purposes that’s irrelevant.

One week, my mother did something she only did again once (about which more way later). She got me out of school a day early for purely recreational purposes.

Well, it might have been recreational for me, but she and my bubby still had to go to my cousin’s wedding. My cousin was Marilyn Wilson, ex-wife of Brian and mother of Carnie. But it was in Palm Springs, which was nice because I’d never been. The high desert is all dust and scrubs, air bases and mining towns. This was the low desert: white sand, date palms, casinos, and lots of old gay Jews. Altogether it was fascinating.

But all vacations come to an end, and the following Sunday we were headed through the featureless scrub somewhere around Declezville when we hit traffic. Mindblowing traffic, like Times Square in the ’70s. Like the Bowery in the 1870s. We were stuck under the 15 interchange when this song came on. My mom and bubby were arguing and I was trying to listen to the song, which got me nowhere. It’s funny what you remember.

Next: Nelly Furtado makes her debut before gettin’ dirty (and nowhere).

Barenaked Ladies – “One Week”

When: 6 October 2000
Where: United Artists La Cañada
Who: Chad Robinson
Weather: Cool, clear

Fun fact: These are written months in advance. As I write this, it’s August 30.

In the fall of 2000, I developed an interest in Digimon that, while seemingly longstanding, could only have lasted a few weeks. Either way, I was ready when Chad Robinson asked me to see the Digimon Movie with him. During one of the early scenes, this song played, and I was shocked because it was the song from that Mitsubishi commercial! What were the chances?

A better question would be, what was the original song in the Japanese version? Probably some slow, irrelevant love song.

Next: The everlasting struggle between the unprecedented and the annoying.