24 & Philly

This article originally appeared in The_ Age_ on August 10, 2002

Isn’t 24 an obsessive’s dream? The digital clock leaping onto the screen every few minutes, the character’s constant use of email and mobile phones. I felt like I was in the office, on deadline. A lot of shows try and create the vibe that if you move you will miss some crucial piece of information, but in 24 (24 episodes, 24 hours, all in ‘real’ time with ad breaks built in) you really can’t afford to get off the couch.

24 started last Thursday, on Channel 7 and will be screening every Monday and Thursday at 8.30pm. It is one of the best uses of television I have seen. There are split screens and fast cuts but never is it a case of style over substance. There are several plots running simultaneously which is why the split screens come in handy – there is a lot to keep track off. Has Jack Bauer’s daughter Kimberley been kidnapped or is she just a bad girl? Will Teri Bauer, Jack’s wife, find their daughter in time? What is it in Senator David Palmer’s past that will be revealed and when will he start to take the threats on his life seriously? Who is it in the Counter Terrorist Unit that is in on the assassination plot and out to get Jack? How insane is the lesbian assassin who blew up the plane at the end of the first episode and why doesn’t’ she put a top on? (Note to self: this is the fourth crazed lesbian to grace our screen in as many weeks. What are these shows trying to tell me?)

It will be fascinating to see how far 24 will spin out all the subplots, and which ones it will bring together, before reeling the lot back in. Meanwhile, those who are hooked, like me, are ringing around trying to get episodes ahead of time from friends with ‘connections’ overseas that could ‘bring some in’.

Nominated for 10 Emmy’s in the recent nominations, one of 24’s Executive Producers is Ron Howard who is becoming an increasingly important player in both television and film. His Co-producer is Tony Krantz, a big hitter who has been involved in West Wing, ER, Twin Peaks, and Melrose Place. Another Executive Producer with an illustrious history is Steven Bocho of Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue fame, but his new show, Philly, which started last Wednesday (8.30pm, Channel 10), doesn’t cut it.

The courtroom genre is tired. It doesn’t matter how good Kim Delaney (formerly NYPD Blue) is – and she is good – this show is more of the same. I have lost count of how many legal dramas there are on at the moment but they are all starting to blur. This one has a nasty edge too, and it seems to me that Bocho has been watching too much David E. Kelley. In Philly’s first scene Kathleen Maguire’s (Delaney’s) partner has a breakdown in the courtroom, which involves telling the jury how difficult it is for middle-aged women to get sex these days and then showing them her breasts. This is familiar territory: the women are pathetic and the men are pigs.

Speaking of which, Ally McBeal starts on Monday (Channel 7, 9.30pm). The show has been canned in the States so this is the last series. This opener is one introduces several new characters and, actually, it is kind of fun. But, unlike 24, it is style over substance and the show's nervous ticks have long put off any but the most dedicated viewers.

Want to relax after all this American adrenalin? Take a trip through Dopeland at (ABC, 4:30pm) this Sunday as writer John Birmingham travels around Australia researching his new book about marijuana culture. "I guess I'm going to travel around, have a few smokes and meet a lot of idiots." It’s not really about dope, it’s about watching a gonzo writer at work. His secret ingredient? Hamburgers.

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