Bye Bye Buchanan

This past Monday Bill Buchanan sacrificed his life to save the President of the United States, Allison Taylor. As they do every time a main character dies, the people at '24' used a silent clock to fade out to commercial after the explosion that Bill created.

This is significant to me because Bill Buchanan has been my favorite character during the seven seasons of the show. Sure I've liked Tony and you can't be a 24 fan if you don't love Jack, but Bill really got it done for me day in and day out.

Bill first appears in season 4 when he comes to CTU LA from Division to oversee things. By the end of the season, Tony and Michelle Dessler retire and Bill becomes head of CTU. In season 5 Bill, along with Chloe, spend most of the day helping Jack be Jack behind closed door. They get detained for some of the season because of it. It was actions like this that made Bill and also David Palmer in his day, the best characters on the show.

Ten Most Influential and Heart Wrenching Deaths

10. Paul Raines (Day 4)- After taking a bullet for Jack, Paul is being operated on in CTU, but Jack forces the doctor to switch over to a suspect that they need information out of. Raines dies on the table.

9. Michelle Dessler (Day 5)- At the beginning of season five, Michelle is blown up by a bomb in her car a la Jack McKay.

8. David Palmer (Day 5)- About five minutes before Michelle, Palmer got shot by a sniper within the first five minutes of the season. This death was way to abrupt to get at me the way it should have.

7. Lynn McGill (Day 5)- Rudy really took one for the team after the poisonous gas was released inside of CTU. It would have killed everyone in the building if he didn't go on his suicide mission to stop it from getting to Jack, Chloe and the gang.

6. Bill Buchanan (Day 7)- Another self-sacrifice for the good of others, Bill blew himself up to save the President. Not enough drama leading up to his move, and no slow mo, what's that about?

5. Curtis Manning (Day 6)- After taking bad guy Assad into his clutches and threatening to kill him, Jack tells him to put his gun away or he'll have no other choice. Curtis refuses and Jack shoots and kills the long time CTU agent.

4. George Mason (Day 2)- Mason was hit with poisonous plutonium earlier in the season and was told he would have maybe a week to live. Knowing this he piloted the nuclear bomb so that it was near no one else when it blew up.

3. Milo Pressman (Day 6)- Milo returned to 24 following a five year absence and left in style. When the Chinese bad guys came into CTU to take control they asked who the leader was. To protect Nadia, Milo said it was him, as he stood to face the Chinamen. They shot him instantly.

2. Edgar Stiles (Day 5)- Wow season five was action packed. Edgar was caught in the poisonous gas that McGill eventually stopped. His downfall was filled with slow-mo and a great score that grabbed my heart right out of my chest.

1. Ryan Chapelle (Day 3)- Now Chapelle was a jerk most of the time, but when Stephen Saunders said he wanted Chapelle dead or he would do something really bad, I had a hard time not choking up. Jack ended up shooting Chapelle in the head from point blank.
For a good cry click here.

Jack Is Back

The show that got me to be the terrible television freak that I am is back after taking 2008 off because of the writers' strike. For the second time, Jack Bauer and 24 had a two night, four hour premier this past Sunday and Monday. Back during my sophomore year of college, Larry brought the first three seasons of the real-time drama to our suite. I finished the 72 episodes in about 6 weeks (albeit this was much longer than it took Larry and Mags who stayed up til 5 a.m. watching eps). Mags then went out and bought a bootleg Asian version of season 4 so we got to see the best season ever (with Habib Marwan) before it came back on the air in January.

Now I agree with all of you that seasons five and six have not been up to par with the fourth or third installments, but season seven has started out with a bang. Even though I knew beforehand that, spoiler alert, Tony, Bill and Chloe were coming back for this season, it was still an unbelievable moment. Sure I am as gullible as the next idiot and believed Tony was completely dirty, but finding out that he is working under cover with Buchannon and Chloe to take down the corrupt US Government was like a magical conjunction. When Jacko joins them during the fourth hour to go under, it truly geared me up for a great season.

Just think, Lost starts in less than a week...

Jump the Shark

A couple days ago I asked the Boss if he watched House this week. He said that after it ended his wife asked him if he thought House had 'jumped the shark.' My response was "Huh?" The Boss was very surprised that I had never heard the phrase before. As am I now that I see how prevalent it is in entertainment and television culture. Jumping the shark is a term used when a show has hit its peak and begins to go down hill. The term originates from Happy Days when The Fonz jumps over a shark while water skiiing. Check out this website where viewers vote on what moment 'jumped the shark' in many tv shows, if it ever did at all. JumptheShark.com

I looked over the shows that I am currently watching and have found four cases of jumping the shark that stick out to me.

Desperate Housewives- After the first season this show has gone downhill and stayed there. The mysterious storyline of season one was a bit of a let down at the end and it continued to be unsatisfying as they brought in new uninteresting characters.

24- After the fourth season, which was the absolute best season of 24, it jumped the shark. The President became involved in the terrorism and it just was not nearly as good.

Heroes- At the beginning of season 2, with the introduction of the South American siblings and Micah's distant family, Heroes took a step back. But I wonder if there is a term such as 'Going under the Shark' because Season 3 is back in action and so far has been much better than season 2.

House- As Mrs. Boss presumed, I feel House is potentially jumping the shark this season. The House/Wilson/Private Investigator storyline has been much less than stellar so far this season. We'll see if it continues throughout the year.