24' keeps on ticking

There's nothing better than a great story. I fondly remember going on camping trips, sitting around a campfire, and listening to fantastic and captivating stories. In modern television, with the recent spate of reality series, the art of telling a great yarn is all but lost on audiences. While the tense moments leading up to who The Bachelorette or Joe Millionaire will choose are exciting, they pale in comparison to the thrills of watching 24.

For those readers who missed last fall's preview of this upcoming season, 24 follows a Rashomon-esque format. The entire 24 episode season is based on the occurrences in one 24 hour period, with each episode following the events of one hour, in real-time. This season captures the period from 8 a.m. to 8 a.m. the next morning on one otherwise normal Los Angeles day.

Only this day is clouded by a nuclear bomb threat, a government power struggle that may result in a coup d'etat, and many other possible catastrophes. Only Counter Terrorism Unit agent Jack Bauer, played with the perfect amount of brashness and resolve by Kiefer Sutherland, can save the City of the Angels.

For a show with ridiculously poor writing and over-the-top acting performances, 24 still has the juice to attract a dedicated throng of viewers each week. Going on Hour 14 -- 9:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. -- with tonight's episode, the producers have provided enough twists and turns to fill the hour with nail-biting excitement. More importantly, they haven't resorted to cheap cop-out plot developments like last season with Terri's "short term amnesia" episode.

24's meager ratings, which never really reach beyond 12.0 on the Nielsen charts (top shows like Friends usually score in the low 20s), are thankfully ignored by advertisers because the show's audiences is apparently dominated by their dream demographic -- young, rich professionals. The biggest problem facing 24 is attracting newer audiences to the show, as the convoluted plot make it difficult for viewers to jump in during the middle of the season.

So for those readers out there who have wanted to join in on the Kiefer thrill ride, here is a short synopsis of Hours One through 13, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., to get you back on track.

Jack, still reeling from the loss of his wife at the hands of the devilish mercenary (for the Millionaire fans, that doesn't mean missionary) Nina, has been put on the case to locate the nuclear bomb and flatten the risk of a terrorist attack. In his search of the Second Wave terrorist group, he discovers that Nina has hired out her services to the group.

While getting the most info about the bomb out of her, the plane they are in is shot down, a renegade group of army soldiers attack them, and Jack's life is bartered for the location of chief terrorist Syed Ali. Fortunately, Nina is quickly apprehended, and Jack goes on to become the modern MacGyver.

Following his actions at CTU Headquarters are Director George Mason, and his aides Tony and Michelle. George, having been exposed to high levels of nuclear radiation, is slowly dying yet keeps on the job with idiotic diligence. Tony and Michelle have declared their mutual attraction to each other, which either means one of them is dirty (a mole) or one of them is going to die in a future episode. This is all after being blown up by another group of radical patriots earlier in the day. You should see the plot twists that I'm leaving out of this summary.

In a totally unrelated plotline, at least by this hour, Jack's daughter Kim has been traipsing around Southern California vying for the World's Stupidest Girl award. She has accomplished all of the following in the duration of 13 hours: kidnapping a girl she had been the nanny for twice, been an accomplice to a vicious assault, carjacking, getting mixed up in a murder charge, starting a fire in a cop car to escape the police, finding herself stuck in a mountain lion trap. She currently is stuck in a bomb shelter with a whacko recluse in the middle of the Californian woods. It's shameless exploitation of Elisha Cuthbert's sexual appeal, and this current plotline better resolve itself soon, or it could ruin the show.

Also monitoring the terrorist activities are President David Palmer and his loyal staff. That's with the exception of NSA Chief Robert Stanton, who for some god-only-knows reason knew about the impeding threat months ago and decided to track the bomb secretly. This is all apparently part of a great coup, spearheaded by none other than fan favorite Sherri Palmer. The now-divorced wife of the President is manipulating her ex, sneaking around the President's compound all of which are much to the chagrin of his staff.

The climax of all these events has yet to peak, but Jack and the crew are hot on the bomb's tail, Mason is near death, Palmer just discovered his wife's disloyalty, and Kim should be wearing one of those "I'm With Stupid" shirts. Sutherland's performance has been phenomenal once again, although its all relative to the rest of the melodramatic cast. In spite of all the goofiness in plot, the story is what makes a show. Because if goofiness spelled doom for television shows, would we really be able to watch, Celebrity Mole?