Customer Reviews

24: Seasons 1-3

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a retiree living on a fixed income, I thought long and hard about spending the money for all three seasons of 24. But when I looked at the product details, I realized I would be getting 72 episodes on 20 discs for about 120 bucks. That is only about $1.75 per one-hour episode. That's a fantastic deal for the most exciting, thrill-packed adrenalin rush possible on television. You can't come close to that much entertainment even by renting the DVDs, or what it would cost in monthly cable or satellite fees. I give this a five-star rating not only for the content, but for the deal.

"24" is one of the only primetime TV dramas I hold in high regard. For three whole seasons, and currently working on its fourth, "24" has met my criteria in what I would consider a high quality TV drama. However, it has also surpassed my expectations especially in the areas of suspense and predictability. The show centers itself around the character Jack Bauer, a CTU(Counter Terrorist Unit) Agent, whose job is to protect the United States from any Internal or External Terrorist Attack. The show takes you over the course of a single day (one episode covers one hour of that one particular day) in which Jack has to face a certain threat to national security. For the past three seasons, Jack has already faced the threat of assasination of a presidential candidate(season 1), threat of a nuclear attack on U.S. soil(season 2), and the threat of a nationwide biological attack(season 3). Kiefer Sutherland plays the role of Jack Bauer and does an awesome job in portraying the harsh, cold and relentless personality that Jack is given. But what really gives the show its edge is the level of suspense it has and how each separate event weaves itself into the personal life of Jack. And the show is extremely unpredictable because of the way it manipulates the characters to take on different roles, and who you thought would be the good guy, actually turns out to be the enemy. Sometimes you won't see what's coming until you've seen it all from beginning to end. So if you want suspense, and if you want action, I highly recommend "24".

I only started watching 24 during the 4th series - so I never saw series 1-3. What an absolute treat these DVD's are! Many have already explained the you get something like 18 hours of solid viewing PER SERIES! - That's over 50 hours for the package. But here's the thing... it's totally addictive. I'm sorry, but I watched this thing almost back to back - it's just very powerful stuff. I'm a 24 junkie now... Shoot me... send me to rehab... Definitely the best value for money you could ever wish for and an amazing gift if you want to give something special - something really special. Series like Sopranos and Wire and stuff like that look very poor in comparison... and believe me, I'm a big fan of those too. 3 seasons of 24 for 100 bucks or so is just a no brainer... DO IT!

I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT. CAN'T STOP WATCHING--JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THE SUSPENSE AND INTRIGUE. WHERE HAVE I BEEN WHILE THIS HAS BEEN AIRING ON TV? HOWEVER, IF I HAD TO WAIT A WEEK FOR THE NEXT EPISODE, I WOULD PROBABLY SHAKE THE TV APART TRYING TO GET IT SOONER.

Where to start... I started watching 24 after the first season came out on DVD just because a couple of friends and a lot of hype said it was great. I can attest that nobody lied. This show somehow obtains a level of stress for the viewer and sustains it in a way never matched by any show in my 40ish years ov watching TV. I could go into great detail but that is a waste, get the DVD's watch them, or get the starter set (waste your money to get the addition) and you will end up right back here :) TV was never better. Oh, and make sure you got some time off from work you can use, you will not want to stop for anything, you don't believe me now, but you will :)

this package is the ultimate gift... the show 24 is mindblowing and will keep you in suspense till the very last episode.
WARNING: ery addictive and may cause you to stay indoors for long periods of time trying to cram every last second of seasons in.

Well. OK. I don't really mean that. I guess there is coverage for national tragedies, there are excellent stories about powerful women and men that sometimes capture the imagination of viewers with inspiration and promise, and there is the reporting on the funeral of aging prelates and the like that on occasion exceed 24 in quality. But stories, you know, the things that capture us, shows that bring together great writing, great acting, great photography and little or no pandering are few and far between. 24, the 3 seasons, is one of them.

First of all, the casting is fantastic. Kudos to Sutherland, who hasn't asked for more money, given interviews on how he kept his integrity, or been arrested for drugs, sex or rock 'n roll. He has stayed in the background, given props to his fellows and been charming. Tony Almeda and President Palmer likewise. And the women are attractive and yet not pawns. There are no shower scenes, and the relationships that Jack gets into are issues of the heart, not other things. It's not gratuitous. And the women are tough and bad. Remember Michelle pumping 4 rounds into that dude? COLD!

Jack's kind of like Reacher, another great Jack, in the Lee Child series, always alone, extremely loyal and with in the words of a pretty good wordsmith from the '60's, 'with a code, that he can live by.'

The indication from the first of the 72 hours that this was going to be different was that it left you breathless. Each show, with few exceptions, never failed to plumb the depths of your imagination, nerves and interest. When Jack shoots a colleague in the early episodes of 1 and then the colleague lives and then turns out to be a triple agent, you're so confused you don't know what's up. I believe that's one of the hallmarks of 24. Other shows have managed to make you sad, explored the depths of your soul, and left you teary. NYPD and the early Hill Street come to mind. But I can't recall any shows where you just didn't know what was going to happen next, who was the "plant" and how the 24th hour was going to resolve the previous 23.

Filming is good to excellent. A lot of the show is in the dark (well, at least 12 hours of it) and yet it doesn't sacrifice seeing and understanding the scene for "effect," Parallel stories shown in real time is excellent. And of course Sutherland's voice is exceptional.

The CD deal is a steal; you get all the first 3 seasons for little cash and you can watch them in chunks of 4 hours without having a cardiac. High praise; best thing around; can't wait for next year. 5 stars. Larry Scanlebury

24 has got to be the best show out there. Let me just say it's freaking ADDICTING! I saw all three seasons in about 2 and a half weeks, you do the math. $120 dollars for all three episodes.....consider that a gift, thats 72 episodes. Once you see the first show it won't matter how much it costs trust me, just buy it. Well worth the money! When you finish watching all three seasons your gonna end up buying the T-shirt and mousepad just like i did. =)

24 has an amazing assortment of twists and turns. Sure it pushes credulity. Perhaps the most disheartening aspect is that some characters we like die and others just make idiotic mistakes. You'll have to decide if it works for the stories, however there is no doubt that the stories have an addictive quality. In each season the major threat is demonstrated to be extremely serious and worthy of the intense action that follows. Most refreshing is the overall effort made to present all nationalities and ethnicities as having heroes and villians. And the Spanish language track is excellent. The DVD's are really the best way to see this series.

Let me first say I hate television. And what I have more than television itself is a television series. Yet I find myself hopelessly devoted to this show.
24 came along within months after the 9-11 attack so its timing could not have been better for the show's main McGuffin is terrorism. Hip and stylish the shows main gimmick is that one season takes place over a twenty-four hour period (hence the name). Yet it is more than a gimmick as it gives the series a driving pace that takes the viewer on a rollercoaster ride.
Contemporary music peppers the dramatic score of the series which heightens the drama as well as the ticking of the clock at each break.
The clever use of multiple screens (one of the only times I have seen this technique actually add something to a movie) also adds to the drama.
But I have yet to mention the hero of the story Jack Bauer himself. In any other frame work and in any other time Jack saving the world (or at least America) every season would wear thin but somehow it works. And it is not only for those things just mentioned but the intensity of the acting of Kiefer Sutherland who plays Bauer that makes the implausible plausible (and after all what am I to say is implausible in the world we live in today)?
Bauer works for CTU, the counter terrorism unit of the CIA based in Los Angeles, and who continually risks life and limb in every episode as if he were suicidal. But Kiefer is convincing as a man devoted to his country. Perhaps this would come across as overly sentimental if not somewhat mindlessly militaristic in another period but these days it sure is comforting to have Jack around.
I sometimes recall the days of the 60s series "The Man from UNCLE" when I think of 24. When the show was in its first run we were in the height of the cold war and the idea of an avenging angel in the know on our side equipped with a panoply of technological gadgets was very appealing. The comparison between 24 and "The Man from UNCLE" falls short too in that fact that some of the gadgets the hero of that show, Napoleon Solo, used were so fanciful they were beyond belief whereas in these days when computer technology makes great strides in months instead of years the technology of CTU seems quite plausible. Unlike the aforementioned sixties series that dabbled somewhat in situations that were at times surreal or just plain absurd 24 is always played with great seriousness. One might come to think of the show as taking itself a little too seriously if it not for the depiction of the dangers being so great and the torture committed the good guys and bad guys alike being so graphic and horrific ( CTU has its own dark side as they are often found brutally interrogating prisoners reminding one of the "ticking time bomb question" asked by Alan Dershowitz immediately after 9-11 as we as a country for the first time in modern history started considering how torture in certain circumstances could be justified).
Don't get me wrong there are definite problems with the show. The bad guys in this series are usually the embodiment of evil and many times they are swarthy third world types making the show a tad jingoistic but those characters are usually balanced by money hungry whitebread Americans willing to sell out their country.
There is also the problem of Los Angeles CTU - how long will the fate of the world and all of these various terror plots be centered in Los Angeles and why does it always fall on Jack Bauer's shoulders to save the world?
Yet as a fan you forget all of that with the clever pacing, the multiple screens and the whiz bang sets complete with the dazzling images on the screens of the computers of the workers at CTU (which at times seem to work exclusively as Jack's personal support staff).
As long as terrorism is in the headlines 24 will remain topical satisfying and in someway comforting.
Besides it's great fun.