Way back once upon a time, I found 24’s Season 1 for the totally cheapo price of $24.99 and snatched it right up. (I also promised to blog on it weekly, and that totally fell apart, but that’s another story. I still have 17 episodes to blog on, and I swear I will. Someday. I have two kids. Sue me.)

Anyhow, I think I know why Season 1 was so cheap. Fox is coming out with a whole new Special Edition of Season 1. The original set, rushed to stores in advance of Season 2, only had an optional introduction by Kiefer Sutherland and an alternate ending (in which SPOILER ALERT! Teri didn’t die).

So now Fox has a seven-DVD set (mine was six) that is scheduled to come out May 20, according to TVShowsonDVD.com. List price is $59.98.

Note: As promised, I’ve begun watching Season 1 of 24 and am blogging on one episode a week episodes after I see them, as a run-up to Season 7. Remember, I’m pretending I know nothing about Seasons 2-6, so blah blah blah, yackety schmackety.

I know, I’ve been very remiss in blogging on Season 1. Life’s been busy.

But this weekend, as all the sick people in my house napped, I watched episodes 5, 6 and 7 in a row and am back in the action.

And action it was!

I’ll deal with this character group by character group:

Note: As promised, I’ve begun watching Season 1 of 24 and am blogging on one episode a week, as a run-up to Season 7. Remember, I’m pretending I know nothing about Seasons 2-6, so blah blah blah, yackety schmackety.

Whoa. Even though it’s a bit cliched in the thriller genre, it was downright creepy when the van carrying a kidnapped Kim Bauer drove right past the car Teri Bauer and Janet’s dad were in. I just wanted to scream at the TV, “SHE’S IN THERE!!!”

I thought the whole side plot, though, of Teri and Janet’s dad (can’t remember his name, and I don’t really care enough to look it up, he seems so like a disposable plot point), was quite silly, however. I understand that if I were looking for my daughter I might feel as strongly as he did. But I’d also try to make nice with the cop in hopes that he’d come along and help us out rather than do everything in my power to antagonize him.

Teri was far more reasonable, but I guess being married to a government agent makes it a little likely she’d understand how it all works.

OK, so Janet — I did heave a sigh of relief when the ambulance just happened by and picked her up (but it did seem weird that an ambulance would just be meandering around this totally deserted neighborhood at night, no?) just in the nick of time. Mr. Kidnapper Man preparing to shoot her was cold.

Kim, though I probably would have been screaming and fighting just as much as she was if I were kidnapped, just annoyed the bejeezus out of me. I wanted to slap her and was kind of relieved when Nice Kidnapper Man did. Gaines was an interesting addition; wonder if he’s telling the truth to Kim when he says she’ll be OK in a couple days if she goes along with him.

Speaking of, knock me over with a feather when the bad guy Jack helps capture spills that he knows something about Kim’s kidnapping. What on earth could her kidnapping have to do with David Palmer’s assassination? Correct me if I’m wrong, but the keycard was supposed to have information regarding the assassination plot on it, and that’s where this address came from. Color me curious.

Jack sure was.

He was also pretty torn up that that cop was killed. He felt really badly about it; here he was, trying to do his job and this cop was just trying to help him out and what does she get for her trouble? Death.

The question is, was the janitor working with the bad guys? Was he there to distract the cop so the bad guy could get the drop on her? What connection does this building have to the assassination attempt (or Kim’s kidnapping, for that matter) anyway?

As for the assassination attempt, really glad Palmer’s taking it seriously. Agent Pierce, despite not having many answers, finally managed to impress upon him that this wasn’t just a bunch of rumors, but some good intel. What he or anyone else can do about it, I’m not so sure.

While I understand Palmer’s desire to not hide on Primary Day, what good does winning the election do if you’re dead? I had the feeling Pierce really wanted to say that to him.

As for Palmer’s son, I think that David does indeed wonder if his son killed the guy who raped his sister (what is this, 24 or All My Children?), and I have a feeling it may turn out to be true. But even if Kevin’s former therapist is telling the truth, isn’t it a huge breach of ethics for him to say that? What ever happened to doctor-patient confidentiality?
Back at CTU, things are getting very interesting. Is Jack indeed a rogue agent? We know he isn’t lying to Jamie in that Walsh told him he could trust Jamie and not anyone else. But George Mason made some major points with Nina, asking if she would ask the same of Jack as he’s asking of her.

It seems pretty sure that Mason’s a bad guy, but is he the bad guy? Hmmm. Lots of stuff to ponder.

Note: As promised, I’ve begun watching Season 1 of 24 and am blogging on one episode a week, as a run-up to Season 7. Remember, I’m pretending I know nothing about Seasons 2-6, so blah blah blah, yackety schmackety.

So, Nina’s not the spy. Knew it. I wonder, though, if Jamey might be. She’s obviously the computer expert and also is the one who confirmed it was Nina. I know that Walsh said Jack could trust Jamey, but how did he know that?

And if Jamey isn’t the spy, then who? Tony, perhaps?

And if neither of them, it’s a total mystery to me.

Or what about this — could Walsh have been the mole, throwing Jack off the trail by putting him on the case? Far-fetched, I know, but wouldn’t that be a juicy storyline?

Anyway, coulda knocked me over with a feather when Mandy and Bridget just suddenly started making out. I know more than one man-boy who must have liked that scene just a little too much. Made it all the more shocking when they killed Bridget and Mandy went along with it.

I couldn’t tell if Mandy knew it was going to happen, if that’s why she’d said she would take the matter up with Gaines, or if she just recognized that she was obviously the next target, so why not save her own life? She did seem to truly love Bridget.
Another interesting aspect to the Mandy storyline is that she doesn’t seem to really be a simply evil person, she’s just a mercernary. She simply is in it for the money; doesn’t care who’s hurt. I don’t know that that matters, but it was interesting. She’s not drawn into this from a political standpoint.

Anyhow, over to Kim.

She’s not as much of an airhead as she first appeared.

Sure, she’s a typical teenager, sneaking out to party with some strange boys, etc., etc. But she figured out pretty quickly that something wasn’t copacetic.

Pretty out of hand when the guys shot up her friend with junk to stop the pain. I do find it hard to believe, however, that her friend would have been able to run like that so soon after being shot up. A tad unrealistic, I think.

But that said, Kimberly really got her act together and got the two of them out of there. It did seem kind of obvious that Mr. Crack Whore would help them out, but that was a pretty shocking manner in which he helped. I guess he remembered a day when he wasn’t walking the streets cranked up (or down) on whatever drugs and actually had a family. Whatever. That was a little cheesy.

I had a hard time accepting the shocking final scene, too, where Kim’s friend suddenly inhaled deeply. Sure, she could have survived being hit. But her sudden return to consciousness seemed a bit bizarre and unrealistic.

Whatever the case, it brought her back into the clutches of the bad boys, who seem to be working with Gaines, which means whoever wants Palmer dead also wants to have Jack Bauer under his control. Curiouser and curiouser.

Finally, we have Mr. I Want To Be President.

So, the son’s a hothead. I wonder what the truth really is about his friend who died from falling out a window. Is Palmer telling himself the truth when he says his son didn’t push the guy out? Who, exactly, is Carl?

Oh, by the way — wow, when Palmer caught the bat that thug swung at him. What’s his damage? Must be former Special Forces or something like that. Would love to see him kick some butt.
Palmer is being a bit naive if he thinks he can just prevent this stuff from being aired in the public sphere. I mean, has he seen the last few campaigns for … anything? Politics is nasty and if you have anything in your or your family’s past that doesn’t involve the honor roll or saving kittens from a fire, it’s gonna get brought up and your name’ll be dragged through the mud. Heck, even in those cases, someone might accuse you of cheating your way onto the honor roll and setting the fire just so you could save the kittens and be a hero.

Palmer needs to be honest with Sherry, though. She needs to be aware of what’s going on. Keeping secrets like this never help.

Just curious, though — how did the Secret Service find Palmer? How would they have had any clue where he was? Could they trace his cell signal? Track his car? Huh?

Until next week….

Note: As promised, I’ve begun watching Season 1 of 24 and am blogging on one episode a week, as a run-up to Season 7. Remember, I’m pretending I know nothing about Seasons 2-6, so no snarky comments about how I’m an idiot because I think Tony’s a jerk or Sherry Palmer’s a stand-up woman. Ahem.

Wow. I honestly have to say I was shocked when Nina Myers’ name came up as the potential mole. I’d suspect Tony before Nina. I mean, why is he so intent on finding out what Jack is doing?

But besides the fact that Nina seems so unlikely as the mole, I find it hard to believe the truth about that would come out in only the second episode. I’m thinking there’s got to be more to this. Unfortunately, the body count is already stacking up and two people died in getting this information into Jack Bauer’s hot little hands. Nice toss by Walsh.

Note: As promised, I’ve begun watching Season 1 of 24 and will start weekly blog posts on it today. As I’ve previously confessed, I never did watch the first season of The Jack Bauer Show and am finally catching up. As a run-up to Season 7, I will blog weekly, pretending I know nothing about Seasons 2-6 and know none of the twists and turns that have made 24 one of the best 24 hours on television each season (OK, except the Season 6 crapapalooza, which was only one of the best 10-12 hours or so of television last season.)

An interesting concept, this, having a show take place in “real time.” Hopefully we won’t have to see any potty breaks or boring lunches in the cafeteria — “What!? You’re out of tater tots? I want to speak to the manager!”

But based on this first hour, there doesn’t appear to be much downtime on 24.

OK, first off, Adam was totally right regarding my reaction to the latest woes to beset our beloved “24.”

Thanks to Heather for stepping into the breach whilst I was off work last week. (I’d say it was a vacation, except that with two boys, aged 3 and 1, “vacation” wouldn’t exactly describe the week I had. Enjoyable, yes. Vacation? Not so much.)

On the one hand, what is wrong with these people? Season 7 premieres in January. Time’s a ticking. (How appropriate.) But some of the Blogs4Bauer folks and I already drew up a blueprint for Season 7; with Cherry Jones as the new prez, it would only take a little tweaking. And getting Dirk Benedict to join the cast would surely cost far less than filming in Africa would have.

On the other hand, maybe — just maybe — this is a good thing.

24 was getting a wee bit predictable with each succeeding season. Part of the problem with Season 6 was that it was primarily recycled plot bits from the previous five seasons, albeit with a few spectacular additions (you’ve gotta admit, any show that sets off a nuke just outside Los Angeles in the first four hours has guts. And I’ve blogged on other fantastic scenes previously – biting his torturer, the fight with Fayed and Chloe dropping a D-bomb, all examples).

But so much of it was predictable, and when it wasn’t predictable, it was just flat-out ridiculous, even by 24’s standards.

Maybe being forced to come up with something so totally new is a good thing. Maybe having to scrap and scrap and scrap plans for Season 7 is a good thing. Maybe.

That said, I have decided to blog on one of the most innovative shows of the past several years as a run-up to Season 7.

What show is that, I hear many of you asking.

That would be Season 1 of 24.

As many of you may not remember, I never saw Season 1. As I previously explained, the show premiered just a tad bit too soon after Sept. 11 for me to be interested in a show that was so Sept. 11-ish.

Though I’d liked lots of movies with Kiefer (The Lost Boys, anyone?) as a teen, he wasn’t enough of a draw to get me to watch it, either. Plus, a former movie star moving to the small screen reeked of desperation at that point. That’s become de rigeur in the “industry” by now, but it was relatively unusual at the time.

So when I saw it on sale this weekend for a mere $24.99, I took it as a sign and bought it. I’m going to watch an episode a week (more than that as we get closer to the premiere date so I can get all the eps in) and blog as if it’s a live show. I’m going to blog on it as if I’ve never seen an episode of 24 before, as if it’s new and fresh and exciting.

I suspect that, even though I know the main twists – Nina’s bad, Teri dies – and have seen snippets of episodes here and there (and even the alternate ending, where Teri doesn’t die), it still will be new and fresh and exciting. Jack was not nearly such a tortured soul back then. And he didn’t torture people nearly so much, either. He was just an anti-terrorism agent out to prevent the assassination of a good man who was running for president. He had a trouble marriage, a hot daughter and his friend, Tony, had a stupid soul patch on his chin.

But there was a certain innocence about Season 1’s Jack Bauer, and of its fans, too.

So join me this fall as I travel back in time, so to speak, and see how 24 all began.