24 is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning Americantelevision series created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, and produced by Imagine Television. Broadcast by Fox Network in the USA and syndicated worldwide, the show first aired on November 6, 2001, with an initial thirteen episodes. In January 2007, 24 was made available online to US viewers through Fox on Demand. It is set in the fictional U.S government Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU).

24 is presented in real time, with each season depicting a 24-hour period in the life of Jack Bauer, who works with the U.S. Government as it fights threats on its soil. Bauer is often in the field for the fictional Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) as they try to safeguard the nation from terrorist threats. Based in Los Angeles, the show also follows the actions of other CTU agents, government officials and terrorists associated with the plot.

After leading actor Kiefer Sutherland won a Golden Globe for his role in the first 10 episodes, the ratings of the show increased, leading FOX to order the second half of the season. There have been six seasons of 24 produced. On May 15, 2007, it was confirmed that FOX has ordered seventh and eighth seasons, with the seventh planned to begin airing in January 2008. A motion picture based on the show has been written and was scheduled to be filmed in 2007 for a 2008 release but plans for production were put on hold to focus on the TV show.

24 is a thriller that purports to be shown in "real-time," with each minute of airtime corresponding to a minute in the lives of the characters.Commercial breaks are placed at times when non-essential plot is taking place (i.e. characters driving somewhere will begin when a commercial break starts and arrive at their destination at the end of the commercial break.) This allows for the show to actually occur in real time without compromising action. Actual show run time (without commercials) is about 45 minutes, as is typical for hour long television shows. Watched continually each season would take approximately 18 hours to finish. This real-time nature is emphasized by an on-screen digital clock appearing before and after commercial breaks, with a distinct beeping noise for each second, alternating between C and D tones. This time corresponds to the in-universe time of the show. The characters will often place time windows (such as the common "within the hour") on certain events such as terrorist threats, thus strongly hinting that the attack/event will occur before the end of the episode.

The action switches between different locations tracing parallel adventures of different characters involved in the same overarching plot. As a result, there may be long sections of unseen narrative for each character; in that case, a character may only be seen for a portion of an episode's overall running time.

24 employs fast-paced and complex plots.

A recurring theme of 24 has characters faced with the decision of whether or not to let something tragic happen for the sake of a greater good. In Season 2, a Dept. of Defense staffer has the chance to warn CTU of an imminent attack on their building, but argues that doing so would put the culprits on alert and thus cause a valuable trail to go cold. A similar situation occurs in Season 5, when terrorists plan to release a canister of nerve gas inside a busy shopping mall. In Season 3, the President and CTU agents must choose between the life of a high-ranking CTU official and the imminent threat of further attacks, while Season 4 is notable for a scene in which two men - one of whom possesses crucial information about a nuclear missile strike, and the other is the husband of a major character - lie dying in an emergency room, creating the ethical dilemma of whom to save. In addition, the sitting President often has to deal with a similar quandary. For example, in Season 6, President Wayne Palmer asks Jack Bauer to sacrifice himself in exchange for the location of a known terrorist.

The first season began and ended at midnight,leading to the situation that the main characters had to go almost two days without sleep. Later seasons have tended to use a less punishing time window, starting in the morning or early afternoon.

For the first two seasons, 24 frequently used split-screen action to follow multiple plots, although from Season 3 onward this was scaled back somewhat and confined mostly to phone conversations and shots leading into and out of commercial breaks.

Immediately prior to 24, series co-creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran executive-produced La Femme Nikita for its entire five-year run on USA Network. Both series deal with anti-terrorist operations, and the lead characters of both series are placed in situations where they must make a tragic choice in order to serve the greater good. As a result, the on- and off-screen creative connections between 24 and La Femme Nikita are highly pronounced. Numerous actors from La Femme Nikita have portrayed similar roles on 24, a number of story concepts from La Femme Nikita have been revisited on 24, and many of the creative personnel from La Femme Nikita currently work (or have worked) on 24 in the same capacity.

24 "borrows" some aspects of the 1997 film Air Force One too. In Seasons 2, 4 and 6, Air Force One can be seen and the series reused the same set as the one featured in the movie. Much like in the film, the 25th amendment has been invoked three times on 24 in Seasons 2, 4, and 6. Additionally, three actors featured on 24 - Xander Berkely, Wendy Crewson and Glenn Morshower - played roles in Air Force One.

The Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) is a fictional elite branch of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and similar to the real-life NYPD/FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the CIA Counterterrorist Center's Special Operations Division. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C. with satellite operations in major cities where threats are likely. CTU's primary mission is to disrupt and destroy foreign and domestic terror cells hostile to the United States, as well as protect the U.S. from terror attacks. With an office in nearly every major city of the U.S., CTU also has a role in creating security policy and fighting groups of organized crime that fund terrorism.[18] Although CTU is fictional, a similar department, the National Counterterrorism Center, was set up by the government.

CTU offices are run by a Director, also called the Special Agent in Charge, to whom the Director of Field Operations and the Chief of Staff report. Departments within a CTU office include Communications ("Comm"), Logistics, and Tactical ("Field Ops."). Communications and Logistics personnel report directly to the Chief of Staff, whereas Tactical personnel are deployed into Tactical Teams ("Tac Teams") by the Director of Field Operations.

The Los Angeles CTU Field Office houses several areas. The first floor contains the Situation Room, as well as the main communications complex and command center, often referred to as "The Floor." On the second floor is the Director's office and Field Ops office. Situated elsewhere in the building are the Information Technology department (I.T.), an in-house Medical clinic, Meteorology department, several Holding Rooms used for interrogation and confinement, and Tech Rooms, which contain the bulk of the physical computer hardware used by CTU.

The CTU offices within a region report to a Divisional Office, overseen by the Division Director. Divisional offices cover a larger amount of territory in their jurisdiction. Finally, the Divisional office and all other offices report to a District Headquarters, overseen by a Regional Director. This title implies that each District Headquarters has jurisdiction over an entire region of the United States. However, in Season 1, the reverse was implied: the District Director, George Mason, reported to District Manager Richard Walsh (who was killed in the second episode), and then Ryan Chappelle, the Regional Director from Division. However, in the Season 2 finale, Chappelle referred to a Mr.

There are some plot devices that are used constantly on 24.

Weapons of Mass Destruction: WMDs, especially nuclear weapons, are constant threats on the show. Seasons 2 and 6 have been based around the threat of nukes. In Season 3, it was a weaponized virus. Day 5 was a fictional nerve gas variant. Day 4 featured the threat of a nuclear weapon also, but the entire season did not center around this plot.

Traitors in the government: CTU is often compromised by moles. A major subplot in Day 1 was the presence of a so-called "dirty agent" working with terrorists. As it turned out, there were 2 dirty agents in Day 1 (Jamey Farrell and Nina Myers). Since then, another agent was found to be dirty in Day 4. Two traitors in the White House were exposed in Day 5 (Walt Cummings and Charles Logan). Many others have been accused of espionage.

Invocation of the 25th Amendment: Section 4 of the 25th Amendment states that if the majority of the President's cabinet votes that the President is unable to fulfill his duties, he will be removed. It was first invoked during Day 2, to stop then President David Palmer from aborting an attack that would propel the U.S. into war. He manages to stay in office and prevent the attack. It was invoked on Days 4 and 6, after failed assassination attempts on Presidents Keeler and Wayne Palmer. Mike Novick was involved with it being invoked in both the 2nd and 4th seasons.

Insubordination from Jack Bauer: Jack has broken CTU protocol at least once in all six seasons. He manages to convince other agents to help him (usually Chloe O'Brian, Tony Almeida or Michelle Dessler). He usually is granted amnesty for his actions.

Frequent Change in Command: So far on the series, there have been six on-screen Presidents. Only three of those six were actually elected into office, and only one served for a full term. Two Presidents resigned, two ex-Presidents were assassinated, one was poisoned, another was incapacitated by a bomb, and another was seriously injured when Air Force 1 was shot down. Also, there have been twelve directors of CTU, many of whom have also either resigned or been killed.

Threatening Family Members to Force Compliance: Villains in the series frequently kidnap and threaten to kill close family members of the main characters in order to force them to work against CTU or the government (usually covertly). In addition, Jack has threatened to execute family members of suspects as an interrogation technique, althou

Each season of 24 has a primary storyline which is self-contained within that season. However, a number of these storylines involve backstory established in prior seasons, which continue to play a role in the series.

These cross-season storylines generally take place over the course of three seasons - often being called 'trilogies'. So far there has been 2 trilogies created - one of which is Seasons 1-3, and the other being Seasons 4-6. Most of the main characters in Season 1 also appeared in Seasons 2 and 3.

After Seasons 1-3 had been completed, 24 was revamped entirely, to keep the show fresh. This revamp includes a redesigned CTU, and many new characters introduced in Season 4. Characters in previous Seasons did not appear early in Season 4, with the exception of Jack Bauer, Chloe O'Brian and President John Keeler.

As a result, there was little continuity from Seasons 1-3 until the returns of Michelle Dessler, Tony Almeida, and David Palmer late in Season 4. (Kim Bauer returned for a two episode arc in Season 5, but this did not have a major impact on that season's storyline.)

These new characters, some of which being Audrey Raines, Secretary of Defense James Heller, Bill Buchanan, Curtis Manning, President Charles Logan, Edgar Stiles and Cheng Zhi, all had prominent roles in the second trilogy of 24.

Once Seasons 4, 5, and 6 had been completed, plotlines involving these characters had been resolved, similar to that at the end of Season 3. Therefore a third and probably a last trilogy is set to commence, with the confirmed Seasons of 7 and 8, and possibly 9, airing until at least 2009.

24 is known for making major changes to its main cast every season - the sole exception being Kiefer Sutherland, who is the only main cast member to star in all six seasons to date. Honorable mention should be given to Glenn Morshower who plays Aaron Pierce - the only actor besides Sutherland to appear in all six seasons. Due to the unpredictable nature of each season's storyline, main cast members are added and dropped frequently. In a few cases, guest stars have been upgraded to main cast members during the course of a season. Main cast members who return from prior seasons - whether they return for one episode or the better part of a season - are often given a "Special Guest Star" billing, although this is also used for other cast members who are well-known film actors, like Dennis Hopper, Powers Boothe, Sean Astin, and James Cromwell.

Because of the intense nature of the series, the number of onscreen deaths is high compared to other television dramas. Of the 28 characters who have comprised the main cast over the past six seasons, ten are deceased. That number is considerably higher when guest characters - whether they be government agents or terrorists - are also included. Whenever there is a death of a character, there is always a reason for it, for storytelling's sake, and it always relates back to Jack in some way.

A 24 feature film was originally scheduled to be released in 2008, but in April 2007, it was announced that plans to shoot the film have been put on hold.

The creators of the film originally announced that filming was not expected to start until after the seventh season of 24 is finished in 2008. Later reports suggested that the film was to begin shooting in Spring and Summer 2007 after season six was completed and before the seventh season.

In an interview with MTV News in April 2006, the show's star Kiefer Sutherland announced that a script was in development and that the film would abandon the real-time format of the show, but instead would cover one 24-hour period. In May 2006, Sutherland told British newspaper The Sun that shooting of the film will begin in London in May 2007. Filming will also take place in Prague and Morocco.[26] The film was officially announced in June 2006.

In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Sutherland confessed, "Anytime (the production team) got really close to having a great idea for having a film, we needed it for episode 18. So there it went. Kim Raver and Mary Lynn Rajskub will appear in the upcoming film according to the official 24 magazine. Elisha Cuthbert has also said that she would be interested in playing her character, Kim, when the 24 movie is produced in 2008.

The release of 24 on DVD has had a significant impact on the success of the television series. In an interview with IGN in 2002, Sutherland revealed, "[24's] success in England was phenomenal. It was the biggest show the BBC has ever had. It was the number one DVD there; knocked off Lord of the Rings, which is unheard of for a television show DVD to actually knock-out every feature DVD available. And that's because they showed it without commercials." The US sales of the Season 1 DVDs increased the audience size of Season 2 by 25%.

At CES 2007, Fox Home Entertainment announced that the complete first season of 24 would be released on the Blu-ray disc format in early 2007.

The Region 1 DVD releases of 24 strictly emphasize actor Kiefer Sutherland on the cover art for all five seasons to date, while the Region 2 & 4 DVDs instead echo the series' split-screen format by featuring the major players in each respective season.

In mid-2007, the first four seasons were re-issued, featuring slim-packaging in line with the season 5 release, and improved video quality, especially in the first season which was initially rushed to DVD. The metallic "24" logo has also been dropped in favor of the seven segment display logo.