THE DETAILS COUNT FOR `24' WEB FANS THEY KEEP ON POSTING, EVEN RIGHT IN MIDDLE OF AN EPISODE.Byline: David Kronke Television Critic Before she settles down to watch the latest episode of ``24,'' Susan Ellingson of Miami visits Dave Barry's blog. There, she can watch the humorist hu·mor·ist n. 1. A person with a good sense of humor. 2. A performer or writer of humorous material. humorist Noun a person who speaks or writes in a humorous way uncork bemused, real-time observations on the episode, and, with dozens of other fans of both Barry and the show, offer her own withering with·er·ing adj. Tending to overwhelm or destroy; devastating: withering sarcasm. with commentary. ``Commingling Combining things into one body. The term commingling is most often applied to funds or assets. When a fiduciary, a person entrusted with the management of funds other than his or her own in trust, mixes trust money with that of others, the fiduciary is commingling the two is just a hoot - and hard work if you do it in real time, like I do,'' says Ellingson, who contributes to the roughly 500 to 600 comments that Barry's blog receives in the hour ``24'' airs on the East Coast. ``I don't have a laptop. I end up running back and forth from my living room to the dining room to comment.'' Alan Bosshardt of Hawthorne also visits Barry's site, but, as he notes, ``Because I am here on the West Coast, I'm at a disadvantage where live-blogging is concerned. When time allows, I'll read Dave's comments prior to the show. Then I entertain - or maybe annoy - my wife with his comments.'' And though Clay Steiner of Boulder, Colo., insists ``I've never seen a minute of the show,'' he happily follows the action on Barry's blog, as well. ``Reading the comments has led me to believe that I'd just get frustrated with and/or disgusted by the plot holes, technobabble tech·no·bab·ble n. Technical jargon: "The playwright can send up the garbled technobabble of modern bureaucracy as expertly as anyone" Peter Marks. Noun 1. and preposterous geography - I'm a former L.A. basin resident - so the comments and Dave's updates do just fine for me.'' In its fifth season, ``24'' is enjoying its highest ratings to date. At the same time, the number of fan Web sites charting its protagonist's progress in imaginative ways has also grown. The focus of all this attention is Kiefer Sutherland, who stars as Jack Bauer Jack Bauer is the protagonist of the American television series 24, in which he has trained and worked in various capacities as a government agent, including US Army Delta Force, LAPD SWAT, and finally the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) Los Angeles. , a counter-terrorism expert making Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. safe by killing and torturing as many bad guys as he can (this season, the villains are Russian terrorists in league with the president of the United States The head of the Executive Branch, one of the three branches of the federal government. The U.S. Constitution sets relatively strict requirements about who may serve as president and for how long. - no, really!) The show is famous for its ``real-time'' conceit conceit, in literature, fanciful or unusual image in which apparently dissimilar things are shown to have a relationship. The Elizabethan poets were fond of Petrarchan conceits, which were conventional comparisons, imitated from the love songs of Petrarch, in which - each season consists of 24 episodes, constituting one hour of one day of assorted mayhem. In the course of this season, which as of April 17 was at the 19-hour mark, Jack has single-handedly killed 36 terrorists, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Jacktracker, a Web site that assiduously as·sid·u·ous adj. 1. Constant in application or attention; diligent: an assiduous worker who strove for perfection. See Synonyms at busy. 2. measures this sort of thing (as well as the laws of physics that Jack routinely breaks while racing from location to location), while 103 civilians have died. The death toll is sure to rise by the show's two-hour final episode May 22. ``24'' is the perfect TV series for Internet denizens: Each episode is breathlessly paced and chockablock with technobabble that only gearheads could appreciate - and features jaw-dropping plot twists that demand immediate sardonic analysis. Online viewing parties for the series, across sundry message boards, become instant cyber-versions of the old TV series ``Mystery Science Theater 3000.'' ``There are online `24' parties because people feel passionately about the show and want to share it with one another,'' says Evan Katz Evan Katz is a writer and executive producer of the hit television series 24, which is currently airing on the Fox television network. Prior to his work on 24 he created, wrote, and executive produced the television series Special Unit 2. , an executive producer of ``24.'' ``That's why there are still movie theaters. People do want to experience the show together. Why `24' and not `Judging Amy Judging Amy is an American television drama that aired from September 19, 1999 until May 3, 2005 on CBS. The show stars Amy Brenneman of NYPD Blue and Tyne Daly of Cagney & Lacey. ?' For whatever reason, it gets a passionate reaction. We like to believe that we engage people in a fairly intense way, and by doing so, that passion is returned.'' One site that grabs the attention of fans is television withoutpity.com, where episodes are hilariously deconstructed each week by Jeff Alexander of Minneapolis. `` `24' is similar to `The X-Files' in the sense that it lends itself to all sorts of fevered speculation and discussion by fans,'' says Alexander, who Katz admits is a favorite among ``24'' writers. ``The X-Files' was one of the first shows to really take on a life of its own Memory Burn A Life Of Its Own was released by Noise Kontrol in 2002. Memory Burn is made up of several high profile musicians who came together to create this special work. on the message boards. Like that show, I think people like to discuss what it all means on `24,' with the added bonus of getting to poke holes in the plot.'' Katz says he abstains from trolling (1) Surfing, or browsing, the Web. (2) Posting derogatory messages about sensitive subjects on newsgroups and chat rooms to bait users into responding. (3) Hanging around in a chat room without saying anything, like a "peeping tom." most of the fan sites. ``I'm afraid of getting too deeply involved; it's the same reason I took video games See video game console. off my computer.'' For those writers who do, he says it's about getting fan reactions to the show. ``In terms of influencing story line, we start writing the series the prior May, so it wouldn't be until around episode 12 that a fan's comments could possibly influence the show's direction. In the past, feedback on the show was limited to friends and family. Now we're hearing from a much larger audience, and they're important in that way.'' One site Katz has visited is Jacktracker (which he deems ``very funny''). It was co-created by Bob Hanifen of Los Angeles to poke fun at to make a butt of; to ridicule. See also: Poke the series' ``real-time'' conceit. (Hanifen recently estimated that Jack traveled at 270 miles per hour between plot points.) His site - which features an increasingly complicated map of L.A. charting Jack's voluminous reconnoitering - has become wildly popular after an appreciative shout-out in Entertainment Weekly. ``I am shocked and astonished a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. by how a silly little idea -- could ever have become so well-known,'' Hanifen says. ``I like to call the Jacktracker 2006's version of ``The Macarena.'' He says the blog explosion of the last couple of years has been an enormous boon to both the site's and the show's popularity. ``Bloggers are by nature tech-headed, so they have loved `24' since its inception. But now they are spreading that geek-love to the masses through the Internet. ... Bottom line, it seems word-of-mouth from `24's' existing, built-in, technologically sophisticated fan base, propagated through blogs and other new user-friendly technologies, is pushing the show well beyond its core fan base.'' And, ironically, it's the series' crazy-quilt plotting - putting the president in league with terrorists? - that accounts for much of its allegiance with online fans. ``It drives me (expletive) bazoo that the writers and producers make up the show as they go along. I mean, come on, they've got five seasons under their belt now, and Kiefer's signed on for another three; they can't plan out just one of them? As an experiment? As a favor to me?'' says televisionwithoutpity.com's Alexander. ``But no, they have to leave their options open, and the wheels come off at least once a year as a result. I actually thought this season was holding together pretty well until the (president-helping-terrorists) twist. -- Really, the show gives you no choice but to accept everything and move on.'' ``What constitutes `real' in this universe? What's going too far?'' counters ``24's'' Katz. ``You have to have a feel for it, but obviously it's a judgment call. We'll have meetings where we'll say, `We'll get killed for this' or `That's totally unbelievable.' But the truth is, there's a difference between what is stretchable and what isn't.'' And until no one can find that line, ``24'' will continue to be adored, mocked and hotly debated online. David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke(at)dailynews.com WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JACK BAUER? It's not really necessary to be a ``24'' junkie junkie Popular health A popular term for a person, usually an IV narcotic abusing addict, whose life is disorganized vis-á-vis family and societal structure, whose existence revolves around obtaining–often through theft, prostitution or other illicit to enjoy the show. Numerous online sites can help catch you up on the convoluted storylines. These sites can help you appreciate the series without ever actually watching an episode! Here's where to look: The official site: www.fox.com/24/ www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show.cgi?show=73 Funny episode recaps, plus plenty of discussions. www.tvgasm.com/archives/24/ More amusing episode recaps. www.wayfaring way·far·ing n. Traveling, especially on foot. [From Middle English waifaringe, journeying, from Old English wegfarende : weg, way; see way + farende .com/maps/show/4698 The Jacktracker, charting Jack Bauer's improbable trek through the streets and highways of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, in just one day. www.kiefersutherland24.net/ ``Summaries and thoughts on the greatest show on TV.'' blogs.herald.com/ davebarrys-blog/24/index.html Barry and his fans deconstruct de·con·struct tr.v. de·con·struct·ed, de·con·struct·ing, de·con·structs 1. To break down into components; dismantle. 2. each episode. www.24addict.com/ A fan recaps the episodes www.24fans.com/ News and commentary about the show. - D.K. 24 What: Jack Bauer saves the world one hour at a time, while fans offer online play-by-play. Where: Fox (Channel 11). When: 9 p.m. Mondays. CAPTION(S): 7 photos, box Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) IN THEIR SITES Fans are keeping trakc of Jack `24'/7 (2 -- 6) While Fox maintains an official Web presence for ``24,'' most of the action is on the fan-driven sites that include 24addict.com, 24fans.com, kiefersutherland24.com and the Jacktracker. (7) no caption (Keifer sutherland) Box: WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JACK BAUER? (see text) |
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