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Re: 24: Season 7
Anyone watch this show? It starts up again this coming Sunday.
Theres a spoiler in here, but nothing you didn't see in the trailers on TV.
‘24’ ups the ante in Washington, D.C.
Location manager calls D.C. ‘the most difficult city’ to film in in the U.S.
The Associated Press
updated 7:21 p.m. ET, Tues., Jan. 6, 2009
WASHINGTON - Early one cold November morning, actress Annie Wersching leads Kiefer Sutherland to an “armored” SUV with dark windows parked outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture building.
After director Brad Turner yells “Cut,” onlookers snap photos of the star. Sutherland spots a participant in a charity run for Lupus on the Washington Mall and comments, “Why is that guy wearing shorts? It’s cold.”
Where Sutherland normally works, people wear shorts year round. Welcome to Washington, Jack Bauer.
A little over a year ago, Sutherland and the crew of his popular Fox TV series, “24,” came to the nation’s capital to film segments of the show’s seventh season. The completion of that season was delayed a year by the Writers Guild strike, but it finally makes its debut in a two-night premiere beginning Sunday, Jan. 11 (8 p.m. EST).
Jack Bauer actually returned to the screen this past November in the Fox TV movie “24: Redemption,” a series prequel that was set in Africa. Now, the series’ new season begins with the intrepid agent for the fictional federal Counter-Terrorist Unit (CTU) forced to return to Washington to face a Senate investigation into his conduct.
“He’s called to face charges of abuse of power and torturing certain individuals in an unlawful manner,” Sutherland says. “For the first time, he’s put in a position to have to confront a lot of the things that he’s done.”
Tony returns, as a bad guy
Bauer is pulled from the hearings by FBI agent Renee Walker (Wersching) to help with a more pressing matter — the reappearance of Bauer’s thought-to-be-dead fellow agent, Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), who is apparently is no longer one of the good guys.
After six years of making “24” mainly in Los Angeles, the production thought it was finally time to take the show to the home of oft-seen presidents in the series. “We wondered if that was starting to bother people,” laughs director Turner.
While filming in Washington isn’t new for fed-themed action series, it was a welcome change for the “24” team. “It was kind of like going on a field trip,” Bernard says.
Shooting here lends the show a sense of realism impossible to produce by simply intercutting stock “plate” shots of Washington with scenes shot in Hollywood. “To have the Washington Monument in the background of a drive-up, and in a simple, incidental way, just tells you you’re in Washington,” explains cinematographer Rodney Charters. “That’s a pretty hard thing to fake.”
Turner and his crew searched the season’s early scripts for opportunities to make use of recognizable Washington locales. “It was a matter of finding moments to get scenes on the street, and do it naturally so that it’s seamless,” the director says. Adds Sutherland, “If you can take advantage of getting iconic places like the Capitol or the Lincoln Memorial in a shot, you try and do that. It’s like a postcard for us.”
Tough city to film in
Yet doing so isn’t a simple matter of setting up a camera and taking pictures, particularly in a security-sensitive city such as Washington. “There are 17 different jurisdictions to deal with, some with their own police forces,” says Jon Pare, the show’s production manager. “Sometimes, when you leave a curb and step into a street, you’ve just crossed a jurisdiction.”
But an OK from the District of Columbia to film on a sidewalk and one from the National Park Service for the grass beyond may still not be enough.
“There’s one place I can think of specifically where the sidewalk is divided into three different jurisdictions,” says local location manager John Latenser. Simply put, “Washington, D.C. is the most difficult city in the United States to film in.”
But for the actors, it’s worth all the trouble. “You’re constantly aware you’re in a capital city,” says Sutherland. “You can feel the power of it, the sense of responsibility that’s in the air all the time. Somehow it felt like more was at stake.”
Even a visit to the Capital Grille, a stylish restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue, left an impression on the actor. “Three tables over, there were three men that were talking about something that was going to have an impact on our lives,” he says.
Among the many loyal fans of “24” is Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, whose office said he was thrilled to see Sutherland’s acting and stunts in person when he visited the set the following day.
“He’s a fan of the show and checked out what we were doing. He’s always been really gracious and kind with us,” Sutherland says. The crew even visited the real CTU — the National Counterterrorism Center — while in Washington.
Meanwhile, fans greet Sutherland as he arrives in the tony Georgetown section of Washington to film a scene at a house once occupied by John F. Kennedy.
“I’m just waiting for (Sutherland) to break into Jack Bauer mode and start neck-punching people,” says bystander Kim Sandlin. “I’m looking forward to having Jack Bauer’s blood on our sidewalk!”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Re: 24: Season 7
I'm a big fan of 24. Season 1 will never be topped though. I've had a lot of friends who have given up on the show over the years, and while I'll admit the past few seasons may not be as strong as some of the earlier ones, I'm sticking with it. I'm still plenty entertained. Can't wait for this season to start up. Hasn't Tony died twice already? He's always coming back to life, he can't be killed. Plus he goes from good to bad, and back and forth. Maybe Michelle's still alive somehow, she was hot.
Re: 24: Season 7
Big "24" fan, although I do believe it took a dive in Season 6. Season 7 is supposed to be a 'reinvention' so, it'll be interesting to see where it goes. It could breath fresh life into the show, or it could be the beginning of the end (how many action shows, had that one or two final seasons of their run, with the locale & character changes and people hate it?)
It'll be interesting to see how Tony is dealt with, who was left up in the air in the middle of Season 5, which was now three years ago.
Oh and James... West Wing, I dunno... but Lost - fucking sucks. One of the most overrated, overhyped, pieces of shit, in the past 5 years.
Re: 24: Season 7
IMO the only seasons that sucked were the first half of season 3 and the entire season 6.
**note using spoilers for James incase he decides to pick em up**
Fav Seasons:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 5
Season 4 (this was the first "reinvention")
Season 3
Season 6
Lost did nothing but piss me off because there was no pay off. For every question asked, they only answered half of them, and they would just throw more and more questions at you without any rhyme or reason.
Re: 24: Season 7
I've never watched an episode of 24. Quite a few shows from this decade I never dove into.
Now that I'm done with Sopranos, I'm considering watching either this or Lost. Or maybe West Wing.
definitely go with 24....but stop after the first season...you WILL have a STRONG URGE to keep going but don't.... you'll thank me later
Re: 24: Season 7
Big "24" fan, although I do believe it took a dive in Season 6. Season 7 is supposed to be a 'reinvention' so, it'll be interesting to see where it goes. It could breath fresh life into the show, or it could be the beginning of the end (how many action shows, had that one or two final seasons of their run, with the locale & character changes and people hate it?)
It'll be interesting to see how Tony is dealt with, who was left up in the air in the middle of Season 5, which was now three years ago.
Oh and James... West Wing, I dunno... but Lost - fucking sucks. One of the most overrated, overhyped, pieces of shit, in the past 5 years.
Again, I'm a big fan of 24, I actually didn't start watching until season 3. I saw that season in full, and as always happens people from past season popped up and I had no clue who they were and what they were about. I loved the show though and eventually caught seasons 1 and 2 on A&E. Season 1 was so good, even though I pretty much knew how it was gonna unfold (having watched season 3 already) Anyway as I mentioned before most of my friends used to watch 24, and gave up on it in recent years saying it wasn't as good and it was too predictable. It was the same story over and over each season. These same people are huge fans of "Lost", which I admittedly never tried to get into. I watched a couple episodes and it seemed alright but I just never bothered to add it to my schedule. But they're always claiming about how great "Lost" is and how "24" is always the same. What the hell is so special and different about "Lost"? Have they not been trying to get off that damn island since the series began? How is that not the same thing over and over? What show isn't the same thing over and over? We've gotten into some heated arguments over these shows.
Re: 24: Season 7
Because stupid television viewers believe that a show that follows a specific formula, but expanding character relationships and their surroundings with good writing ("24") iz borwing becuz "Lost" is the shiznit. Day add all da twists n turnz wit new and coo queztionz, n u nevah no wat happen.
That's your typical "Lost" fan. The last couple lines of that statement. "Lost" is so beyond any comprehension and understanding, because it doesn't make any sense, and I tried watching it from day one. It answers questions with NEW questions, that make no sense at all, and nothing is coherent at all. I can't believe it got hyped the way it did for so long. The show is not only NOT GOOD, it's one of the worst shows on television, but these idiots convince themselves because they are CONSTANTLY CONFUSED by the product, that it's intriguing and cool.
We'll... no it ain't.
I'd rather watch a marathon of Tyler Perry's "House of Payne" than to watch 30 minutes of "Lost". It's a mindfuck, that doesn't leave you with a cool feeling, like watching "Knight Rider", it just's a mindfuck that pisses you off, and makes you want to go all 'Stepfather' on Terry Quinn himself.
