Slog - Comments on 24 Black

Comment by Levislade

Levislade — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:21:09 -0800

"it was concocted by two staunch Republicans"

Really? Where did you get that? I'd never heard that before, and if you actually watched the show you would not get that impression.

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:21:28 -0800

Do you actually bet on 24 Black at the table? I'm partial to 23 Red aka Brentwood Slasher.

Comment by monkey

monkey — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:24:06 -0800

Excuse me, but Morgan Freeman was the first black President.

Deep Impact, 1998

Comment by lark

lark — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:24:50 -0800

Charles,
By Haysbert's and Aristotle's logic then, Geena Davis should have paved the way for a female President by portraying the Presidential character in the TV show "Commander-in-Chief". Not sure she said anything but it hasn't come to pass yet. For the record, we've had at least four presidential candidates with African-American heritage run since 1968(?). They are the late US Rep. Shirley Anita Chisholm, Lenora Fulani, an independent, Rev. Jesse Jackson (2X?) and Rev. Al Sharpton.

Comment by umvue

umvue — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:27:32 -0800

"However, if this is true..." It ain't.

Backfired? I'd guess the Republicans were as prepared for the arrival of a black president as the Democrats. I've no doubt they were sincere in their earlier admiration for Colin Powell (that guy mentioned as a potential candidate in days gone by), for example.

Comment by Todd

Todd — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:28:23 -0800

Dear Slog,

Please do not post season-making spoilers to recent major TV series. Some of us have been saving up all that good content for the next time they get relly sick and and plow through 3 seasons of TV on DVD in a week.

Thanks

Comment by elenchos

elenchos — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:35:11 -0800

I thought the point of 24 was to make torture normal.

Comment by 24 SPOILER ALERT

24 SPOILER ALERT — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:36:46 -0800

*BOOM* *pow* *zingzingzing* *WHOOSH* *terRor* *chuchuchuchu* *tick...tock...tick...tock...* *slAp* *GROIN* *kabloowie!!* *sliceeee*

sorry i just ruined season 7 for you :[

Comment by Ramdu

Ramdu — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:38:06 -0800

Where did Aristotle say that? Was it in the Poetics?

Comment by MyNameIsNobody

MyNameIsNobody — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:38:25 -0800

@6--here are some other timely spoilers: the chick in The Crying Game has a dick, and the Bruce Willis character in The Sixth Sense is dead!

Comment by meerkat

meerkat — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:40:14 -0800

@8-you forgot to mention that jack bauer chokes somebody or 10.

Comment by onion

onion — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:42:59 -0800

He only paved the way for a half-black president.

Comment by flamingbanjo

flamingbanjo — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:44:04 -0800

#1: Afraid so. Watch with the audio commentary on when the creators are talking. Bummed me out too because I enjoyed the first season, but it kinda makes sense when you consider the world-view it's based around. The "ticking time-bomb" justification for torture is pretty much the basis for the entire show.

Comment by Jason Josephes

Jason Josephes — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:46:30 -0800

I'm looking forward to Obama's Allstate commercials.

Comment by Fortuna Mandolin

Fortuna Mandolin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:52:29 -0800

Are you trying to tell me that Jesus Christ can't hit a curve ball?

Comment by demo kid

demo kid — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:54:15 -0800

I thought that the last season of The West Wing was the Obama campaign/presidency...

Comment by Hernandez

Hernandez — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:07:05 -0800

Obama: you're in good hands.

Comment by Levislade

Levislade — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:16:51 -0800

OK, I just read Joel Surnow's entry in wikipedia - bummer.

Still, though, anyone that watched the show (especially the first few seasons) would be hard-pressed to find any evidence of a conservative/republican agenda. I don't want to give away any more whoppers, but suffice it to say the 24 enemies are not Bush's enemies.

Maybe I'm being naive, but I think the creators' first priority was to create an entertaining, compelling show, and not a platform for the Republican agenda.

Comment by Judah

Judah — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:27:54 -0800

completely/terribly/unbelievably backfired

Or not.

As someone else pointed out, I think it's a mistake to assume that the Republican platform is racist; Republicans are classist. They hate poor people. Minorities are disproportionately poor, so it looks like Republicans are always out to fuck them, but I think the causality gets mixed up in people's minds -- especially liberals, who tend to be obsessed with identity politics.

Comment by flamingbanjo

flamingbanjo — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:34:11 -0800

#18: Well, there's nothing that says you can't enjoy entertainment produced by assholes. Hell, I enjoy listening to Sinatra sometimes.

Comment by Jason Josephes

Jason Josephes — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:55:56 -0800

I almost never, ever think of someone's political beliefs when watching a movie or TV show.

ANyhow, regardless of ideology, let's hope that the next season of 24 makes up for last season, which was beyond awful. The first and fourth seasons were the most entertaining.

Comment by charles mudede

charles mudede — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:00:36 -0800

@9, yes, the poetics.

Comment by DOUG.

DOUG. — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:56:43 -0800

George Bush's idiotic lunacy prepared American minds for the arrival of a black president.

Comment by Timrrr

Timrrr — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:30:16 -0800

That all fits in well with a theory a friend of mine espouse: that the reason so many people were happy with the early years of the Bush presidency was because they were busy watching "West Wing" and thought -- on some level -- that Martin Sheen & Rob Lowe were the ones running the nation.