I solemnly recommend the best American TV series in my mind.
24 hours 24
American ace TV station Fox’s classic American drama "24 Hours" is an action gunfight thriller directed by Stephen Hopkins, Jon Cassar, and Brad Turner, starring Kiefer Sutherland.
The play tells a series of counter-terrorism operations carried out by the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). It has 24 episodes per season. It tells a well-planned terrorist incident that occurred in the United States in one day (the story of the 9th season took place in the United Kingdom). In addition, the complex and divergent personnel relations within CTU, the personal lives of Jack and several other supporting actors, and the political struggles at the core of national power are also the main lines of the story. How does the American hero Jack Bauer choose between family, country, and common people, how to live and die, and finally get terrorists and reflect the value of life.
"24 Hours" is a TV series performed in "real time", and the time in the drama is performed in "real time". Each season tells the story of a certain day, and each episode describes the events that happened every hour of the day, and the 24 episodes of a season cover one day.
At the beginning of each episode, the program will remind viewers that "the following content occurred from some time to some time". Frequent ticking digital timers appear in the play to remind the audience that time is passing by one minute and one second. When the show was first aired on American television, an advertisement was required. Excluding the advertising time, each episode is actually about 43 minutes. During the time occupied by the advertisement, the plot continues behind the screen, but is set as an unimportant plot and not shown. In this way, with the advertising time, each episode will run for exactly one hour.
I accidentally received the discs for the first season of this show, and as a result, I couldn't stop at all since the first episode. I finished watching 24 episodes in one weekend. It completely subverted my cognition of TV dramas, and directly and completely conquered me. For the first time, I knew that TV dramas could be filmed like this. The feeling of tension, excitement, sweaty palms, and wanting to stop is something that any TV drama can do. Not given to me. From then on, I was completely impressed by it and became Jack Bauer's stubborn fan.
This drama is also a pioneering work in the entire history of American drama production. The split-screen narrative, the real-time plot, and the 24 episodes tell the story 24 hours a day. These are all great innovations in the history of TV dramas, and make fans all over the world. Crazy. And different from the setting of one story for each episode of most weekly American TV series, the 24 episodes of this show tell a complete story, which gives the screenwriters huge space to find the layout and give full play to the kind of ending that can never be guessed. The tension lasted from the first episode to the last episode, bringing great satisfaction to the audience.
The biggest difference between a TV series and a movie is that the picture and sound cannot be compared with the latter, but the film’s story narration and structural framework must be subject to the length of the movie, in other words, it is subject to time constraints, but the TV series is at this point. The relative film has an absolute advantage. Of course, the premise is how you can make good use of this advantage. Based on this, it can only work on the plot and plot, and the subtext of the work is: mature script and excellent creativity.
The "24 Hours" series will undoubtedly take this to the extreme. The hard work of dozens of directors and screenwriters was not in vain, pulling countless audiences from the cinema back to the TV drama machine, and accompany Jack Bauer through the difficulties, and the protagonist in the play experienced suspense one after another, one after another. With a wave of climax, the audience was almost breathless. And if you observe carefully, when the advertisement is inserted, the plot is progressing to a certain place, such as a person from A to B, or someone is inquiring about a computer data, etc. In short, there is no delay in the plot. , And there is no artificial change in the concept of time. On the one hand, it allows your brain to temporarily relax, and on the other hand, it can also satisfy advertisers. This kind of business acumen is really worth learning from domestic dramas.
The success of this play is inseparable from the flesh-and-blood character that Kiefer Sutherland gave Jack Ball. This American hero is not a Captain America character. He has many shortcomings and weaknesses. The light of human nature always shines on him. Fans of "24 Hours" love this character to death. He is firm, calm, and courageous. He can sacrifice everything for the country and his family. His strength and intelligence reached MAX. The nightmare in the hearts of terrorists around the world, he has a very famous and very friendly nickname in China: Xiaoqiang.
Jack Bauer is also a hero with character flaws. Like many tragic heroes, he was dragged into the tragedy precisely because of his merits (brave and integrity). His accomplishments were extraordinary, but his personal life was in a mess. Jack's work in the Counter-Terrorism Bureau has brought him a lot of survival skills, but his work has also brought him infinite pain. He is a lone star character, and people around him often encounter misfortune.
This controversial character has spent more than ten years with fans around the world. Many people’s youth has been spent with Xiaoqiang’s life. Although it was only nine days, it took them more than ten years. Time waits, so embarrassed, so emotional!
The whole series was filmed for nine seasons, with 24 episodes per season for the first eight seasons, 12 episodes for the ninth season, 204 episodes in total, and a TV movie extra. After the end of the nine seasons, Kiefer Sutherland announced that he would no longer play. Jack Bauer played by Kiefer Sutherland was the sole core of the play. His departure also announced the official end of Jack Bauer's 24. FOX TV station restarted the IP again this year, but the lead actor was replaced by a black brother. In my opinion, it is no longer 24.
As a TV series, this drama can be regarded as an unprecedented success. In this type of TV series, it can be said to be unprecedented. The Golden Globe and Emmy Awards have given this drama many affirmations. Kiefer Sutherland has also become the number one paid actor in the history of American dramas with the classic role of Jack Ball. The role of Jack Ball has also become as famous as James Bond and Jason Burn. Famous screen agents and big IP.
After "24 Hours", there is no other drama that can replace it in my heart. The tension and sense of substitution that cannot be stopped when watching a drama, no other similar drama can do it.
The classics are immortal, Xiaoqiang no longer. If I only recommend one American TV show, then it must and definitely be it!
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