Taste Life Twice

I have started to watch "24" on the recommendations of two close friends who are hooked. Currently on prime time in its 5th season, I have seasons 1 - 4 on DVD and am working my way through.

For those of you who don't know the premise, Keifer Sutherland plays Jack Bauer, head of the Counter Terrorism Unit based in southern California. Each season follows him for one full day - 24 hours - an hour at a time, in real time. (I was talking to one friend before I started watching and said I understood that each season was one day, and each episode was one hour of that one day, but I wondered how many episodes there were in a season. She looked at me as if I was incredibly stupid, and said something along the lines of "what's the title of the show again?" Duh.) In other words, we see things happening in the actual time it takes for things to happen. They even allow for commercials - every now and then during the show they flash the time. Just before commercial breaks they might flash 10:24 and then after the commercial break it flashes 10:28 (one presumes that Jack uses the commercial breaks for the same things most viewers do, as we never see him having to stop at the restroom!)

The upside to all this is you really see all the details of everything that is happening, all the decision-making procedures, the thought process of the main characters.

The downside is I have been watching for 9 hours now and still am only to breakfast of the first day. For someone used to seeing everything wrapped up in the course of a two-hour TV show or a three-hour movie, it can be agonizing to watch and wait. It's hard to control my need for immediate gratification - but somehow I am enjoying this agony. I feel as if this TV show is helping me regain my patience and my attention to detail - two things that modern society often ignores or belittles (they take too long!) It has become a huge hit with viewers, so maybe others are experiencing it as I am. (Of course my friends tell me that watching it on DVD is the way to go, as imagine the impatience of seeing one hour at a time and having to wait a week for the next hour!)