The 5th Major Sport

January might be the best sports month of the year.

College bowl season, the National Championship, NFL Playoffs, College BBall starts getting interesting, and 24 begins.

What?

Yup, 24. OK, it's not a sport, even I can admit that. But I think, now in its 5th season, it's more than a TV show. There is nothing on TV that is quite like 24. Sure, 23.8 million viewers a week will tell you that Lost is better, and while I may be one of the viewers, you'll never hear me say it's a better TV show. The storyline may be smarter, and the questions and mysteries deeper, but it's not better.

24 is the best show on TV. Nothing comes close.

Why is 24 like a sport? Well, let's look.

A typical season starts in mid-January. For weeks leading up to it, there are promo spots, people begin talking about it, and the speculation begins. Who's this years bad guy? What crazy things will Jack do? Is his daughter back? Who's the love interest? Who's running CTU now? Tony? Palmer? Are they back? Seriously, if you look at the NFL & MLB, each pre-season they put out publications with all sorts of predictions and stuff for the upcoming season. "Experts" break it down for you. Why can't this happen for 24? I don't know. It could.

Then there is 24 "opening weekend." Like all the major sports have a grand opening to grab people, so does 24. A 2-night, 4-hour premiere that sets up the season perfectly. Every other show on TV premieres with just a regular episode, or sometimes a 2-hour premiere. And they're usually good. But with four hours, you get so far into the storyline (16%) that you're officially hooked. You can't stop watching now. You've met all the new characters, seen what this season is going to revolve around, found 37 subplots, and need answers asap. Diane/Jack/Audrey love triangle? Will Jack go to jail? When will Walt be called out? Is the President's wife smarter than we initially thought? And why does that President suck so damn much? What about Rudy, what's gonna happen with his character? He seemed like a dick & a cool guy. Is Tony ok? Will we see him again this season? Will Jack die and be resurrected for the 3rd time in 5 seasons this year? God, I love the subplots. That's how they catch you in opening weekend.

The regular season rolls along beautifully, making 24 a great water-cooler centerpiece. Each week you tune in. There are no offweeks. It just rolls right along for 20 straight weeks. Other TV shows will give you 22-25 episodes in a 38 week span. 24 gives you 24 in a 20 week span. They're going backwards. And it works. Like sports, it's one big ride from opening weekend to the championship.

And oh, the championship. The finale. Not one has disappointed yet. Not one has lacked its big surprise. No matter how you dissect the previous 23 episodes, there is always something in hour 24 that you don't see coming. It's like a great Super Bowl. You can watch the pre-game shows for two weeks leading up to the game and think you know exactly what will happen, and then bam, wide right. Didn't see that coming?

Then the offseason rolls around, and 24 doesn't go away. It may take a backseat to summer re-runs, the beach, and other stuff, but like a good sport, you still find it popping into the news every now and again with a "big signing" or "key departure". And it jsut makes you more and more excited for opening day. It's a never-ending cycle.

24 isn't a TV show anymore. I don't know what it is, but it's worth of thesharkey.com attention. Sorry sports fans, if you don't like the show, don't tune into this site on Tuesday mornings for the next 5 months. You'll be sorely disappointed. It won't be sports, it'll be my weekly recap of last night.

But, of course, I'm exhausted now and have taken up so many words already, that you get no recap of the first four hours. Next week I'll give you my thoughts on the first 5 hours, as we cross the 20% mark.

But I definitely can't wait for next Monday. These first four hours have been as good as any "first-four" in any of the previous four seasons, which gets you excited for what to expect from here on out.

Now back to your regularly scheduled sports rambling...