Time’s up for Jack

May 23, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

‘24’ has proven that audiences crave ‘terror TV’

McClatchy Newspapers

This month’s real-life threat to Times Square could easily have been lifted from an episode of “24.” Or maybe not. Disengaging a makeshift car bomb would have been as ho-hum as changing one’s underwear to an agent like Jack Bauer.

For eight years, he’s thwarted assassinations, nuclear explosions, nerve-gas attacks and Congressional hearings. But his most unlikely victory is the one over pundits who predicted viewers wouldn’t have the stomach to see ominous headlines employed as high-speed adventures.

But “24” has accomplished just that from the very beginning, premiering on Oct. 30, 2001, less than two months after the real-life horrors of 9-11.

The series finale will be at 9 p.m. Monday on Fox.

For a moment after the 9-11 attacks, Americans shuddered at anything more dramatic than Ross & Rachel’s breakup. Light-as-air sitcoms were all the rage, filling half of the top 20 slots for the 2001-02 season.

But it didn’t take long for television to unshackle the restraints.

By the end of September, CBS had debuted “The Agency,” a CIA-based drama, and ABC had “Alias,” the sexy spy series that made Jennifer Garner a star. “The West Wing” kicked off the 2001-02 season with a special episode set in the weeks following a domestic attack and “Law & Order” ended its season with a plot about a Desert Storm veteran who killed a suspected terrorist. Even “Spin City” got into the act when the sitcom’s mayor of New York got infected with anthrax.

But nothing reflected America’s fears more than “24,” a series that has less to do with its novel approach — Bauer has 24 hours each season to nail the bad guys — and more to do with a relentless intensity that doesn’t give its hero a chance to use the lavatory, let alone crack a smile.

“There’s a part of me that’s kind of surprised that people watch ‘24’ for entertainment, because it’s so heart-stopping,” said Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays Bauer’s go-to gal Chloe.

Kiefer Sutherland, who won an Emmy in 2006 for his gritty portrayal of Bauer, pointed out that the “24” pilot was shot months before 9-11.

“The fact that it actually aligned with things that were happening in the news and made it relevant was really something that caught us completely off guard,” he said.

It took a while for audiences to catch on as well. Season one averaged about 8 million viewers, but then bumped up significantly when it was paired with Fox’s mega-hit “American Idol.” It peaked in 2006 with nearly 14 million viewers and an Emmy win for best dramatic series. Ratings have dipped since then, but with 9 million fans, it continues to be a force to be reckoned with.

“24” proved that audiences could not only tolerate “terror TV”; they craved it.

Since its debut, we’ve seen “Sleeper Cell,” the Showtime series that once carried the subtitle: “American Terror,” and “The Unit,” in which highly trained soldiers take on missions against foreign enemies.

“Lost,” “Battlestar Galactica” and “V” may be categorized as sci-fi series, but the enemies in those series have a lot in common with al-Qaida: movements willing to kill to advance their ways of life.

Other countries facing their own terrorist threats have also embraced the genre. India’s “Time Bomb” is a more or less a remake of “24” and in 2002, England had “Spooks,” an insider’s look at the U.K.’s intelligence operations.

Walter Gary Sharp, a Defense Department lawyer and retired Marine who taught a course at Georgetown University about the relevance of “24,” said the show resonates with Americans because it offers a resolution to conflicts. Bauer may lose some loved ones but in the end, he always saves the country.

“It gave us a sense that the United States can, and is, doing something to fight terrorism,” said Sharp. “It gave us a hero.”