Then something beautiful happened, something that used to be a rare occurrence. It came back. 24: Live Another Day arrived on our screens in 2014, four years after the show was originally cancelled. As with the original run I was enthralled and others seemed to be too, it did well in the ratings as well as critically. The limited run ran for only 12 episodes rather than the usual 24 episode format, condensing all the drama and removing the filler that we'd usually get (e.g. Kim and the Coyotes). The series finished off open ended so there was room for another series a few years down the line which is what was I was expecting (or hoping with all my heart), so the news of 24: Legacy was initially an unwelcome one.
I was expecting another limited run with Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), a character I have known for well over a decade. I wanted to see him somehow manage to crawl out of the predicament he'd found himself in at the end of Live Another Day with the help of some familiar faces, as well as some new characters. Instead we'll be getting a series revolving around a new character, completely unfamiliar to audiences, with Sutherland apparently having nothing to do with the project. It's taken the format of the show and attempting to recreate it without what I felt was the integral part of what made the show a success. Jack Bauer/Kiefer Sutherland. It's been confirmed that not only will Sutherland be absent but that no character from the original run will be included, although they may be alluded to. Seems familiar.
The news of this just reminded me of Bourne Legacy, the worst part of the Bourne franchise which like 24 I thoroughly enjoyed. To be fair I shouldn't say that it was the worst part because I haven't actually watched it in full, I fell asleep twice before giving up. Twice. It was only an afternoon viewing. I grimaced when I heard that the 24 spin off was going to be titled Legacy as I'd learned from Bourne that no good can come from that name. It feels like 24: Legacy will be nothing to do with it's predecessor and is just a bland cash in, just like Bourne Legacy.
It wouldn't have been too difficult to introduce a new character in Live Another Day and have a spin off series following their antics. Wait, they did introduce a new bad ass character in Kate Morgan (Yvonne Stahovski) who now has a link to Jack and has grown disillusioned with the very people she works for. They also did that in series eight Cole Ortiz (Freddie Prinze Jr.). A character like this crops up pretty much every season. Wouldn't it make more sense for a pre-existing character to take the reigns of the franchise so we have some references to past events and characters without it feeling completely forced? That also means we can have guest appearances with former central characters, or tie up loose ends from Live Another Day. I don't see how 24: Legacy could do that at this point.
I am being unfair and I know that I'm biased so this'll be my paragraph of open-mindedness (spell check didn't try and fix that even though I myself thought that that wasn't even a real word). The show is called 24, not Jack Bauer so in theory they should be able to take the format and apply it to other characters. The USP is that the story is told in real time, unless you are binge-watching it at a later date so somehow an hour is 40 minutes. 24 did have a tendency to get daft sometimes because they had to draw out the plot to cover 24 episodes as well as having surplus characters that they had to write contrived subplots for, they can now do away with that and start afresh. I have yet to watch Straight Outta Compton so I haven't seen Corey Hawkins in what I've been told is his best performance so far but I have to have faith in the people that originally cast Kiefer Sutherland.
Now the paragraph of civility is over I can say I am willing to give it a chance, even though the show isn't what I wanted and I don't have hopes of it being as successful as its predecessor . I just hope I won't regret it as I did with Bourne Legacy and more recently Fear The Walking Dead. Maybe I just like to be disappointed. No, I just like complaining even if I'm not disappointed. Well, we'll see.
Live Long and Blog!
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