here's doug. but i want to talk about 24.

From doug

so. i tuned in to 24 for the first time in AGES (who does a season premiere in JANUARY?). and what did i see? someone getting tortured. for a change.

i'll admit, it was an exciting shocker to see a) a nuclear bomb explode in L.A. (finally) b) that evil skinner from ER is actually jack bauer's BROTHER (whoa), and c) that the woman who used to play lois on general hospital is getting some acting work as jack's sister-in-law and.....mother of his child? (obviously)

HOWEVER. is ANYONE ELSE sick of seeing torture on 24? either jack bauer getting tortured or jack bauer torturing someone. it simply isn't shocking anymore. and it's getting boring.

i almost wanted to change the channel.

[torturer] "i need information"
[torturee] "i don't know anything"
[torturer] "well, how about if i do THIS!" (tortures)
[torturee] "ow! ow! i still don't know anything"
[torturer] "how about NOW!" (tortures)
[torturee] "ow! ugh. NO!"
[torturer] "and NOW?!" (tortures)

etc. you can see where this is going. the end result might (if torturee is a bad guy) or might not (if he's a good guy) lead to information. the underlying message is that torture leads to information and is ok because it saves lives.

and on a number of political and ethical levels i really disagree with that.

even though it was kind of exciting to watch the first time.

but not the 10th time.

knock it off, jack bauer. we get it. you need information. but do we really need to see all that? (again?)