Do you have to watch 24 seasons in order?

[mittu]

Title pretty much says it all, should you start with season 1 and work your way through or can you start with season 7/8 and not be lost by lots of references to old seasons?

[Skammer]

You won’t be lost, but you’ll miss the significance of certain recurring characters. I remember I started with Season 3, and a certain nemesis from earlier seasons reappeared. I had no idea who she was supposed to be, but everyone else was all OMG NINA!

Still, they’ll usually give you a little bit of backstory to catch you up, kind of like they do at the beginning of every hour each season :).

[Crown_Prince_of_Irony]

I’d recommend against skipping around seasons - significant plotlines and characters carry over into subsequent seasons. Watching Season 2, Episode 1 first, for instance, would spoil the entire plot of Season 1.

[Zeldar]

I agree with Skammer but if you really want to do the whole thing right, you need to dig up the threads here and follow along with the commentary.

For as good a guide as I have found, check out 24: Season 8: Episode 23-24 (2:00pm - 4:00pm) SERIES FINALE started 05-24-2010, 06:15 PM by Monstre and containing in its OP:

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Season 8 threads:
1-2 3-4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15-16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23-24

Season 7 threads:
1-2 3-4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23-24

24: Redemption thread

Season 6 threads:
1-2 3-4 5 6 7 8-9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23-24

Season 5 threads:
1-2 3-4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23-24

Season 4 threads:
1-2 3-4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23-24

Season 3 threads:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Season 2 threads:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Season 1 threads:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

with links to the threads with episode commentary.

Even if you skip watching the show, these threads are some of the best entertainment at SDMB!

[twickster]

Since the issue is spoilers, please avoid using open spoilers when you answer the OP’s question.

Thanks,

twickster, Cafe Society moderator

[Rhiannon8404]

@Skammer

You won’t be lost, but you’ll miss the significance of certain recurring characters. I remember I started with Season 3, and a certain nemesis from earlier seasons reappeared. I had no idea who she was supposed to be, but everyone else was all OMG NINA!

Still, they’ll usually give you a little bit of backstory to catch you up, kind of like they do at the beginning of every hour each season :).

Seriously? Her? Again? Now I know I’m not going to bother to watch the third season.

[fusoya]

No. You only need to watch the first 5 seasons (and play the PS2 game between seasons 2 and 3). And then you can stop. Season 6 feels like a bad clip show of seasons 1-5, and I never watched the last two seasons but I’m sure they were terrible too.

Don’t worry, they didn’t have 24 seasons, only 8.

[Justin_Bailey]

@fusoya

No. You only need to watch the first 5 seasons (and play the PS2 game between seasons 2 and 3). And then you can stop. Season 6 feels like a bad clip show of seasons 1-5, and I never watched the last two seasons but I’m sure they were terrible too.

Well if you’re going to stop early, stop at season 4. It’s a logical finale for the series as a whole.

[cmyk]

Just watch 'em in order. You won’t want to stop watching after each episode. Just know that by the time it reaches season 4, Jack Bauer is a super-human… roll with it, and have fun!