# Question about the TV series 24... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-tv-series-24/584579 "2011-06-07T02:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-tv-series-24/584579/21 "2011-06-07T22:34:59Z")
> [@5-HT](#): > > I agree. The producers were never able to adequately handle issues like travel time, eating, and bathroom breaks in a way that didn’t draw attention to the fact that the whole _real time_ gimmick didn’t work. Didn’t they drop the (explicit) real time thing in the second season? ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-tv-series-24/584579/22 "2011-06-07T22:37:26Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > Didn’t they drop the (explicit) real time thing in the second season? I don’t remember if they dropped the “events occur in real time” line at the beginning or not, but they kept the ticking clock. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-tv-series-24/584579/23 "2011-06-08T10:02:43Z")
Also CTU doesn’t perform any sort of background checks on their employees. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-tv-series-24/584579/24 "2011-06-08T16:47:21Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > And gets caught int he snare? And then goes home with the mountain man? and nearly finds herself kidnapped again? We’re just about finished with season two. Not sure if I’m going to even try to watch season 3. In **24** ’s defense, that whole sequence was pretty much the high water mark for “Kim being stupid in distress”. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-tv-series-24/584579/25 "2011-06-08T16:53:47Z")
> [@5-HT](#): > > I don’t remember if they dropped the “events occur in real time” line at the beginning or not, but they kept the ticking clock. The ticking clock is used significantly at least once in a way that took a couple of seasons to explain away. I thought it was a brilliant [brick joke](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrickJoke). The “events occur in real time” tag comes and goes throughout the series. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-tv-series-24/584579/26 "2011-06-08T19:11:03Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > Didn’t they drop the (explicit) real time thing in the second season? The wording before each episode, yes, but the ticking clock was always there and the story was told as if everything happened as you saw it. The ran story elements in parallel, and used visual transitions to aid the perception everything was occuring simultaneously. And each season was one 24 hour period, each episode of which covered 1 hour (unless they ran 2 hours back to back). The stupid goes on and on. And the improbabilities mount. I watched 7 of the 8 seasons, but to be honest there was a lot of suck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-tv-series-24/584579.md?page=1)