I don’t watch a lot “regular” TV, but I’m pretty hooked on both The Shield and 24. And I gotta say, esp after last night’s episodes, that I think The Shield is the better show. Any other thoughts?
They are kind of different shows, and maybe a bit hard to compare, but for what it’w worth, here are my thoughts:
Both have terrific acting and some pretty edgy stuff (sex, torture, language). I have 2 problems with 24. First, people do too many stupid, unbelievable things. Yes, I know it’s just TV, but how many times does the pres have to betrayed by his ex-wife before he gets suspicious? What the hell is Kate doing wondering around the airport looking for her terrorist sister in the dark? Secondly, is the whole Kim storyline part of a different TV show? I mean when are they going to tie her into the main action?
Yeah, some of the twists in The Shield are a bit over the top, but I don’t see anybody doing anything quite so stupid as on 24. It’s a bit strange the way the Danny (sp?) character has spiralled down into a pitiful wimp, but she had some serious flaws from the begining, so it’s not too unexpected-- she could’ve gone either way.
These are certainly the best things on non-premium cable, but The Shield gets my vote w/o hesitation for the best show right now.
I had wanted to set up a poll, but I guess they aren’t allowed any longer…
I watch both shows also, and I’ve seen some of the same things you describe.
There are times when 24 has me yelling at a character for doing something really dumb, esp. last night with Kate following her sister into a dark alley, knowing she’s a killer, without having someone go with her. I’m always yelling at Kim. I think dumb blondes are a major problem with the show, but I still love it, because Jack really makes up for it. The worst thing is that the characters don’t realize afterwards that they were dumb. Kate doesn’t say “Damn, I could have died just now, maybe I should have brought an agent with me”. Kim doesn’t say, “Hmm, maybe I should have just told the police about evil dad from the beginning”.
The characters in The Shield do dumb things too, but they’re not unbelievably dumb, and usually you can understand why they did it. Like the reformed prostitute friend of Vic’s that got killed. She was incredibly stupid to go there, but you understand why she did it. Vic burning Armadillo, even he realized it was stupid, and saw the consequences first-hand. Aceveda said “I made a mistake”. They’re more real.
I can’t say I like one over the other though. They’re two different shows.
Re: Danny turning into a loser…I at first thought the season finale would be Dutch losing his mind and gunning down the whole Barn. But now I think that was just to distract us from the downward sprial Danny’s been on…
Well I don’t watch 24, but The Shield has been my favorite show since the first one hooked me in. Last night’s was yet another incredible episode. And I don’t think Danny’s a loser per say, just had a string of bad luck. I mean, we all know she really did search that guy…
I agree that the Kim subplot(s) are awfully silly; I now mainly consider them to be the comic relief part of the show (and of course we get to watch her run around in t-shirts a lot). But I disagree that “tying her into the main action” would be a good idea. Last season they integrated the Kim (and Teri) plot into the main plot because it turned out the sub-plot which put Kim and Teri in danger was in fact an integral part of the whole plan to get revenge against Jack Bauer and David Palmer. But I think it would be awfully contrived to try and neatly tie in all of Kim’s misadventures to this day’s nuclear bomb plot now.
While I like both shows The Shield is better, no contest.
Every episode of the The Shield is consistently excellent in my opinion, though naturally some are more eventful than others.
24’s “real time” gimmick is meant to build suspense but as often as not seem to acheive the exact opposite. There seems to be a lot of filler (Kim, anyone?) to pad out the 24 hours. There’s some stuff that’s dragded out over several episodes that could be fit into one without losing anything if the shoe wasn’t locked into this 24 hours, 24 episodes concept.
Yeah, don’t get me wrong, I do like 24 and continue to watch it. It seems to get a bit worse, though, as the plot twists unfold. The Shield, on the other hand gets better and better each week. Gotta love that “angry rock” theme at the openning and the way they DON’T cut to a comercial right away.
On 24, is the crazy survivalist guy Matt Dillon’s brother (can’t remeber his name)?
I agree on the real time gimmick. I mean, if it’s real time, when do they eat lunch? It really serves no purpose other than marketing the show. In fact, it just makes me wonder how the pres can sit around chatting with his ex-wife when LA is going to blow up any second.
They abandoned using a strictly real-time scheme this season. Last season, there would be a voice over at the beginning of each episode saying something to the effect of “All events take place in real time” that apparently is missing this season (or at least, I haven’t noticed it). It’s quasi real-time now
“24” has a lot of cache right now, and I can see where Fox might be reluctant to give it up. Esp since it kind of makes it a bit like a Reality Show. But I agree totally. They could do a lot more if it were freed up from the 24 hr constraint.
There’s gotta be a national “ditch Kim” club formed. Like I said, it’s like her storyline is an entirely different (stupid) show.
SFGate.com TV columnist Tim Goodman had an interseting article about how 24 has gone downhill this season. I don’t watch 24, but I usually respect his opinion. I only include the link here for your reading pleasure.
I’d say Goodman has it pegged pretty well. I forgot about the animal snare “escape”. I mean, what did the guy do other than loosen it? I guess Kim was too stupid to figure that out, too.
Better not think about it too much-- I may talk myself into forgetting to watch it next week.
Next week’s Shield, on the other hand, looks mucho exciting!
Yep, and I know that without even having seen the preview for the next ep (which I’ve learned the hard way to never do in order to avoid possible spoilers. If I already know I’m going to be watching the show next week, no preview is necessary.) and that’s just one of the things that makes it such a great show.
Exactly, she didn’t do anything wrong herself. She had a bunch of bogus complaints that cost her a promotion. And you just know that either Shane or Lem slipped that guy a knife after he was brought in.
Is 24 even real-time anymore? When I rented the season 1 DVDs, I think they ditched the “events occur in real-time” announcement by disc 2. And I don’t think they ever said that at all during season 2. I was under the impression that 24 was more of a serial than a true real-time show.
Don’t you see the ticking clock before each comercial? It’s real time this season, too. They make a point of announcing that at the beginning of each episode.
As for Danny, I guess I didn’t mean that she’s a loser, but hey, what kind of chick makes a pass at Dutch? She’s letting all her bad luck get to her so that she’s making some BAD choices.
