I started watching this show when it was first broadcast on TV, but gave up after a few episodes for reasons that I can't remember now. It might have been because of scheduling conflicts, or the show was boring, or I had a life then. Anyway, now that I have time to watch long TV series I thought I'd give 24 another go.

What a bad decision that turned out to be.

Technically there's not much wrong with the programme, the acting's OK, the style is OK - apart from the shaky camera stuff that I personally hate - and the idea of showing events in "real time" was novel for the time.

Where this show falls down, and falls spectacularly, is in the plotting. Coincidences happen every 5 minutes, people do things that people would never do, the attempt to kill the Senator is ridiculously overly complicated, information isn't shared when it would resolve situations, nobody eats or drinks or visits the loo, and nobody is exhausted after being awake for 30+ hours.

I could go into details about the many, many plot holes and stupid situations in the show, but there are other reviews on this site that provide all the examples you could want to read.

And, of course, this being an American show, you don't actually get to watch an hour of TV every hour, you get to watch 40 minutes of TV. Perhaps that's when everyone visits the loo, have drinks and eat food, although the queue for the toilets must be frustratingly long for those next up after the ad breaks.

If you haven't got the memory of a goldfish, and have a grasp on reality, then you won't be able to get through 3 episodes of this show without being overcome with frustration at how stupidly ridiculous the whole premise is. Also, I'd keep your throat lubricated for the frequent shouts of "WTF?", "How could that happen", "How stupid can someone be", and "Not again!".

How this show managed 8 series is beyond me.

As H L Mencken said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public".