To all the people, who feel like they have to bash this series for its sometimes disappointing predictability, overdone characters and overly dramatic sequences, I have one question. What did you expect? A television series that recounts the events of an entire day of complete mayhem in real time, thus reaching the genre-typical 24 episodes CAN'T be anything else. Even The Sopranos, which must be the most well written television series ever, would be nothing else if it had been produced in the same way. 24 was an attempt of creating on-screen entertainment in the style of Rocky and Rambo. These films were probably some of the weakest and most predictable films ever when it came to plot realism and credibility. And you know what else? They are absolute landmarks of cinema history and I will cherish them as part of my favorite films of all times list forever. 24 is a very entertaining and THRILLING series, that has filled, many boring evenings of mine, with nail biting tension and with stuff to talk about with my friends the next day. It is certainly ONE of the best television series ever and 7 seasons and an IMDb-rating of 9.0 tend to agree with me.