I am currently rewatching the first four "24" seasons before I will watch the fifth and the sixth seasons for the first time each, back-to-back.

After about six weeks, I am now through with 60 episodes, meaning I am right in the middle of the third season.

Thoughts so far:


SEASON 1:


Best of the three so far. It is a perfect example of a great action thriller. The lot is very well-laid out and there are barely any dull episodes. The characters are well-worked out, the story progesses very fast-paced and in an interesting way. The twists all work greatly, especially the final one with Nina of course. I've seen this season thrice by now and it just never gets boring. The finale is heartbreaking. Kiefer Sutherland is at the top of the gae (though he is great in all seasons throughout). The structure that the seasons after it will follow becomes clear:

1. Big set-up with Jack hunting down someone/something

2. The first big showdown in the middle of the season

3. The revelation of the *real* villain in the last third of the season

4. The second big showdown at the end


Best Episode: 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. (The Finale) - Not only the best episode of the season and the series, but also the best finale I have ever seen of any series. Exellent twists, a heartbreaking ending, splendid acting and nice action all mixed together to an explosive finale that has yet to be topped.

OVERALL GRADE: A-


SEASON 2:


Here it went a notch down, but still remained gripping on its own. So far, the worst season I have seen (though I read the 6th is supposedly worse). The main storyline is, IMO, at least as good as in the first season. What really hurt it this time was the whole subplot with Kim and that kid. I felt incredibly bored all the time the storyline focused on them and it drags down the entire season. Without it, with one main Jack Bauer plot, it could have equalled or even beaten the first season. The final third of the season rebounds and ends up almost on par with the first, bar the superb finale. The final minute or so of the season is a shocking cliffhanger at its finest. Mandy rules!

Best Episode: 10:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. (Episode 15) - George Mason became one of my favorite characters throughout the first part of the season after having disliked him quite a bit in the first season. His heroic death and the "farewell" between Jack and Kim belong to the emotional highlights of "24". Defininitely one of the series' best hours.

OVERALL GRADE: B+



So far, Season 3, which I am watching for the second time is somewhat above the second and mostly on par with the first. Kim is still annoying as is Palmer's sublot with Alan and Sherry, but the main storyline is really full of great twists and turns and the 12th episode I just finished which is the first big showdown with Ramon getting killed is the season's best so far. I remember thinking that this season is very underrated the first time I saw it. While the finale might not be as great as the one of Day 1, the overall final third of the season beats everything I have seen in "24" up until then. Already looking forward to the episode dealing with Chapelle's death, the emotionally most powerful moment of Seasons 1-4.


I'll keep updating. Feel free to rank your favorite seasons or discuss the ones I have seen, but please hide the spoilers about Seasons 5 and 6!

Chappelle's death is one of the most gut-wrenching things I've seen. Ever. Those final few minutes just painful. Probably one of the best episodes of the entire series, behind only the first season finale and the season five opening hours.

When I re-watched Season 1 last year, I was surprised at how much slower the pace was than some of the later seasons (the super slow Season 6 excepted).

Is season 6 really THAT bad?

The opening hours weren't too bad. Then they brought in a twist that leaned less towards "WTF Awesome?!" and more towards "WTF WTF???" Then they give up and repeat plot points from season 2, 4 and others.

So yeah, it's pretty bad. Thank god the producers want to revamp next season.

Season 6 has its ups and downs. The first four hours are amazing, and there a few more episodes that are terrific here and there, but overall, it's not the most exciting season we've seen.

24 is a show I'll attempt to watch one day... tv dvds just suck the money right out of me though and it takes months before I can go to the city to buy a new batch of them. Took a year to buy all the buffies and watch them all... Though pacing made the fun last longer. One show at a time. Doing Angel now.

That's what netflix is for.

Yeah, seriously. The only real problem was when I was watching Veronica Mars: Season 1 was that for some reason they were skipping over the final disk and sending us the DVDs ranked lower. Me and my sisters were like raving junkies when we getting Mrs. Henderson Presents instead of "A Trip to the Dentist" and "Leave It To Beaver."

Eh with my whole family using and paying for zip.ca(Canada netflix), and the fact that it takes a week for each dvd to come because of my location, it'd be both a pain and frown-worthy to do it. Getting all them at once takes away any of their movie abilities and would for at least a couple weeks as I watched it, one by one it'd be a pain to watch a disc, return it and wait for a week, watch the next one, return it and wait again for a week... that'd take months anyways and would be much more aggravating. It'll be quicker just to buy like 2-3 seasons at once next time I city visit and watch them at my leisure, I don't have much else to spend money on.

What a travesty. Not that Mrs. Henderson Presents isn't a decent movie, but. Those episodes are awesome.

Lecter, you should love Season 5. If you do, you'll probably agree with the consensus on Season 6. That's my best bet as to why everyone (including myself) feel lukewarm towards Season 6. I'm convinced that when the DVD is out, and I rewatch, it will actually be a good season, but the week-to-week thing (as opposed to watching the entire season within four or five days) may actually hurt it. I felt the same towards Season 3 of Alias. I only watched the season on DVD, and I thought it was great, whereas others will say it sucked.

Those first four episodes are incredible. If the Emmy voters judge only on the show's submitted episodes, and they send in their best episodes of the season, then the show should get some Emmy recognition this year. But, I don't know. The Emmys seem to also go with what's got buzz, and 24 lost some buzz this year.

I liked Season 2 over Season 1 but that is me. I loved the twist ending with Mandy and the whole conspiracy bit with Max.

i've been meaning to rewatch all of them. probably will during this summer but if i had to rank them now it'd look like this

1. Season 2
2. Season 5
3. Season 1
4. Season 4
5. Season 6
6. Season 3

You guys know what Season 6 is missing??

Mike Novak

He's one of my favorite secondary characters in 24.

very true. and only one episode with Aaron. I mean come on now.

Finished Season 3 recently and finally purchased Season 5!


SEASON 3:


If not for the Palmer/Sherry/Milliken storyline, it would have topped Season 1 as the best thus far IMO, but that draggéd it down a little, so overall it is just a tiny bit worse than the first season, but the final 8-episodes-stretch of Season 3 is the best I have witnessed yet on 24. It just reminded me how great of a villain Stephen Saunders was. The only upside to it is when he is captured in the 22nd episode, what comes after that is not as engaging anymore because it was his menace that really kept me invested. I really liked the whole Michelle/Tony storyline (still sad they had to die in Season 5) and Sutherland is probably at his best thus far in this season..

Best Episode: 6:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m. (Episode 18) - Never liked Chappelle before, but this is one of 24's emotionally most powerful episodes and the final minutes of it really got to me. I really felt pity for Chapelle and also for Jack who has to execute this order. The whole episode itself oozes tension and is very griping. The ending very sad.

OVERALL GRADE: A-


Season 4 starts next week for me probably!

i'm half way through episode two season 1.

I loved watching the first two series. Got through a third of the third and stopped. Then bought No.4 and stopped after a few episodes. Just got busy. I will have to start watching them again thats for sure.

Through the first four episodes of Season 4, reminded me of how amazing that one was. The best season start of "24" ever, IMO!

Almost through the 4th Season (episode 20 right now). Seriously, I love this season, more than the first even. I like how there is no one showdown in the middle of the season, but several smaller storyline-streaks here. Should start Season 5 on Monday or Tuesday.

SEASON 4:


My favorite season of "24" so far, bordering on a straight A. The only things I wasn't fond of were some small things like Behrooz simply disappearing during the season and the redundant Marwan escapes from Jack and the CTU. Otherwise, it is "24" at its very best. I loved the way they made this season be composed of several small story arcs following each other, without one big showdown in the middle. The return of Tony is excellent when he saves Jack and Audrey and it was nice to see Palmer and Mandy back. I hope she'll return in Season 7. Chlose advanced to one of my favorite characters throughout this season. Her chemistry with Edgar is great as well.

Best Episode: 10 p.m. - 11 p.m. (Episode 16) - The episode when Air Force One gets shot down. Extremely suspenseful and I found the ending to be quite shocking.

OVERALL GRADE: A-


Starting Season 5 today!

SEASON 5:


WOW!

You know how it has truly shown that the season is terrific? I sadly knew most of the important spoilers beforehand (Logan, the deaths) and yet they all managed to shock me when I saw them on screen. Without a shadow of doubt this is the best "24" season so far and I do not see it ever being topped. The makers created something really grad, really "epic" here with the whole government conspiracy. The acting is splendid. While Kiefer is as great as usual, I was blown away by Gregory Itzin as Logan. What an excellent turn. Jean Smart played off him very well and overall the cast was great. This was a season of superlatives. Deaths were shocking and aplenty (though like many here I was not fond of how they handled Tony's demise, but Edgar's death was really shocking, rerally sad), he twists were all that and the villains were by far the best on "24". Logan was great of course, but Christopher Henderson was probably the best direct antagonist Jack as ever had.


Best Episode: 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. (Episode 12) - The attack on CTU and Edgar's death, though there are many many splendid episodes to choose from.

OVERALL GRADE: A


I hope to start Season 6 on Monday or Tuesday.

Season 5 really is awesome. I too knew about the deaths before the premiere, and still gasped when Palmer got hit and Michelle was blown away. And I'm still annoyed that Smart and Itzen (Employ this man more!) lost the Emmys. I don't know how they'll ever top this season.

So how would you rank the seasons so far Lecter?

1. Season 5
2. Season 4
3. Season 1
4. Season 3
5. Season 2

Season 2 is the only one so far that I wouldn't call great. It was good, but the Kim subplot really really dragged it down.

The third and the first seasons are very very very close, IMO. You see, the first half of the third season is quite good, but didn't really blow me away. Once they bring Sanders into the game it becomes the most tense and best-crafted stretch of episodes on 24 until the 5th season topped that. It is the finale of Season 1 hat gives it the slight edge. Otherwise, S3 is very great in parts. Season 4 just gives an overall better season than the first and the third, though it lacks single really stand-out episodes (like the S1 finale or Chappele's death in S3). On the whole, however, it is more consistent...

S5 can't be praised enough.

What are your thoughts, Jon?

I've yet to see the first 3 seasons. Only started on 4, now there only 16$ at target so I'll have to get on that