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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: May 21, 2002
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: 24, “11:00 PM – 12:00 AM” (Season 1, Episode 24) [Watch on Amazon Prime.]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: It’s tough to overstate the importance of 24 when it comes to TV’s evolution from episodic to binge-ready television. It may not have been the first, but it’s certainly the most high-profile example of a show that was best consumed in big chunks, letting the kinetic energy of the storyline carry you through four, five, six hours at a time or more. It was the perfect show for the burgeoning TiVo age, and it’s even more perfect now that we’re in the age of streaming.
The episode itself was the culmination of a season that had done its best to keep viewers as riveted as possible for 24 episodes. As would become evident as 24 continued its run, 24 episodes is a long time to keep one story running that hot, and most seasons would go on to either sag in the middle or suffer from multiple redirection attempts in order to keep fatigue from setting in. Season 1 landed with a jolt, however, mostly due to a ruthlessly executed twist in its final moments.
CTU agent Jack Bauer, having just thwarted an assassination attempt on President David Palmer, and the audience at home has found out that Jack’s partner, Nina, has been the mole this whole time. The punch to the gut no one was expecting came after everything seemed to have been settled, when Jack realized Nina had kidnapped his wife. Terri’s sad fate set the tone for the seasons to come: no one was safe.
[You can watch the 24 season 1 finale on Amazon Prime.]
Joe Reid (@joereid) is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. You can find him leaving flowers for Mrs. Landingham at the corner of 18th and Potomac.
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