24

It started well - an all-action, spy, political, thriller, all set within 24 hours, each episode an hour long, showing the events in real time.

But 24 just didn't work - we've just finished watching the First Season (I know, I know, we're 10 years behind the rest of the world!) and I don't know what the fuss was all about.

OK, plenty of significant characters, even innocents, are killed off, so I can't accuse it of being too sugary sweet, far from it. But my problem with it is that it's just not plausible. Too much time spent hugging and telling one another of their love, but not enough wondering how they're going to escape from the deadly trap they're in. And being the teenage daughter of a special agent certainly makes Kim a brave young woman and a silly teenager all at once. And the baddies have no problem killing off extras on the set, but when it comes to actually killing their targets, they constantly waste time and tie them up and take them prisoner instead of shooting straight for the head/heart. And security agents constantly walk into traps all by themselves - and nobody back at base ever wonders why they're not reporting on their status. And, let's face it, Jack Bauer is completely invincible, so I don't know why the baddies keep on trying.

And the mole - don't get me started about the mole - so well hidden that it's only 3 hours before the end that his/her identity is revealed - and their behaviour for the last 21 hours was completely inconsistent with that of an active mole.

Having read the summary of the following 7 Seasons in Wikipedia, I really don't think I'll be able to watch any more.

Plenty of twists and action (Jack Bauer's wife and daughter face death 3 times in 24 hours, Palmer, twice; as for Jack, I've stopped counting) but not enough attention to realistic detail for me. Maybe we've come to expect a lot more from our television in the last 10 years? Or am I missing something?