why I may have to start watching "24"

Unless you live like some Mennonites, several German Baptists, and a few others who eschew the idiot box also known as television (if you're Amish, you eschew electricity altogether, and you're probably not even reading this blog), you've no doubt heard of the (supposedly) engaging show 24. I say supposedly because, well, it hasn't engaged me. I'm not exactly particular about TV shows, mind you - even though Survivor is going through it's umpteenth season, I'll still be there every Thursday night to see who gets voted off.

24 just hasn't captured my attention. I've nothing against Keifer Sutherland, who plays the hero Jack Bauer. Some people have even compared Jack to Jesus Christ, which is stretching it to put it extremely mildly. I guess I'm put off by the tenseness that the show appears to exude. Now, I've only watched portions of a few episodes, so I can't truly make any blanket statement about the show as a whole. But, I can only take tension for two hours at the most, which is about as long as a typical movie lasts. I can't take it for a full hour, once a week, for twenty-four weeks - this is exactly what I perceive 24 would give me.

However, I have been given reason to pause and reflect on my conscious decision to avoid watching 24. I have heard report that actress Regina King will be joining the cast next season. The pop culture mag Entertainment Weekly calls her "glorious and underutilized," and I think that description is exactly right. I first noticed Regina in 227, one of my favorite TV shows from the past. She played my favorite character in this movie and in this one. Perhaps her best performance was as Ray Charles' lover Margie Hendricks in Ray, and it's a shame she wasn't nominated for an Oscar (she did receive the NAACP Image Award for this role).

I may just have to turn in to Fox TV in the fall...


Somewhat unrelated: Speaking of TV shows that star Marla Gibbs (like 227), did you know that Isabel Sanford, who played wife Weezie Jefferson to Sherman Hemsley's George Jefferson on The Jeffersons, was over twenty years older than Hemsley? He was born in 1938, she in 1917. Hemsley was recently on a season of The Surreal Life, but Sanford passed on in 2004. If you watched The Surreal Life, you'll know that Hemsley is the complete opposite of his George Jefferson character.