Scene selection — Geoff Carter: On DVD, ‘24’ is a full day

Friday, Nov. 22, 2002 | 9:10 a.m.

Geoff Carter is a Seattle based free-lance film critic and entertainment writer. Reach him at carter@pre2k.com.

There are new installments of "Harry Potter," "Friday," "The Santa Clause" and the "007" franchise in theaters now. The coming weeks will bring the latest "Star Trek," and you can rent or buy the second installment of George Lucas' "Star Wars" series tonight, if you didn't get enough of it in theaters.

With all these second-and-third acts (or 10th and 20th, in the case of "Trek" and "007" respectively) demanding to be viewed, it is understandable if you've missed the most compelling sequel of the year: the second season of "24," Tuesday nights on Fox.

It's easily the best action-drama on broadcast television, because it doesn't know that it's television. If "24" cost me $8 every week, I'd pay.

The first season of "24" is now available on DVD (Fox Home Entertainment, $59.98), and I strongly suggest you go down to the video store and begin renting the six-disc set two discs at a time. I can pretty much guarantee you that if the series engages you, you'll watch seven-odd hours worth of episodes in two nights.

It's rigged, you see. "24" takes place over the course of a single day, hence the name of the show. Every episode happens in real time (or close to it -- real life doesn't break for commercials, after all).

Every episode ends with a cliffhanger that's resolved in the following episode -- sometimes within the first five minutes, sometimes in the last five. You've never seen anything as diabolical on network television. Or as good.

This long day's journey into night belongs mostly to Jack Bauer, a Counter-Terrorist Unit operative played by Kiefer Sutherland (a performance that won the actor a well-deserved Golden Globe). Late one night he is called into CTU and told to prevent the assassination of Senator Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), a black man on the verge of getting the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Before Palmer fully understands what's happening to him, his daughter is kidnapped, a colleague is murdered and Jack is double-crossed (not just once, but repeatedly). What started out as a relatively difficult assignment becomes impossible, and Jack's nerves and endurance are stretched well beyond their limits. And we're right there with him, compulsively changing discs in the player.

The DVDs of "24's" first season were obviously rushed into production to beat the second season, which has Bauer searching for a rogue nuclear bomb. There are few extras on the first season discs, and Fox didn't even put chapter breaks in the episodes. But there are compensations.

Without commercials, each episode runs just 47 minutes or so, and the episodes are presented in letterbox widescreen, just like a feature film.

I can't tell you much more without giving away plot points. The creators of "24," Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow, are doing things on the small screen that transcend the medium. The writing, acting and direction (mostly by "Blade" director Stephen Hopkins) are all first class.

I'd be thrilled if the new James Bond movie is as audacious and original as "24," but it won't be. Maybe Jack Bauer should move to England.