24 - B, I guess

I've never watched 24 until this year. It's on episode 8 or 9 and more happens in one hour to Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) than happens in a year or so to most people. But that's why he's on TV. He is an intelligence agent trying to stop terrorists from setting off more suitcase bombs (one was set off in an LA suburb earlier this season). The cast includes many familiar faces including Powers Boothe, James Cromwell, and Peter MacNichol. There is no weak link in the dozens of actors performing, although the writing occasionally gets melodramatic.

It may be too late to start watching this year, but if you're unfortunate like me, it's too late to stop watching. No one eats, goes to the bathroom, or makes a joke. But it continues to fascinate and provoke using current events and political discussions.

Medical mistakes: Nearly every operating room scene on TV has an x-ray in the background hanging on the wall. The x-ray never applies to the surgery being performed. 24 outdid itself this week when the President, after an assassination attempt, is taken to the OR to remove shrapnel from his neck. The CT images were upside down and sideways and involved the chest and abdomen. The Scrubs opening song is also guilty of this with the chest x-ray hung backwards. But that OK, TV guys, master perfectionist Stanley Kubrick himself had a chest x-ray hung backwards in a morgue, no less, in Eyes Wide Shut.