Date with Jack Bauer

On my Facebook status update tonight I confessed that I was looking forward to my Monday night date with Jack Bauer. I was a little bit surprised to receive some messages back from a wide variety of friends responding that they, too, are fans of Fox's 24. Some (well one) responded publicly and others responded in more private ways.

I watch 24 with friends like me who aren't always available on Monday nights, so my friend MH does the DVR thing and we descend upon his house to get caught up now and then. We're only up to episode 13 I think - Tony and Larry have just been invited to depart Starkwood's base and Jack is infected with something that looks nasty but isn't contagious. . . . .

We'll reconvene our viewing group on April 28 to get the rest of the way caught up - so PLEASE don't send me any spoiler comments. I LOVE DVR technology. But it does have its spoiler risks.

I do take some flack from certain quarters about my TV habits. Accusations of indulging gratuitous violence. I like James Bond, too, and get called on the sexual crap that dehumanizes women. Once upon a time a young woman (who happens to have been made a priest in the recent few years) got all over my case for taking my young sons to 007 movies. I explained that my sons are smart enough to differentiate between fantasy and fact. She was disgusted with me and then two weeks later was going on and on about her delight in the latest Austin Powers movie.

Austin Powers wouldn't even exist if there hadn't been James Bond to spoof! Well, she has her own children now - and she's a priest - so we'll see how well she does. So far I'm quite proud of my sons. Have I told you that Arthur is a fully certified EMT now and Joren is on his way to Luther College?

Anyway, I enjoy 24. I love that it calls into question current foreign policy and uses technology to a ridiculous degree. We all agree not to count bullets or dead bodies accumulated as "collateral damage" as we watch, trying to anticipate Tony's responses and Larry's loserness (go figure!). Often one of us gets the next line right. Here's the deep question we ask whenever the beeps come on as audio accompaniment to the split screens as a scene opens or closes at the commercial breaks announcing the time of day:

When are they going to have lunch?!?