24 Special Edition season 1...like crack, it's not for everyone

Behold! Tis the new, updated version of 24: Season One (Special Edition), dressed in silvery chrome and looking fancy. It's also packing inside. Here's a picture of it kicking the ass of old 24 Season 1 with a swift flying kick to the face.


It wasn't long before the new "special edition" was on top of the crummy, made-out-of-cardboard season one box. Here it is again, sporting its dominance over the feeble and silly.


Of course, it doesn't take much to kick the old box to the ground. Armed with only six disks, no audio commentaries and barely any special features, 24's first jump to DVD left a lot to be desired, so much so that a slight technological breeze could knock the set over...which is exactly what we have here.

The Special Edition was sent to The Bauer about 3 weeks ago. The first night, I watched the pilot episode with commentary from Director Stephen Hopkins and Director of Photography Peter Levy (was the janitor at his AA meeting?) and quickly passed out. Unless you like hearing grown dudes talk about lighting for 44 minutes, this is NOT the commentary for you.

Then I checked out the special features disk (it has a whole 7th disk dedicated to extra stuff). Here we find a slew of "Extended and Deleted Scenes," an documentary called "The Genesis of 24" that is devoid of the actors from the show, and two episodes of "The Rookie," the ad/show from Degree for Men.

"The Rookie" is actually somewhat entertaining and I like the premise of some young kid at CTU getting coffee or delivering some device to his boss, while getting mixed up with international terrorists along the way (which is like my job...the getting disrespected part).

But the big deal that this DVD set touted was the idea of...the alternate ending! When I asked the PR guy sent it to me (that's right...I kinda get paid to write about 24 now...sorta...not really) I said that I was pretty sure the alternate ending was included on the first season one edition. He said it wasn't (I checked. It is).

Which makes this new Special Edition DVD completely useless to the loyal fan, unless you enjoy listening to Leslie Hope's (AKA Mrs. Jack Bauer) passive aggressiveness on her commentary in the final episode. It's littered with her praising all the actors and saying things like "It's a good thing they killed me because I'd have nothing to do in season two" or when Director Stephen Hopkins (that's right, he's on both commentaries!) replies "You're cynical" and she replies "I think I'm entitled!"

Despite all that, she repeatedly replied that it was "the best experiences of my professional life." That I can see, since after her year at 24 she has gone on to shows like "Line of Fire," "Commander and Chief," and "Runaway."

I would have much rather heard a drunken howl from her (I mean, c'mon, she's got no loyalty to the show and could totally just bitch and scream about it...or maybe it was taped for the initial release and she was screwed out of that too?)

I miss 24. Maybe I'll get drunk in a week and review another "The Rookie..."