Fox's charge to make 24 a completely green show is admirable. It's not only expensive and harder to do than one might think, but it also flies in the face of 24's core audience. Of course, that's not its boldest effect. These days, pissing off the right wing is more "in" than Twittering about your Snuggie.
The boldest move is the effect these new measures could have on the body of the show in ways you may not expect. You might even see Jack Bauer tie a guy to a chair and hook up his nipples to a car battery to get him to admit he doesn't put his plastics and newspapers in separate recycling bins.
The New York Times recently delved a little deeper into this bright green move. Apparently, it all started when News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch vowed to make his network greener after hearing a presentation from former Vice President Al Gore. It's true, the guy who created Fox News and the New York Post listened to Al Gore's global warming speech for more than five minutes without vomiting blood or calling for his firing squad. Trust me, he's Rupert Murdoch. He has a death squad on his payroll. How do I know that? Because if I were as rich as him, I would have one, too. Think of the stories I could have at parties.
Environmental consultants on the show have made a lot of behind the scenes changes to cut down on wasteful energy usage such as installing motion sensors in the bathrooms that turn off lights when no one is in them, using biodiesel on the crew's vehicles, and investing in more wind and solar power. It's too bad the show can't turn Sutherland's angry acting spittle into some form of renewable energy. California's energy crisis could be solved overnight!
Some aspects of these changes may affect future episodes of the series. The show won't force the idea on their viewers. You won't see Bauer forcing someone to carpool at gunpoint. Still, a man can always dream.
It will probably be much more subtle. Take car chases, for instance. Since the show is using nothing but hybrids, car chases are nearly impossible to do in one of those things and crashing them is a big no-no since they would emit carbon dioxide like any normal car would when they explode. Plus they move slower than Terrell Owens in the middle of contract negotiations. The only way we'll see Bauer commandeer a Toyota Prius is if the terrorist he is chasing has one leg and is trying to get away on a pogo stick.
So here's the question that if you don't give me a straight answer to, I will no longer be responsible for what happens in this room...
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
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Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-18-2009 @ 11:23AM
kip said...
We go to war for oil. How is this not something for the core audience of 24? I think working with Nascar moms and dads is better idea than going after the prius driving crowd.
I still would love to see Jack in a prius v aptera car chase :)
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3-22-2009 @ 1:00PM
Jeff said...
I don't think the writer did much research on the subject, given that his misconceptions are all over the article...Going green is something that pretty much anyone can do without changing anything they do in life. Is it nice that the set of 24 is trying to save energy? Yeah. But don't think for a second that means that the show is going to stop blowing up cars.
All going green means revolves around buying a certain number of 'credits' which, in effect, cancel out all the obnoxious gases 24 DOES send into the atmosphere. I don't know much about the process, but I do know that no one is going to notice any difference on the show.
3-18-2009 @ 11:52AM
RJohn said...
I think TV Squad too often get's its liberal agenda in the way of having a normal discussion. I'm a conservative and honestly have no idea what the "core" audience is for 24. Do you? Putting up a link to the Free Republic doesn't prove anything. I know plenty of liberals and democrats that love 24 because it is entertaining, not because of its points of view.
Maybe I am in the minority, but I watch a show because it is awesome. Do I agree with 24's green stance? No, but that is certainly not going to affect my love of the show, nor my rush Monday nights to see it.
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3-25-2009 @ 3:31PM
Franklin said...
I'm pretty sure Danny's inclusion of the link to Free Republic was in keeping with the humorous tone of the entire article.
I really don't care if they've gone green on the set of 24, all I care about is what I can do. While I'm a Republican and a rabid conservative, I've been doing more to "go green" than any 10 of the libtards whose mouth-foaming rants litter these comments.
I've always composted, and that's since the 1960's when people thought styrofoam was a food product. Been using compact fluorescent bulbs since way back whenthey cost almost $20 each, been recycling for over 20 years, been getting used to colder settings in the winter and warmer settings in the summer for just as long. Plus too much to even bother mentioning.
No, I'm not championing a cause, just saving myself some money while wasting less. Quite the opposite of the idiots who make all the noise about saving the environment while wasting like a drunken sailor.
3-18-2009 @ 12:08PM
dukrous said...
I couldn't give three damns about the green movement, so I just fast forward like a good TiVo-er when 24 stops and the commercials begin.
As long as the pulp core of the show is still there, I'll be watching.
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3-18-2009 @ 12:44PM
Jason said...
but would four damns do it for you? aha! think about it man.
;)
3-18-2009 @ 12:28PM
Joel said...
If they wanted an expolsion, couldn't they just insert one from a previous season or find some stock footage of an explosion and use c.g. to make it look real
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3-18-2009 @ 12:35PM
ConspiracyGuy said...
It's noble that the production crew is doing this, in the end they are trying to reduce waste. Who cares if the motivation is to save the environment? Isn't reducing waste good?
For those people that don't believe in the "green" message: you guys now have an opportunity to waste even more: all that gasoline the 24 crew saved means more for you! Now you can pollute just a little bit more now that 24 is polluting less! 24 saved some trees by using electronic copies, time to chop down some trees, hooray!
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3-18-2009 @ 12:57PM
Clayton said...
I worked for the Academy Awards a few years ago, the first year that it went "green." I can tell you now, it is a SHAM. Putting out a few recycle bins and using recycled paper isn't my idea of green.
24 will do the exact same thing. It won't have a visable effect on the show at all.
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3-18-2009 @ 2:13PM
Karen said...
I agree with the poster who said that TVSquad lets its liberal agenda get in the way of its writing.
First, if you are referencing the right wing/conservatives as 24s core audience, then you misunderstand the core audience. Conservatives don't have a problem with conservation (they promote conservation/not preservation), they just don't want the government to mandate it. If a private business (the people producing 24) choose to make do business that way - great! We're all for it. Just don't show up at my house with your bogus global warming theories (the debate is NOT settled) and require me to make expensive changes to support your pet cause based on your belief system.
However, to answer the question, it won't change the show in any way.
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3-18-2009 @ 4:32PM
John Howard said...
What sort of twisted logic are you using to think there's any meaningful difference between conservation and preservation when it comes to the environment? And maybe you don't have a problem with it, but conservatives as a whole certainly do.
3-18-2009 @ 7:44PM
Max said...
"What sort of twisted logic are you using to think there's any meaningful difference between conservation and preservation when it comes to the environment? And maybe you don't have a problem with it, but conservatives as a whole certainly do."
So you believe that anyone that's affiliated to one party agrees 100% of the party's views? There's a difference between being green and being "100% OMG SAVE THE PLANET, CAUSE IT'S THE TRENDY THING TO DO AND EVERYONE IS JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON EVEN THOUGH SCIENTISTS ARE NOW SAYING THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GLOBAL WARMING BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE MIGHT LOSE MONEY ON THEIR GREEN PROJECTS, SO LET'S CALL IT CLIMATE CHANGE" Green. See, we don't like the pushiness of the left.
3-18-2009 @ 4:33PM
John Howard said...
What could there possibly be about 24's green stance to disagree with? You are against using energy effeciently?
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3-18-2009 @ 11:06PM
Max said...
I'm against it being constantly bashed into my skull on a daily basis.
3-18-2009 @ 4:39PM
jffm said...
"but it also flies in the face of 24's core audience."
This is where blogs suffer by not having editors. A good editor would have said, 'Core audience? Says who?' and called out the link as a BS attempt at proving that alleged "fact".
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