January 23rd, 2007
I hate to say I told you so, but Heroes laid the smackdown on 24 last night. Take a bite out of that, Jack Bauer!
The peacock opened the night at No. 1 by a wide margin with an average of 17.6 million viewers and 5.2 rating/13 share in adults 18-49 for game show “Deal or No Deal,” according to preliminary estimates. Fox was competitive in the hour with the return of drama “Prison Break” (9.9 million, 4.2/10).
“Heroes” (14.8 million, 6.5/15) grew in the demo derby at 9 p.m. even in the face of “24? (14.4 million, 5.4/12) with its first regular time period airing of the season following last week’s four-hour premiere spread over Sunday and Monday nights. CBS’ “Two and a Half Men” (16.1 million, 4.9/11) held on to No. 1 in viewers in the 9-9:30 p.m. half-hour. CBS’ “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (13 million, 4.2/9) fell to third behind “24? and “Heroes” in the second half of the hour.
And to think, people were actually worried that Heroes might fair poorly versus the veteran it was up against… Never doubt the power of geeks and their TV shows…
January 21st, 2007
According to CNN, Muslims are outraged at their portrayal in Fox’s hit TV series, ‘24′.
Two years ago, Muslim groups protested when the plot of the hit Fox drama “24″ cast Islamic terrorists as the villains who launched a stolen nuclear missile in an attack on America.
Now, after a one-year respite during which Russian separatists played the bad guys on the critically acclaimed series, Muslims are back in the evil spotlight. Unlike last time, when agent Jack Bauer saved the day, the terrorists this time have already succeeded in detonating a nuclear bomb in a Los Angeles suburb.
Being portrayed again as the heartless wrongdoers has drawn renewed protests from Muslim groups, including one that had a meeting with Fox executives two years ago over the issue.
I don’t watch 24 so I can’t speak to how Muslim’s are actually portrayed on the show, but I can say this… we live in a day and age where, unfortunately, extremist Muslims represent the largest threat that exists against the Western world.
If anything, Muslims should be upset over the extremists that have hijacked their religion and made themselves mouthpieces for the entire religion. Every religion has its kooks. God know Christianity has more than its fair share. But seriously… when are Muslims going to take a stand against the extremists? I don’t blame Fox for taking this direction in the story. Al-Qaeda is out there… they hate America… they hate the Western World… they’ve gone to great lengths to destroy our civiliations in any way they can muster… They are a vocal minority… and their shouting has silenced the majority of Muslims who insist their religion is one of peace…
The other side of this, is that there are fears that people will have a hard time discerning reality from fiction. Not all Muslims are terrorists. 24 is just a TV show. If people are stupid enough to retaliate against other ethnic groups because of fictional TV dramas, I don’t care what race that person is… they deserve to punished to the fullest extent of the law.
