TV Show Review: 24 Season 1 Starter Set

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Basically free if you decide to buy the full first season.

Cons: Slow compared to later in the season since the story needed time to build.

The Bottom Line:

Sneaky marketing

You'll need entire season

So just buy that set

As if You'll be Able to Stop Here

In a recent effort to get casual fans interested in their TV products on DVD, Fox has released starter sets of several of their shows. Reasonably priced, they tempt the viewer to buy the first season and even provide a coupon for the purchase price of the sampler off the price of the complete first season set. The casual fan has little to lose.

Here, Fox is offering the first two episodes of season 1 of 24, the most addicting thrill ride on TV today. Just as the Bauer family is about to call it a night, Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) gets a phone call that sends him into work. CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit) has a credible threat on Presidential candidate Senator David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) and Jack must deal with the problem alone since there is reason to believe that CTU has a double agent. Meanwhile, Jack's daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) sneaks out for a night with friends and his wife Teri (Leslie Hope) goes off after her, neither one realizing the danger they are facing. And Senator Palmer is facing a potential blackmail crisis of his own.

This show did take a few episodes of fully suck me in. I needed time to get to know and like the characters plus the story had a rather slow start laying the ground work on the characters and story. Still, these two episodes were good enough to get me to keep coming back, and by the fourth or fifth episode, there was no turning back for me.

But the trouble with this set is it most likely will suck you in. If you are a marginal fan of the show, having two episodes just isn't going to cut it. You'll need to have the complete first season to have all of what happens next. And, of course, you'll enjoy every minute of it.

The 24 Starter Set is brilliant marketing on Fox's part. You'll be buying the complete set before you can say cliffhanger. That coupon is going to come in very handy.