Aside

Can 24 exist only in a decadent superpower?

Igor hooked me into watching the two-day, four-hour season premiere of _24_. I’m debating whether I’ll continue to watch. Slate asks, “How many other cultures have shows on the order of 24 and Sleeper Cell—programs that convert blasts of terror into pops of corn? Does it happen in places where things blow up with some regularity? Do they unwind with such stuff in Tel Aviv or Thailand? Has Penélope Cruz ever slipped into a cat suit to battle Basque separatists? Or can an everyman like Jack exist only in this decadent superpower?