24:ABS-CBN’s ‘Tagalized’ series that clicks

ABS-CBN’s Tagalized series, 24, recently achieved another enviable feat when it won Best TV Series — drama in the Golden Globe award early this week. After being nominated twice since it started airing in the United States in November 2001, 24 got the coveted award this year.

"The third time proved to be a lucky charm for the executive producers of the series," according to a wire report.

On local TV, 24 has become a widely followed primetime series when it started airing five times a week on ABS-CBN, as replacement of the soap operas, Darating ang Umaga and Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay. That became an unprecedented viewing experience on Philippine TV.

Although a number of viewers were already familiar with the canned action-drama series, which AXN also carries on cable TV, 24 became a byword among local viewers with its Tagalized version. The concept preceded by the Jennifer Garner-starrer, Alias, another hit action series which ABS-CBN also dubbed in Tagalog.

The voice talents chosen to dub 24 were screened carefully to match the original cast members’ voices, according to Leo Katigbak, ABS-CBN vice president for program acquisition and marketing director of Studio 23.

24, which is now on its 3rd season in the US, airs on Sunday nights from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. The action-espinonage thriller from Fox TV has undeniably resurrected the career of Canadian-born actor Kiefer Sutherland, who is best remembered for his impressive big screen roles in films like Young Guns, Stand By Me, An Eye for an Eye, A Time To Kill, Flatliners, The Three Musketeers, A Few Good Men and, more recently, Phone Booth, with Collin Farell. Kiefer will soon be seen in an upcoming film, Taking Lives, with Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke.

In 24, Kiefer gets his first-ever TV break in his star-making role as Jack Bauer, a federal agent of the government’s Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). Last year, Kiefer even won the Golden Globe Best Performance by an actor in a TV drama series for 24. That readily encouraged him to act as 24 executive producer, with such esteemed names in the industry as Brian Grazer, Joel Surnow, Ron Howard, Tony Krantz, Robert Cochran and Howard Gordon.

"This is certainly the most visible project I’ve been a part of in quite a long time," Kiefer said in an earlier interview to promote the series. "I’ve been working a lot and sometimes, films weren’t turning out the way I’d wanted. So I tried to map out a way that I could be involved in a project yet not have the pressure to do so much of it. I wanted a nice balance. I was really grateful that after such a long time off, I was allowed to come back and do what I enjoy."

The groundbreaking thriller is a roller-coaster ride that unfolds in real time. From midnight to midnight – covering a 24-hour day over the course of a season – each episode has its own resolution, but the clock doesn’t stop ticking.

The nail-biting first season started airing in November last year, nightly on ABS-CBN. The first 24 episodes took place on during the Presidential primary day in Los Angeles, where Jack Bauer and his elite team of CIA agents were made to uncover a plot to assassinate Presidential nominee David Palmer, who is an African-American. With only 24 hours to identify the killer and save Palmer’s life, Jack also had to deal with his strained marriage and the sudden disappearance of his troubled teenage daughter.

Season two, which started this month on ABS-CBN, picks up approximately one year after the conclusion of the first season, and finds Jack Bauer and his daughter, Kim, dealing with the trauma of losing their wife/mother. Just as their lives are beginning to return to normal, new President David Palmer calls on Jack to help stop another terrorist plot with global implications.

24 also stars Xander Berkeley as George Mason, Carlos Bernard as Tony Almeida, Sarah Clarke as Nina Myers, Elisha Cuthbert as Kimberly Bauers, Dennis Haysbert as David Palmer, Leslie Hope as Teri Bauer and Penny Johnson Jerald as Sherry Palmer.

The award-winning series keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, with incredible twists and turns in the plot that will shock them long after the last frame has faded. The producers also innovatively use the split-screen process in presenting the events during the day, with cliffhangers that make viewers anticipate the next episode with much excitement and interest.

In an earlier interview to promote the series, Kiefer cited that the most challenging aspect in making 24 is trying to maintain a level of suspense over a long period of time. "Television is such a different beast from feature films in the sense that you truly get a sense of what an audience is experiencing while you’re making the show. You try to feed off their feedback. And the one thing that the audience continues looking through was the suspenseful nature of the show."

True enough, 24 combines the exciting elements of suspense, action and drama that easily appeal to viewers. No wonder Fox TV has cashed in on the series for worldwide syndication.

In the US, demographics on 24 showed it is the No. 1 show in its time period among adults, 18 to 34. It also ranks in the top 10 (No. 9) out of over 120 primetime programs. The series attracts an equal balance of men and women, and high-income and highly educated viewers. As a result, 24 remains one of the most sought-after programs in primetime with advertisers, commanding as much as $292,000, the highest cost for a 30-second spot.