Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Sunday, June 30, 2024

DVD/TV Series Review: 24: Legacy

 


24: Legacy was a limited event series that aired in early 2017 and starred Corey Hawkins, Miranda Otto, Jimmy Smits, Teddy Sears, and Gerald McRaney. Carlos Bernard was the only cast member from the original series to appear in Legacy. In the age of seemingly every canceled show getting a reboot, this is definitely not needed. At least not in the way it was done. It was actually the second shot at a 24 reboot, this time without Kiefer Sutherland reprising his role as Jack Bauer (he was credited as an executive producer), so while it had the same kind of exaggerated "real-time" format (at least for 11 hrs and 58 minutes or so, then did a 12 hr time jump and finished off the last couple minutes) and crazy twists that the old show was known for, it just did not work as well without the character that made the series iconic in the first place.

This series follows up on the aftermath of a raid that was clearly a take-off on the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, but this time with the remaining terrorists planning retaliatory strikes in the United States. It centers around the character of Eric Carter (played by Corey Hawkins ), who was a member of a group of army rangers on a mission to kill the terrorist leader. The supporting cast includes Miranda Otto, who is the outgoing director of CTU and wife to Jimmy Smit's character who is a senator with Presidential aspirations, Gerald McRainey who plays the father of the senator, and Teddy Sears as the new director of CTU. There are also some character tiebacks to the original series. Chances are, most people who get this have already seen the series, but I will not spoil anything for those who have not.

The set is only available on DVD. After the series ended, Amazon had a page for a blu-ray release. Still, as is the case with the vast majority of Fox's shows, if it gets a disc release at all, it is only a DVD (although it looks like it was released on blu-ray overseas, so if you have a region-free blu-ray player and want to pay for an import, that is an option. The extras are all on the last disc, just deleted scenes and an 11-minute making-of featurette. Okay, for what is there, but definitely bare bones.

While the series was billed as a first season, it was canceled shortly after the final episode aired. Had the original series not existed, this would have been fine for a 12-episode show. But given what had come before and the fact that it was so centered around the Jack Bauer character, having an event series so far outside the parent show's storylines just did not work well. Plus, the fact that the new characters were not established in any way for a handful of episodes, so there was no way to really get fans to care about them, did not work. What the writers with the story was fine, and the acting was fine, but the series just felt like a square peg being forced into a round hole. I think it would have worked far better if they were at least to incorporate the character of Jack Bauer into the story (say, a mission to try and free him from whatever hole he was likely dropped into at the end of the Live Another Day series), even if Kiefer did not appear, appeared for just one scene at the end, or only appeared in flashbacks would have had fans of the original series more invested in this one. Ultimately, while it was not a horrible series, it was nowhere near as good as the original series was at its best. While it is worth watching but is not a must-watch series.

No comments: