I know 24 is still included on articles that talk about “greatest TV shows of all time,” critics still absolutely love it. But I’ve noticed that it’s barely talked about on social media much compared to other shows from that era that have seen a revival. House MD, The Wire, The Sopranos, even shows like Prison Break get mentioned on places like TikTok all the time and have massive followings on there. But when I look up 24, almost no one seems to talk about it anymore.
This was a show that received consistently high ratings and great reception for a large portion of its run! It‘s still the most recent network drama to win the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. But despite 2000s shows receiving a new life online nowadays I have noticed 24 is conspicuously absent from these discussions.
Is this just me? Has anyone noticed the absence of discussion about this show anymore?
It's a product of its era. Post War on terror it just isn't relevant anymore.
26
Solid_Internal_9079Apr 10, 2026
+16
24 was a great show in its own right, however, it wasn’t exactly a deep show with tuns of iconic moment or “memeable” moments. You could honestly vaguely describe the plot of any given 24 season and it would pretty match the description of every season.
16
beary_neutralApr 10, 2026
+1
Due to the nature of 24-episode seasons, it was subject to a fair amount of bad writing tropes: mid-season pivots, filler episodes, dropped plotlines, recycled plots, and shock value deaths. These are more noticeable in a serialized show. Even season 5, which many considered to be the peak of the series, had a lot of rehashed material.
1
Replicant28Apr 10, 2026
+4
The Jack Bauer Power Hour is one of my go to comfort watches.
4
[deleted]Apr 10, 2026
+22
[deleted]
22
newaccount721Apr 10, 2026
+4
While I agree that is an accurate depiction of the show, I doubt this is anywhere near the top reason. Based on what shows and movies remain popular and frankly who people vote for, I don't think this bothers people
4
LobesmuApr 10, 2026
+3
Which sucks, because it’s still a really good show but yeah it had awful PR because a lot of Republicans during that time would go around calling it their “favorite show.” Rush Limbaugh being one of them. Antonin Scalia even cited the show in an opinion he wrote justifying the use of torture. And again it’s still an incredibly written show! It’s just aged terribly.
I know the showrunner for the later seasons went on to create Homeland, also another great show, but one which received a lot of the same criticisms too
3
tdifenApr 10, 2026
+3
Yea I think this is correct.
At the time people were still arguing for torture but as time goes on and as more information is public we find it doesn't really work. It just gets people to say whatever they can to get the torture to stop.
So looking it through a modern lens it just comes across as preachy instead of accurate.
A modern 24 could work but they had to drop the trope of capturing and torturing people to get the info they need.
3
bearrosaurusApr 10, 2026
+3
We have Guantanamo Bay reports saying they tortured the same guy 83 times. You really have to think about the official that said “well we’ve tried it nine times already, which is a bit ridiculous, but on the tenth one it’ll really work!” and then continue to say the same thing 73 more times.
Not only does it not work but the people that want it to work are f****** insane.
3
tdifenApr 10, 2026
+3
Yea it's nuts. It's a long trope that's existed for 100s if not 1000s of years that torture works.
3
ChrisMartins001Apr 10, 2026
+2
I think when it gets to the tenth time, they aren't even doing it because they think it works, they are doing it because they enjoy it.
Because their boss shouted at them, or because they had an argument with their partner on the phone, etc, so they take it out on a prisoner.
2
tdifenApr 10, 2026
+2
Yea, if they're convinced the person is evil I'm sure they get some pleasure out of it.
I mean, I'd punch Hitler.
2
magus-21Apr 10, 2026
+8
It's because 24 didn't actually have a *huge* impact in the grand scheme of things. It was a hyper-specific format that was never replicated anywhere else, part a genre that took much more inspiration from movies than from TV shows like 24, and the thing it was best known for -- cliffhangers and plot twist betrayals, often paired together -- loses its novelty in repeat viewings.
In contrast, House popularized the "genius a******" trope, the Wire was basically the pinnacle of the police drama genre, and the Sopranos revolutionized **television** drama as a whole. (I never watched Prison Break so I can't say much about it.)
8
tdifenApr 10, 2026
+7
I'd argue if it wasn't for 24 the Pitt wouldn't be a show.
7
GrungemasterApr 10, 2026
+3
Grew up with my parents watching both ER and 24. Kinda interesting it took two more decades for someone to merge the two premises well.
3
tdifenApr 10, 2026
+3
It's probably a hard sell to networks. "Another medical drama but like 24!!".
It took the actor from ER who had enough clout with the networks to actually get it off the ground.
Also my guess is it's super c**** to make, no A list actors and it's all filmed in one location.
3
LobesmuApr 10, 2026
+1
I mean I would say that a lot of espionage-action oriented shows still follow a lot of the same tropes, but you’re right those usually aren’t the most interesting types of shows people like to discuss. But for House specifically, even outside of his genius a****** moments I still see people talk about moments from that show unrelated to that too. I’ve seen multiple people say they got into House because of the “What’s My Necklace Made of?” scene. I guess it’s a myriad of reasons, but definitely Laurie’s performance played a huge part in that
1
magus-21Apr 10, 2026
+1
The "genius a******" trope wasn't the only thing House had, it was just its main influence on pop culture. Non-fans who enjoyed it will remember the "genius a******" and then the fans will chime in to remind them of the more specific moments.
1
esche92Apr 10, 2026
+3
I think it‘s because it went on a bit too long and got quite bad with repeating storylines in the final seasons and then was revived already so there‘s really not much desire by anyone really to have more of it. The format was always more of an attraction than the actual story which even in its best seasons fizzled out around episode 10.
3
LobesmuApr 10, 2026
+7
I’ve seen some other discussions bringing this up and most of the consensus seems to be that it being a product of the Bush-era has led to it not aging well. I can certainly get behind that rationale, but I wonder if anyone has other reasons too?
7
ibribeApr 10, 2026
+9
Bad title for SEO
9
Bentonite_MagmaApr 10, 2026
+2
There are definitely modern shows that have 24 in their bloodstream. I'm thinking of Tehran on AppleTV. It has that same "nonstop serialized adventure" feel.
2
JeffRyan1Apr 10, 2026
+1
Hijack as well, also an Apple TV show. I think both seasons are even set in \~real time.
1
OctogenarianApr 10, 2026
+1
The Pitt
1
wvgeekmanApr 10, 2026
+2
Speaking as someone in their 50s, shows and movies come and go. Even things that were really popular in their day can lose their relevance in a shockingly brief amount of time. It's impossible to predict what will stick and for how long.
2
[deleted]Apr 10, 2026
+3
[deleted]
3
LobesmuApr 10, 2026
-2
I definitely haven’t seen that but I am mainly on places like Twitter and YT. Maybe I just don’t have 24 content on my tl but I’d still say compared to the sway shows from that era like House MD and The Wire they seem to have a lot more oxygen than 24
-2
bentheoneApr 10, 2026
+2
It was a great watch but that's is, not much re-watch power.
2
OpticalInfusionApr 10, 2026
+1
24 was right before the era of binge-watching prestige shows and netflix mailing entire box sets. I never got in to it and as a serial-drama, you can't just start in the middle. By the time watching entire seasons at a time was commonplace, 24 was old news and competing with HBO's absolutely killer lineup. 24 also was not available through Netflix.
tl:dr nobody wanted to buy the entire box set to start an old show they hadn't seen.
1
FailSonnenApr 10, 2026
+1
I thought 24 was really good...for like the first 6 hours or so. Once you kind of settled into the gimmick a lot of the seams became really visible. Don't get me wrong, it was still really entertaining, but it was entertaining in the way that reality TV slop is entertaining.
It was already kind of jumping the shark in season 1 and subsequent seasons kept getting dumber and more outlandish.
1
LobesmuApr 10, 2026
+1
It’s interesting seeing opinions like this since I have also seen people say later Seasons like Season 5 are the best in the show. But I do agree that it feel victim to its own formula, ESPECIALLY after Season 5
1
LeoLaDawgApr 10, 2026
+1
I'd say because all its big fans got really sick of watching his daughter get into more and more unbelievable situations each season. By the end watching it was more a chore than a joy.
1
wmike469Apr 10, 2026
+1
Because after you binge watch it you ask yourself how did they get from the Whitehouse to the streets of LA in 30 minutes
1
HowardBunnyColvinApr 10, 2026
+1
they still bring up 24 it was an iconic 2000s show
1
ArchDuckyApr 10, 2026
+1
I just talked about 24 today LOL.
1
Frosty-Winner-5063Apr 10, 2026
+1
I don't think it's that good at all. Entertaining , maybe.
But I watched the 1st season only - felt like forever.
Predictable twists , insane plot holes, overdramatic tropey writing.
Not saying its bad either, but it has all these things to some degree.
Yes people say it's nowhere close to the peak of its runs (the best seasons)
But when you turn on The Sopranos, like you mention, it doesn't feel like it belongs on The CW, does it?
1
Impossible_Quote_505Apr 10, 2026
+1
I joined this sub 5 years ago and I'm pretty sure it gets mentioned at least once a week
1
Mountain_Age3223Apr 10, 2026
+1
The thought of watching 24 hours of a drama to get to the end sounds exhausting this day n age lol
1
MoooneyApr 10, 2026
+5
24 hours of a drama these days would take 7 or 8 years to air, so you'd have lots of time to catch your breath.
5
BrexingaApr 10, 2026
+1
Never liked the show, but you can still see it's concept in new modern show. The Pitt follows a similar structure of following a story hour by hour.
But yeah, it's the only time you'll see me referencing or talking about 24.
1
ChataboutgamesApr 10, 2026
+1
It's incredibly dated. "Noble American torturing people not because he wants to, but because only he can save the President/building/plane/whatever" just doesn't feel so good these days.
1
Sweaty-End-6774Apr 10, 2026
-16
Because people became too political so can’t say they enjoyed it without looking like a republican
-16
Icy-Hovercraft-6480Apr 10, 2026
+2
Maybe it's also because the show doesn't work as well in bite-sized social media content? Like House has those iconic diagnostic moments and Sopranos has all these quotable scenes, but 24 was really about that real-time tension building up over entire episodes. Hard to capture that feeling in a 30-second TikTok clip when the whole point was watching Jack Bauer stress out for 24 straight hours. Plus the torture stuff aged pretty badly - I remember thinking it was badass back in high school but now it just feels uncomfortable to watch. The format was revolutionary for its time but doesn't really translate to how people consume TV content nowadays on their phones
2
Main_Mood_9002Apr 10, 2026
You are being downvoted but half the comments are literally about politics. Make it make sense.
0
newaccount721Apr 10, 2026
+1
Because it doesn't make any sense. People proudly watch Yellowstone. It's an extremely popular show with overt conservative themes. Obviously it isn't stopping people from watching it so that obviously isn't the reason 24 isn't popular. Taylor Sheridan makes boomer conservative shows that have insanely high viewership. That clearly is not the issue
45 Comments