When it made its debut on television, it was a show unlike any other. Unlike other TV dramas, “24” wasn’t a crime procedural just like “NCIS” or “Law and Order: SVU.” Instead, it appears more like a spy thriller, almost reminiscent of the ‘James Bond’ franchise or the Tom Cruise-led ‘Mission: Impossible’ films.
In “24,” we immediately get a front-row seat into the daily life of Jack Bauer, a character expertly played by Kiefer Sutherland. Bauer is the Director of Field Ops for a fictional counter-terrorism unit in Los Angeles and in every episode, he averted threats against the country’s very existence.
“24” also eventually resulted in several spinoffs, including “24: Live Another Day” and "24: Redemption." And while it’s been years since we last heard from the ‘24’ universe, we thought it might be fun to discuss some behind-the-scenes secrets:
15 When The Show Was First Conceptualized, There Was No Counter-Terrorism Angle
Writer Michael Loceff, who joined the show in 2001, told Slate that executive producer Joel Surnow “came up with the idea of a show that took place in 24 hour-length, real-time episodes over the course of one day.” Later on, they “needed a situation where personal and professional problems would intersect.” That’s when they tapped into the counter-terrorism angle.
14 Fox Was Hesitant To Pick Up The Show Because They Feared It Would Be Too Expensive
During an interview, Sandy Grushow, former Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman, told The Wrap, “Since we were going to be on the hook for both network license fee and studio deficit, the whole thing could have been a financial bloodbath, which is why there was any hesitation at all about ordering it.”
13 Initially, Showrunners Wanted To Film In Canada To Save Money
"One of the things I insisted upon was we try to do it as inexpensively as possible, which meant producing the show in Canada to take advantage of the tax breaks on the order of about $300,000 per episode,” Grushow told The Wrap. The network also discussed the possibility of keeping the budget down to $40,000 per episode.
12 Fox Didn’t Like The Idea Of Casting Kiefer Sutherland Because His Career Had Stalled And He Was Expensive
“Kiefer’s career had stalled … and I just knew that suddenly we were going to a lead that would cost, I assumed, $100,000 per episode, notwithstanding that he was pretty cold in the market at that point,” Grushow explained to The Wrap. Sutherland also insisted on filming in Los Angeles, bringing the cost to $350,000 to $400,000 per episode.
11 Mary Lynn Rajskub's Mother Had To Convince Her To Audition
“I didn’t want to go to the audition,” Rajskub explained People. “Because it was like, ‘Yes, Jack. No, Jack.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t really get it!’ But my mom said, ‘It’s the best show! You’ve gotta watch it!'” Surnow had initially seen Rajskub in the 2020 Adam Sandler film “Punch Drunk Love."
10 Tony Almeida Was Initially Named Andrew Geller
Carlos Bernard, who played Tony, told The Hollywood Reporter, “It was originally Andrew Geller. Literally 15 minutes before we started shooting, Joel Surnow, the creator of 24, came up to me in the hallway and said: ‘We can't call you Andrew Geller. That can't be your name.’ And I'm like, ‘Yeah, I agree!’”
9 After 9/11, The Pilot Episode Was Recut To Reduce The Violence
Coincidentally, the pilot featured a plane getting blown up. Loceff told Slate, “That obviously was very close to the bone, but it was also essential to the plot. So, it was recut to be less violent and visceral. There was no need to do anything to create a sense of horror, because we were all going to feel that instinctively.”
8 Suffering From Low Ratings, Fox Decided To Air The Pilot Thrice To Get Viewers For The Second Episode
“The show did not deliver the kind of ratings that I had expected,” Grushow told The Wrap. “I called Preston Beckman, the head of scheduling, and I said, ‘Look, we need to run this show three more times this week.’ We had to get enough people to see the pilot to drive them into the second episode.”
7 It Took Kim Raver 24 Hours To Get Cast On The Show
Raver told She Knows, “Literally, 24 hours later — not to do a play on words — my manager was like, ‘Get on a plane, you’re going to audition for 24. And I went out there and I did three scenes, and they were like, ‘We found Audrey.’” Raver also reprised her role in the spinoff “24: Live Another Day.”
6 A Lot Of Scenes Got Thrown Out At The Last Minute, Leading To Reshoots
“This is one difference between the way things are done on 24 and the way they’re done in most episodic television: Joel and Bob are the kind of writers who are willing to throw out a lot of what’s already in the can, which means doing reshoots,” Loceff explained to Slate.
5 Fox Considered Turning 24 Into An FBI Franchise Show
“We had a lot of conversations about whether we should turn it into an FBI franchise show, and there was a lot of spirited debate about that,” Grushow revealed to The Wrap. “But that fortunately ended with us deciding to roll the dice and hoping the audience would take the ride again.”
4 The Show Employed Writers With Government Backgrounds
“We’ve hired writers who have done heavy research in espionage and anti-terrorism and worked with the government. And we’ve met with consultants from the intelligence community and other parts of the government, just to help stir up ideas and help us come up with something that seems compelling,” Loceff revealed to Slate.
3 Kim Raver Would Do Some Yoga And Running To Shrug Off The Intensity Of The Scenes
“There were such intense scenes — the torture scenes and the crying — I found that I had to kind of find my way as I was going, and I realized that I had to do sort of like a 20-minute warm down to be able to leave that at work and not take it home,” Raver explained to She Knows.
2 The Show Once Considered The Idea Of Jack Turning To The Dark Side
“If Jack’s really bad then we don’t want to see it. The flipside of that coin is: if he’s not really bad, then everyone says ‘of course he’s not bad, he’s Jack Bauer!’, executive producer Howard Gordon told Den of Geek. “When we actually put the idea down and trotted it out, it fell apart.”
1 There's A Deleted Scene Involving The Introduction Of Tony Almeida Into 24: Legacy
“There was a scene in the sixth episode where you see somebody get the phone call from Rebecca, and you don't know who she's calling. The camera comes around, and it's me on the phone,” Bernard revealed while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter. “That had to get dropped because they had to re-edit how the show flowed.”