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Time flies faster than reality in 24 – 2014 Edition

As Fox launches 24: Live Another Day tonight, I thought I'd update this old post to reflect Jack's newly-calculated age…

The following is my rough timeline for the aging of Jack Bauer, lead character on 24. The original inspiration for this post was the 24 Wikipedia entry. While browsing, I noticed the way time absolutely flies between 24 seasons.

24 first aired in November 2001, and was set on the day of the California presidential primary, but no specific year was provided. Just to make things simple, I've arbitrarily chosen 2000, which puts day one in June of 2000. Any year, however, would work just fine for tracking Jack's age.

In June of 2000, Kiefer Sutherland was 34.5, so let's assume that was Jack Bauer's age as well. From there, as the seasons progress, time moves rapidly. In the following table, all of the After Prior Day values came from the 24 Timeline on wikia.com. (Season 8 and Live Another Day were not sourced from wikia.com.)

Season NumberStart DateAfter Prior DayJack's Age
#1Jun 2000--34.5
#2Dec 200118 months36
#3Dec 200436 months39
#4Jun 200618 months40.5
#5Dec 200718 months42
#6Aug 200920 months43.5+
'Redemption' movieFeb 201342 months47+
#7Apr 20132 months47+
#8Sep 201418 months49ish
Live Another DaySep 201848 months53ish

The only real issue with this is that the timing of the Redemption movie is off--it's supposed to occur on the day of the presidential inauguration, which has been on January 20th or 21st for over 70 years now, but the timeline shows it in February. I'm not sure why there's a discrepancy.

3 thoughts on “Time flies faster than reality in 24 – 2014 Edition”

  1. Way too much time analyzing 24! It's ok... but it is just a violence delivery device. For great tv that is worthy of such thought, speculation and anticipation, look no further than Battlestar Galactica. This is BY FAR the finest tv show I have ever watched. It's not just for SF geeks either. Better drama doesn't exist on the small screen.

  2. from thedigitalbits
    And here's something cool for you fans of Fox's 24: Fox is releasing 24: Exile on DVD on 11/25 (SRP $26.98), just two days after its broadcast debut on 11/23. This will be an 88-minute "extended cut" (longer than the broadcast version) that takes place between Seasons 6 and 7, in which Jack Bauer must evacuate a group of orphans from the midst of a conflict in a small African nation. Extras will include audio commentary, 2 featurettes (The Making of Exile and Children of War) and 2 previews (24: Season 6 in Four Minutes and 24: Season 7 First Act). All of this leads up to the broadcast debut of 24: Season 7 on Fox in January.

  3. I always wondered how Jack Bauer would get back from China to do another action packed day of torture and being tortured. Now after this season, if Jack has any more major exposures to nerve toxin, they will have to combine 24 and House, and Gregory House can be his full time doctor.

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