You must've seen the public service announcements during last night's two-hour 24 special.  Perhaps you've watched with some caution—meh, another one joining the bandwagon!—or perhaps you're happy that they've finally taken steps to take care of this planet.

It's nothing new, really.  Last year, 24 vowed to reduce its carbon footprint—in other words, how much it contributes to global warming—by taking on several measures to make sure it reduces carbon emissions.  The PSAs you've seen last night is just the tip of the iceberg; already, the production staff have calculated the amount of greenhouse gases they produce every episode, used hybrid cars and environmentally-friendly fuels for their shoots, taken on renewable energy for everything else, and let go of the need to print thousands of pages of scripts, schedules and promotions by sending them electronically.

To further the effort, they have decided to buy carbon offsets to make up for the other, more unavoidable emissions shooting makes.  Besides, despite using hybrid cars for some scenes, those car crashes—and the explosions that it brings—still emit carbon dioxide.  And, if they wanted to become really carbon neutral with the earlier efforts alone, they'd have to stop shooting on location and let go of the car chases, which fans wouldn't obviously take as a compromise.  So, they're funding wind energy projects in India instead.

And that's made the folks at 24 proud.  The idea is, they're the first television series to become “carbon neutral”—whatever amount of carbon dioxide they release during production gets offset by their efforts to use renewable energy, among others.  Sure, everybody's been doing it, with efforts from major networks (NBC's efforts on Saturday Night Live, for instance) but this, Fox bosses insist, is still a first.

It's perhaps a surprising turn, really, considering that the show is best known, perhaps controversial, for the way torture is depicted—not to mention the high-octane (forgive the pun) action sequences and car chases.  And, the folks at 24 are aware that some viewers might see the environmentally-friendly move as a way to appease the show's reputation among anti-torture liberals.

“People continue to ascribe political agendas to the show, so they may see this cynically, but, no, absolutely, one has nothing to do with the other,” said executive producer Howard Gordon.

“No one is kidding themselves that viewers want to see Jack Bauer stop in the middle of an action scene and deliver some line about the environment,” added Dana Walden, an executive at Fox, and one of those behind the project.  “[We hope it would be] a more gratifying viewing experience, even if it is at a more subconscious level.”

Of course, there have been struggles with production adapting with the new standards.  Wasteful incandescent lights, for instance, are being replaced with fluorescent ones, but the quality of the lights aren't yet up to par.  Still, they are pushing to make things work.  “We are arguably the worst possible offender, which is why, in a way, it made sense to start with us,” Gordon added.  “If we can do it, anyone can.”

Another one going politically correct?  I'd like to think it's them adding less guilt to each explosion and each car crash.  And, still, there's no compromise.  That's better than pinning the blame for later damage on Jack Bauer.  Well, he is still saving the world, after all.





-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Sources: Fox, The New York Times
(Image courtesy of Fox)