1:00PM - 2:00PM

I recently started watching the show 24. The series just recently ended after airing for eight years, but I had never watched it until just a few weeks ago. I've been renting the discs as part of my Canflix subscription and watching an episode every couple nights or so. But I am not writing about the show, but its episode titles.

24 has pretty simple and generic episode titles. 1:00PM - 2:00PM, followed by 2:00PM - 3:00PM and so on. I'm not knocking that. Those titles make perfect sense considering the nature and theme of the show. I really can't think of anything myself that would have worked better either. Since it's the type of show where you really need to watch all the episodes in order and I don't think anyone is going to pull it out and watch a single episode at random, it doesn't really need fancy and descriptive titles anyway.

But where these episode titles cause problems for me is that I occasionally have trouble remembering which episode I watched last. I have to start watching an episode to see if the first bit looks familiar. And if it does, it's time to try the next episode. It's not like how someone watching Corner Gas for the first time is able to see the episode title Knit Wit of the Month in the DVD menu and think, "Oh yeah, that's the episode where Hank takes up knitting. I already watched that one." At least I never have an issue remembering if I've seen the fourth episode, because as soon as I've finished it I eject the disc and put it into the return envelope to mail back to Canflix.

Fortunately I won't have this problem when I get around to watching season 2. I found it for a great price so I bought it and will be watching it using my Apple TV instead. Even if it weren't for all the iTunes smart playlists I set up to manage my media library and ensure my Apple TV is loaded with the right shows, iTunes and Apple TV both clearly label unwatched episodes with a big blue dot. No guessing required.

But I just have one question. After being awake as long as they have been, how are Jack Bauer and his team able to appear so wide awake and alert? I'd be groggy and totally out of it, no matter how much coffee I drank. Some days, if I missed out on a couple hours of sleep the previous night, I have a hard enough time making it through an 8-hour work day. Well it did look like Jack fell asleep for a moment in one episode, but he could have just been pretending to trick the other person in the room.