So there’s this show on TV called “24″. It’s wrapping up it’s 7th season, so if you wanted to see one of the freshest and most entertaining shows in the past decade or two, you’re too late. But I digress, as usual.
24 has a catch phrase. Y’see, the gimmick of the show is that it plays out in real time. 24 hours, and there’s this malign clock constantly ticking throughout the entire show. The clock is everywhere. It is always there, mercilessly recording the passage of time, counting down to a major character’s death more often than anything else.
Every episode, at least one character will say “we’re running out of time” or “we’re out of time” or some variant thereof. Sometimes they’ll say “you’re” or “almost”, but the phrase is basically always the same.
As a family, we began to ritualistically watch the show starting in season 2. It got to the point where we would all cheer whenever the catch phrase was spoken.
And then… we began noticing the phrase elsewhere. In fact, everywhere. It’s to the point now where it’s nearly impossible to watch anything that does not include the phrase “running out of time”.
Take, for instance, a recent experiment where we collected a random plethora of TV shows and movies that have nothing at all to do with 24.
We watched Zoolander, for instance, a highly odd comedy about mildly insane morons. The catch phrase in question was used twice.
A coincidence? I think not. (more…)
