Working On TV: 24

A lot of times on the Astron Blog, I'll refer to the working conditions on a TV work environment. But this series will finally explain what I'm talking about. The first show we're going to review is the soon-to-be-completed FOX hit, "24".

On 24, the main work environments are the governments as a whole and moslty CTU (a fake government unit known as Counter Terrorism Unit). These government agencies have been home to some of the more egregious Human Resources violations. Each season there are moles within various agencies, showing a complete lack of a screening process. I've often joked with friends that all you have to do is check a box that you're not a terrorist and you're cleared--no questions asked.

There is also a ton of instances of office fraternization and nepotism. Secret (or not-so-secret) relationships are the norm and people like Kim Bauer and Morris O'Brian have seemed to be granted jobs just because they have a relative in the office. And in Morris' case, this was a costly relationship for CTU.

But the worst treatment of people in the office are to women. Only one woman has ever been the head of CTU and she was quickly ousted by a man (played by "Rudy"'s Sean Astin) as soon as her motherly skills forced her to become unfit to do her job.

We do have a woman President currently, but this past episode showed women still have a huge glass ceiling to break through on the show. Two were women were promoted this past episode. The first was Dalia Hassan who took over for her recently-murdered husband. The thought was "hey, she's not as qualified, but what the heck"...she'll just be a great "martyr's wife" as the female American President referred to in the episode.

Chloe O'Brian was promoted in CTU only because the man in the position before her was inept at his job. And yet it was made to seem this was unfair. Yet, the guy she was taking over for, Hastings had recruited Dana Walsh (the season's biggest mole), let her leave during the crisis (to do shady things) and didn't punish her when she came back, didn't stop any of the terrorist activity in New York, let an EMP into CTU which crippled the infrastructure, let Cole Ortiz and Dana run rampant with their relationship, almost let a woman (Renee Walker) take all of the blame for his mistakes, let Arlo sexually harass all the female employees, berated Chloe, still hasn't discovered that he has a dead man in his office panel, let nukes be transported all around New York, failed to protect a foreign leader--President Hassan-- from two assassination attempts, lost countless men and women and data hours...so let's definitely make sure everyone apologizes to him for his raw deal when the much more qualified woman takes over.

Oh and people who are of a different ethnicity, especially Asians, Russians and Middle Eastern people should all be thought of suspiciously because they could definitely be a mole.

The world of 24 is not the World of HR--it's a nightmare for Human Resources professionals.


-Andrew