Fox Double Dips On 24 By Releasing A Special Edition

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The writer’s strike has definitely hurt Fox Home Entertainment. Without a new season of 24, how are they supposed to make all of that mad 24 DVD set money? The show completely lends itself to watching it on DVD, where you can cram in as many episodes as you can fit into a session without having to worry about commercials, repeats, or silly Fox logos flying in. But there was no new season this year, so what should Fox do?

Apparently the solution is the 24 Season One Special Edition, which presents all 24 episodes of Jack Bauer’s first season in widescreen, with just enough new content to annoy those of us who already have the first season on DVD. Among the new content: deleted scenes that weren’t on the first Season One set, a brand new ending to the season that wasn’t revealed before, and a new documentary about the series.

I would probably be more annoyed about this if the first DVD set didn’t have some bit rate issues in some of the discs. If Fox resolves that then I’ll be happy to pick up a copy of the new set and take a look at the new bonus material. If, on the other hand, they’ve just tossed an extra disc in with the same discs that make up the original set… well, Jack Bauer wouldn’t be happy about that, would he?

And yes, I do think it’s a little unfair that so much extra material exists that wasn’t released the first time the series came out on DVD, but now that Fox has a reason to go back and pull on the older material it really seems to make sense to stockpile it.

Here’s a look at the full bonus material for the 24 Season One Special Edition seven disc DVD set, which will hit stores on May 20th.

  • DVD Special Features
    (** designates all-new DVD elements):
  • Season One Introduction by Kiefer Sutherland
  • All-new documentary The Genesis of 24**
  • 7:00PM – 8:00PM
  • 8:00PM – 9:00PM
  • 9:00PM – 10:00PM
  • 10:00PM – 11:00PM
  • 11:00PM – 12:00AM
  • 25 extended / deleted scenes**
  • Never-before-seen alternate season finale ending #2**
  • Commentary on the series premiere episode (12:00AM-1:00AM) by director Stephen Hopkins and Director of Photography Peter Levy**
  • Commentary on the series finale episode (11:00PM-12:00AM) by director Stephen Hopkins and actress Leslie Hope**
  • “Coffee Run”
  • “Get This To…”
  • Alternate season finale ending (with optional commentary by executive producer Joel Surnow)
Rafe Telsch