24’s format normalized a permanent state of emergency as entertainment

Evidence

24 centered on Jack Bauer, a brooding and embattled agent of the government’s Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) who raced a ticking clock to subvert impending terrorist attacks on the United States. The title refers to a twenty-four-hour state of emergency, and each of a given season’s twenty-four episodes represented one hour of “real” time. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 131

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the show’s core conceit — real-time ticking-clock format as a definitional feature that drives its perpetual-crisis politics.