Yet 24 is not uncomplicated Fox Television rightwing populism; it is a little cleverer than that. All three series have had near the centre a fictional African-American US politican, David Palmer, now president, who seems wise, decent and intelligent - much more so, it has to be said, than the real US president. The counter-terrorism unit crowd are sensitive and rather liberal types, except when they're busy gunning baddies down. They are hardly natural Guardian readers. But you could imagine the hero, whose CV includes a literature course at university, logging on to the Guardian's website.
Yet the most powerful messages are indeed rightwing, even paranoid. The outside world is a great arc of danger and spite, determined to bring mayhem to the doorsteps of Middle America. Bandit Mexicans, pathological Serbs and Russians, sadistic Arabs, and icy English mass-murderers are constantly repelled at the last minute from causing the deaths of millions of Americans. President Palmer and his counter-terrorism unit heroes mean well. But foreigners are simply mean.
It is easy to laugh at the silly moustaches, dodgy accents and thin characterisation of the villains, just as one quickly comes to understand the clichés of the plot-line, such as the necessity of Jack Bauer's tedious daughter being kidnapped on a regular basis. But the "war on terror" is no joke, and 24 is addictive propaganda.
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